Good morning, Members. Welcome back to the House. Orders of the day. Ministers' statements. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good morning. February 2nd to the 9th is Apprenticeship and Occupational Certification Week in the Northwest Territories. This is a week when we celebrate the achievements of our northern apprentices and we thank our partners in business and industry for the investment they make in training.

A skilled and productive workforce would not be possible without the time and commitment of northern employers. Employers provide work opportunities so apprentices can develop the wide range of skills they will need to be successful journeypersons.

This week, we recognize apprentices and occupational candidates from all regions of the Northwest Territories. In particular, awards will be given to the individuals with the highest marks in their trades or occupations.

The current economy and growing resource development provides the North with many opportunities, but there are also challenges we must address if northerners are to successfully access the new jobs. Newly created jobs require highly skilled labour. Training and certifying northerners in designated trades or occupations is essential to ensure future development benefits northerners first. The Department of Education, Culture and Employment is addressing this need by continuing to strengthen its commitment to apprenticeship and occupational certification.

Currently, over 450 people are registered as apprentices or candidates for occupational certification in the Northwest Territories. During the 2004-2005 academic year, 64 apprentices completed their apprenticeships and 43 were awarded in the Inter-provincial Red Seal.

This means their qualifications are recognized in every province and territory in Canada. Another 46 northerners have been certified in designated occupations. I expect those receiving certification will be an important part of our territory's future.

In the coming year, the department will continue to support the Schools North Apprenticeship Program and to develop new high school courses to better prepare students for trades and other skilled occupations. A revised building Trades Helper Program will provide youth with exposure to construction trades in order to move into apprenticeship or to work as skilled labour on jobsites. We will also be introducing Ready to Work North, a job readiness program that provides essential employability skills for those entering the workforce. Mr. Speaker, these programs, along with the Deal Yourself In marketing campaign launched in the fall, demonstrates the ongoing commitment to support the trades and occupations in the Northwest Territories.

As well, we will continue to support innovative community-based activities that give students hands-on experience with the trades. For example, in several communities, students build small houses for elders with materials provided by the NWT Housing Corporation and with training from the college and schools.

The Department of Education, Culture and Employment will continue to work closely with the Apprenticeship, Trades and Occupational Certificate Board, Aurora College, and industry to work on new initiatives to meet labour market and skills training demands.

I hope everyone will join me in the Great Hall on Thursday, February 9th at 11:30 to celebrate the success of our apprentices and occupational candidates from across the Northwest Territories and to thank our partners in business and industry. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Dent. Ministers' statements. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Michael Miltenberger will be absent from the House today to attend a Canada Northwest FASD meeting in Edmonton. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Ministers' statements. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my statement today is on the government's involvement in childcare services in Yellowknife. As we are all aware,

Yellowknife is a very expensive city to live in. Most parents have to rely on day care and day homes to provide childcare because, in most cases, both parents have to work in order to pay the mortgage, the rent and other household costs.

I believe that government has an obligation to parents to ensure that there is adequate space and that there is a level playing field. It has come to my attention that there is not a level playing field in Yellowknife. I have a number of questions surrounding why this is the case. Day cares all receive the operator subsidy, which is dependent upon the number of spaces that they provide. There is a day care association in Yellowknife that operates from what I understand is a government-owned facility. This is not their own fault; just the reality.

I still do not understand who really does own the building. I think the GNWT owns it, but I am not quite sure. Does the GNWT own the building or does the association own the building? The reason I raise this issue is I know Public Works and Services pays all the maintenance costs, property taxes, et cetera, on the building and the association only pays the utility costs. There is no rent paid to a landlord, no property taxes paid and, like I said, I am not certain who actually owns the building.

My point is that the Government of the Northwest Territories does not treat all day care facilities fairly. There are other day cares in the city of Yellowknife that also get the operator subsidy, have to pay rent, they have to pay maintenance and utility costs and everybody has fixed costs for teachers.

I would just conclude by saying that whatever we can provide day cares is a great investment in the future. I believe that it is time to be fair to all day care providers, and I would encourage the Government of the Northwest Territories to address the inequities that have been created. Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time on today's Order Paper, I will have questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, the Honourable Charles Dent. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to speak today about the high cost of doing business in the Northwest Territories, especially for the small businesses in the city, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when people see a long line-up for coffee at Tim Horton's or in one of the many popular mom and pop restaurants around town, people assume they must be raking in the money. Many of them are bringing in good revenue and some of the franchises are breaking national records, but, Mr. Speaker, the cost of doing business is taking away most of their profit margins making them wonder if they should continue to work 24/7 just to see more and more of their revenue be taken away by one government agency or another.

Mr. Speaker, there is a lot this government can do to ease the burden on this situation, and they are very disappointed that the latest budget did not have much in that regard. Mr. Speaker, according to the pre-budget submission by the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses, which works with about 230 small businesses in the North, says that the top five business burdens and business killers include a total tax burden, shortage of qualified labour, government regulations and paper burden, and ever skyrocketing WCB premiums. Mr. Speaker, WCB premiums, I can tell you, have almost tripled in the last three years, which is an issue I am going to be deal with at a separate time. Mr. Speaker, I would like to see this government reduce all of these burdens as soon as possible and I will be calling it to task during this session.

The shortage of labour, Mr. Speaker, is a huge issue. I was talking to one of the mom and pop restaurants. She was complaining that she had to go through 79 employees in the last year, and she was talking about that to a more high-end restaurant business in Yellowknife who came back to say he had to hire 250 employees just to see them go. It is a huge problem and it's about time the government spends more time trying to address that issue. If we spent as much time as we do on looking after ATCO...sorry, the Novel housing, for the small businesses, I think we might see some equity and equal opportunities for small businesses, as well as the big ones. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Ms. Lee. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to raise some concern about the policies and actions of our government regarding the secondary diamond industry and see if we can find out where this government is going with regard to supporting this increasingly valuable industry.

In 1998, Mr. Speaker, a policy framework called Support to the Diamond Processing and Manufacturing Policy was approved, and since then, our government has been very aggressive on trying to build a secondary diamond industry, get some value from this resource, particularly since we don't get any direct royalty benefit from it, at least not yet, Mr. Speaker.

We've achieved a number of good things here. The Department of Education is to be congratulated for the world-renowned cutting and polishing courses it has developed. In 2002, our government certified the first Canadian Arctic diamond and launched a web site to promote this product. Industry has also shown its optimism by making investments here. Government has provided loan guarantees to help develop a secondary industry. Some of it has been very risky, very expensive, and some of it hasn't worked, but that's the cost of doing development.

We are also recognizing the tourism opportunities through another report called the Perfect Setting: Diamond Tourism in the NWT. We have the Rare in Nature campaign, and the National Round Table on Diamonds

was hosted in Yellowknife, Mr. Speaker and an action plan for the Diamond Strategy was unveiled.

You know, we seem to be having some second thoughts about a few things of late, Mr. Speaker. What was known as the diamond projects unit has been shut down and functions of it have been dispersed. In 2005, the Minister intended to withdraw and release official marks that we worked very hard to do so. He has since backtracked on that. We've also decided, Mr. Speaker, after showing tremendous leadership nationally, to withdraw from the National Diamond Strategy.

So while we have made great progress in obtaining some benefits from the secondary diamond industry, we are getting signals here that we don't really know where we are going. That's what I am going to be asking the Minister about later on today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Braden. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Villeneuve.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to talk about the housing situation in my constituency. During the past couple of weeks, I have been receiving inquiries about the quality of the trailers that were delivered to Deninu Kue and Lutselk'e as part of the market initiative this government has, and the quality of the onsite setup.

Some of these concerns are that the trailers have been about ice forming on the inside of all the windows. This has been a mild winter, Mr. Speaker. People are saying that during a normal minus 30 degree winter, these windows would be complete blocks of ice. Water lines are continuously freezing up, and the floors are cold and the furnaces are always running.

Issues on site setup are on issues of levelling, or lack of, Mr. Speaker. The trailers are not sitting firmly on their foundations. Tenants are saying that the whole trailer shakes when people are either coming up or going down the front steps of their houses. The trailer also vibrates and shakes when the washing machines are on spin cycle.

Mr. Speaker, I will reiterate the fact that the Housing Corporation has to be more diligent when it comes to overseeing the development of our housing projects in our northern environment. This exercise will enable our public dollars to be used for more things like education, health or infrastructure, and not for constant or continuous repairs to many of our new housing units, Mr. Speaker. Then there are repairs on these repairs, as is often the case.

Mr. Speaker, many times we have to be the big brother looking over someone's shoulder to ensure that the proper procedures and standards are adhered to from start to finish in all our housing projects, so that our new homeowners can be confident that the huge lifetime investment that this government wants them to commit to will be really worth what they are really willing to pay for. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to raise an issue with regard to the Sachs Harbour water plant upgrade. In the summer of 2004, the Department of Public Works and Services contracted out the water plant upgrade in Sachs Harbour. Mr. Speaker, the Hamlet of Sachs Harbour, on numerous occasions, complained of problems with the pipeline freezing up over the 2004-2005 season, thereby the employees having to drill a hole in the lake to withdraw water for the community.

Mr. Speaker, this may have been okay in the 1970s and '80s, but here we are in 2006 where the hamlet employees once again have to drill holes to withdraw their water.

Mr. Speaker, I received notice on Monday, February 6, 2006, that the water intake, once again, froze on January 30, 2006. The hamlet has been more than patient since the upgrade started in December of 2004. On my recent trip to Sachs Harbour, January 9th to 12th, and on my subsequent return to Yellowknife, I spoke briefly with the Minister of Public Works and Services about the problems the hamlet was encountering with regard to the water treatment plant and the freezing of the intake pipeline.

Mr. Speaker, knowing that there were freezing problems over the winter of 2004-2005, and the department having to travel to Sachs Harbour on numerous occasions to identify the specific problem, what initiatives to date has the department taken to rectify the problem? Mr. Speaker, we are in early 2006 and the problem of freezing has already been encountered in the water intake. When will the department, once again, once and for all, fix the water intake problem? At the appropriate time, Mr. Speaker, I will have questions for the appropriate Minister. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, negotiated contract policies in the North are colonial, inadequate, and out of touch with the growing dynamics and needs of the Northwest Territories, especially in the small and remote communities with considerable aboriginal populations.

Our negotiated policy, Mr. Speaker, is from a colonial and paternalistic past wherein the all-powerful Commissioner, by his grace, allowed communities to negotiate a contract without a competitive bid process.

Communities I represent, Mr. Speaker, indicate they wish to be primary beneficiaries of government contracts that affect their community. This is possible by instituting a public program similar to the federal aboriginal Set-Aside

Program that allows departments to enter into local contracts with aboriginal communities and businesses.

The federal government's aboriginal Set-Aside Program has been in existence for the past 10 years. I would like to take this opportunity to explain that it provides opportunities to aboriginal suppliers and contractors. The opportunities we are talking about are not just peanuts, Mr. Speaker. In 1997, 3,200 aboriginal businesses were awarded $44 million and recently, 2004, 6,000 aboriginal businesses were awarded $245 million. Programs like this greatly assist community economic development initiatives and capacity building.

This government should have similar procurement strategies for aboriginal businesses for communities with almost all aboriginal population, as it is absurd to award a contract to non-local or southern businesses with no aboriginal ownership, Mr. Speaker. I will have questions for the appropriate Minister at the appropriate time. Mahsi cho.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I just want to talk more about the trades certificate program in our region. There is a high interest from all leaders going and taking the initiatives to get our younger people into an education where there are programs out there that support people going into trades, upgrading their education skills, and taking the Apprenticeship Program. Even the Department of Education, Culture and Employment has a few programs with the Apprenticeship Program, offering industry and other private organizations in the construction business to take on these journeymen. However, Mr. Speaker, it seems that there is a gap between companies not really willing to take on the apprenticeship of a young person from a region, or they seem to have some difficulties in finding work. There seems to be some level of playing field that we are not on equal footing with, as with other people. We had some people from my region be deferred, as they call it, because there is not an uptake from Imperial or other oil and gas companies that outside of that came into the Sahtu and got a job just like that with the Apprenticeship Program. It seems that there is not an equal playing field for our tradespeople. There are a lot of people taking the Apprenticeship Program. However, there seems to be a gap in terms of how we get these people placed with these industries and organizations that make our successful program in terms of the leadership in education.

I am not too sure, Mr. Speaker, in terms of these impact benefit agreements, how strong they are, because we seem to be running up against labour laws that seem to override these IBA agreements, and these labour laws seem to put more weight into these workforces that they want to hit with the impact benefit agreements. I will ask the Minister what they are looking at in the future. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this week is Apprenticeship Week in the Northwest Territories. Given the nature of our economy and the importance of the trades, it is fitting that we give apprenticeship a high profile.

Mr. Speaker, the unprecedented economic growth that we have been seeing, and will continue to see in the future, would not have been and will not be possible without the essential work provided by tradespeople in this territory. In the next several years, the demand for apprenticeship and trades jobs will be larger and will increase at a faster rate than any other sector in the NWT. In 2005, we had approximately 800 individuals working in trades jobs. By 2008, 2,900 people are projected to be working in the trades. This is an increase of 265 percent. Mr. Speaker, in order to meet this demand and ensure that northerners can take advantage of this incredible opportunity, we must continue to develop tradespeople and support apprenticeship and occupational certification programs here in the Northwest Territories. These are critical strategic investments. What good are a strong resource development industry and a strong economy if we do not make sure that northern residents get the most out of the diamond mines, oil and gas development and other projects?

Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate every NWT resident that has completed, or is currently completing, an apprenticeship program. I would also offer encouragement to all those who have similar aspirations. We need you to make our vision of a strong and prosperous NWT a reality.

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to congratulate the Hay River residents who received special recognition for their outstanding achievement in their area of work and study. They are Don Carriere of Hay River with Kingland Ford Mercury Sales automotive service technician; Cory Tybring in floor covering installing with Wesclean Northern Sales; Michael Buhler heavy duty mechanic with Finning Canada in Hay River; and Peter Lagan in Hay River with BHP Diamonds as an industrial instrument technician. Mr. Speaker, I would also like to make mention of the fact that the top two of the three top graduating apprentices in the Northwest Territories this year are from Hay River: Peter Lagan and Jason Young.

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the many Hay River businesses who are in the private sector, but participate in the Apprenticeship Program and sponsor these young people to realize their aspirations in the area of trades and occupations. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. McLeod.