Thank you, Mr. Braden. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. My statement today is on the Fort Good Hope flood. Madam Speaker, today I want to talk about the recent flood in Fort Good Hope. I want everyone in Fort Good Hope to know that I'm thinking about them today. I'm very proud to say that the community really pulled together to help each other through this very difficult time. I also want to thank the government's response to the needs of the community when they requested help. Finally, I want to thank the local emergency measures team in Fort Good Hope for all the work they did, especially to Joe Grandjambe, Fred Rabesca and Henry Tobac, and to the many volunteers who just did the right thing by helping out 24/7.

Madam Speaker, the ice is gone, the floods are receding, but there is still a huge mess to be cleaned up in Fort Good Hope. I don't want anyone to think we're forgetting them. Over 25 people and families have been affected by this flood. A lot of families and elders are still homeless and are having to live at other homes. This is a terrible situation, Madam Speaker. Some estimates say that they may not be able to get back into their homes for another three months or longer. I see similar situations on TV such as floods. However, coming face to face with the effects on families and communities is quite a different story.

So my hat is off to the people, especially the elders who were affected directly. I want to encourage the Ministers of the Department of Public Works, Housing Corporation, Health and Social Services, ITI, ENR and MACA to come up to Fort Good Hope to see for themselves the damage that was left there by the floods, so the families can feel confident that the government's highest level of legislators have their attention and their homes will be getting the attention they deserve to get it done.

Madam Speaker, the community has also suffered losses to their cabins and equipment out on the land, and they need some government help. Madam Speaker, the flood is gone, the people are left high and dry, the community is rebuilding and they will rebuild. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak about a number of issues affecting the residents of Sachs Harbour. Over the past year, renovations have been ongoing at the health centre. The hamlet was told on several occasions that inspections would take place at every stage of construction. Madam Speaker, on Monday, May 23, 2005, the mayor of Sachs was informed that a single inspection -- that is a single inspection, Madam Speaker -- would take place in the previous week. To date there has been no such inspection. So to add to the frustrations with the delay of the completion of the renovations of the health centre, the residents now have to worry about what the one inspection lists and what problems they will encounter in the future.

Madam Speaker, just because an asset like a health centre is in a small community doesn't mean that it should not be subject to the same level of inspections and scrutiny that would be associated with the construction or renovations of an asset in a larger community.

Madam Speaker, over the winter, an Inuvik contractor overhauled the water pumping station. Since that time there have been problems with the intake pipes freezing up. A hamlet employee must chop the ice from the intake every morning before they start deliveries. This has lead to delays in delivering water, which we all know is essential to the health and welfare of residents. The Department of Public Works and Services must address this problem this summer.

Finally, Madam Speaker, I would like to talk about the need for permanent RCMP officers in Sachs Harbour. I have raised this issue in previous sessions and will continue to do so until the residents of Sachs Harbour have access to the same level of policing services that all communities have come to expect. I do not want anyone to die because a charter from Inuvik cannot get RCMP officers to Sachs Harbour fast enough to deal with a dangerous situation. Sachs Harbour is too far away to be served by another detachment. The Department of Justice needs to find funding to reopen the Sachs Harbour RCMP detachment. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I rise again today on the foot of yesterday's Member's statement. I still have serious concerns with the EDAP program. Madam Speaker, I want to firmly ensure that people of the Northwest Territories know that I am absolutely proud that this government is putting people in the North into home ownership, and I think that's the number one issue that needs to come forward here so people know that it's important for me.

However, Madam Speaker, I don't think it's fair that we continue to give one family $72,000 to ensure that that one family gets into a housing situation where, as I said yesterday, we could have helped three families with approximately $24,000. That would have been a fair and reasonable down payment, but no, Madam Speaker, we have to offer payments of over $50,000, $60,000 to one family. But it doesn't stop there. We gave one family $109,000 for construction costs. In my mind, that could have helped five families very reasonably in our Yellowknife area. I think that's totally out of touch with what's considered fair and reasonable, and I need this Minister to provide details and maybe start looking into caps of what is considered reasonable assistance. That's outrageous. I think in the phrase EDAP we should get rid of the D and A and call it expanded payment program. It's not a downpayment; it's almost buying that person a house.

Madam Speaker, that is not fair to the families that didn't get their applications approved and that's why I'm here today, is because there were families that didn't get approved. The pot dried up because we only decided to help 14 families last budget year instead of who knows how many more we could have put into home ownership.

Madam Speaker, it's about helping the families, not one family. But the families we turned away we have to remember are still trapped in those low income support housing and we could do more. This government needs to look at what's considered a reasonable cap and reasonable assistance. As I said yesterday, anything over $50,000 is just out of touch and, as far as I'm concerned, giving one family $109,000 for construction costs is completely unreasonable. So I'm just going to say again today that just ain't right. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Item 3, Members' statements. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Yesterday we had the pleasure of having students from Hay River, and today we have a class from Yellowknife who has been patiently waiting to be recognized. Madam Speaker, it's always good to have them here and it's my pleasure. I would like to do this in French, but if I did nobody would understand it. I know they speak better English than I speak French. So it is my great pleasure to recognize the grade 3 and 4 class, Madam Isabelle Cormier's class, from Ecole Allain St-Cyr. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

---Applause

Welcome to the visitors' gallery. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Today I would like to recognize Mr. Douglas Dillon, Mr. William Greenland, Ms. Bren Kolson from the aboriginal radio station in the north here. Also at this time, Madam Speaker, I would like to recognize two of the Pages from Deline that helped out the last couple of days; Cyre Yukon who is a Grade 11 student from Deline and Kyle Bayha who is a Grade 10 student from Ehtseo Ayha School in Deline. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya, and thank you to all the Pages who have helped us out in the chamber this week. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I would just like to welcome William Greenland, a friend of mine from Inuvik. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Picking up on my Member's statement from earlier today, I'd like to say that the Minister and the government are saying all the right things about apprenticeship and the need to develop a skilled workforce here in the Northwest Territories. Madam Speaker, the reality is that's not the case for all the apprentices, and where there is smoke there is fire. I know the Minister received an e-mail yesterday outlining some difficulties a constituent of one of my colleagues was having, and the scenario that I outlined for him earlier today is not one that I haven't heard before and I have heard some serious concerns about the apprenticeship office and the difficulty apprentices are having accessing the needs and the services that they require. I'd like to ask the Minister of ECE if it's not the role of the apprenticeship office to help northerners enter the trades. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Absolutely, yes. It is the role of the apprenticeship office. It's the role of all of the staff that work in Education,

Culture and Employment to make sure that people have the best opportunity to advance.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Yes, thanks, Madam Speaker. Does the Minister know why it would take my constituent five months to get a seat at the entrance exam, and why would the office not keep a waiting list for people wanting to take that exam? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I'm disturbed to hear that that wasn't looked after in the office and that there wasn't a waiting list kept. I will follow up on that issue. I know that over this past winter we added a second officer to the staff at the North Slave office. I'm hoping that this incident occurred before that person was added, and that we have dealt with issues like that now. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I'd also like to ask the Minister why this office wouldn't better coordinate the trades training with a partner school down south so that if classes are full here or they are cancelled for no apparent reason that students can be routed down south so that they can continue their education. Thank you, Madam Speaker.