Good afternoon, colleagues. Welcome back to the House. Welcome to our guests in the gallery as well. Orders of the day. Ministers' statements. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, now that life is starting to get back to normal for the residents of Aklavik and Inuvik in the wake of the flooding and subsequent evacuation of Aklavik, I would like to take this opportunity to commend the many people and organizations who worked so hard to respond positively to this flood and evacuation.

On May 26th, an ice jam on the Mackenzie River resulted in water levels rising in the community of Aklavik so that many sections of the community were under water. Aklavik's Emergency Response Committee responded quickly and efficiently by organizing the evacuation of residents whose home were affected by the rising floodwaters. Responding equally as quickly was the town of Inuvik's emergency response team, who, on very short notice, prepared to accept the over 300 residents of Aklavik who were forced to leave their homes. Residents of both Aklavik and Inuvik responded in typical northern spirit by working together, supporting one another and maintaining their compassion and sense of humour throughout the entire ordeal. I understand that Aklavik's motto may even have been temporarily changed from "Never Say Die" to "Never Say Dry."

---Laughter

In Aklavik, Mayor Hansen and his team did an excellent job in assessing the situation and responding quickly and competently in both the emergency response and the evacuation. Hamlet of Aklavik staff are to be commended in working so diligently to re-establish basic services within the community, including water delivery, sewage pump-out and road maintenance, under such difficult conditions. Their efforts resulted in Aklavik residents being able to return home sooner than anticipated.

In Inuvik, Mayor Peter Clarkson and his team at the Town of Inuvik, including the emergency response team under the direction of Deputy Fire Chief Julie Miller, prepared to welcome Aklavik evacuees in record time in an organized, competitive and sensitive manner. Their quick response, with minimal advance notice, can be used as a "best practice" for government and other communities in similar situations to learn from.

Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories provided support and advice to the community throughout this ordeal. Municipal and Community Affairs supports communities in undertaking community emergency planning and response. Regional and headquarters staff worked to support both communities and confirmed how impressed they were with every facet of the emergency response.

A number of other government departments and agencies were involved, such as the Department of Transportation whose staff were quick to arrange air transport to move people to and from Inuvik. As well, Health and Social Services' environmental health division, Public Works and Services, the NWT Power Corporation, the RCMP and the Canadian Forces' Joint Task Force North all provided input, timely advice and assistance throughout.

The next step is to assess the damages, begin the repairs and explore how we can support both individual residents and the two community governments in covering the costs of damages and the emergency response overall. Staff from Municipal and Community Affairs are in Aklavik and Inuvik this week to attend public debriefing meetings and discuss how these next steps will unfold.

Once again, on behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories, I want to commend the leaders and residents from Aklavik and Inuvik fro such a strong emergency response. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Ministers' statements. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday the federal Minister of Finance, the Honourable James Flaherty, released the Report of the Expert Panel on Equalization and Territorial Formula Financing.

This report has important implications for the fiscal future of the Government of the Northwest Territories, GNWT, and for the residents of this territory. The expert panel was established by the federal government early in 2005 with a mandate to undertake an independent review and make recommendations on the allocation of the equalization and territorial formula financing programs. The publication of this report sets the stage for formal

discussions between Canada and the provinces and territories to address outstanding fiscal issues. Provincial and territorial Premiers will be briefed by panel members in Edmonton on Thursday.

The formula financing grant represents, on average, about 70 percent of the GNWT's total revenues. It is absolutely critical that formula financing provide adequate funding that will allow us to deliver public services to the residents of the NWT. It is equally important that the arrangements include the right fiscal incentives for us to encourage economic growth, to develop our natural resources and to become less dependent, over time, on federal transfer payments.

We wanted to be sure that the panel understood the unique circumstances we face in Canada's North, as well as our specific issues here in the NWT. Therefore, the GNWT worked together with Nunavut and Yukon and presented the panel with a joint territorial submission on formula financing. We told the panel that the "fixed pool" approach to territorial funding that was put in place in 2004 is inappropriate. The fixed amounts create a zero sum game for the territories, where increases in one territory's grant come at the expense of the other territories. We provided specific proposals for adequate territorial financing arrangements that also include the right fiscal incentives for economic growth.

The panel travelled to Yellowknife in August 2005 and hosted a roundtable discussion where they heard directly from northerners that formula financing arrangements need to take into account the high costs of delivering services in the North.

I met with the members of the panel last August and reiterated our government's concerns that the NWT must receive a net fiscal benefit from the development of our natural resources.

We are pleased with the report. The panel, in issuing a separate report on formula financing, acknowledged that the territories are different, and require different fiscal arrangements from the provinces. The same conclusion was reached by the Council of the Federation Advisory Panel on Fiscal Imbalance in their report in April.

The expert panel members clearly heard the messages they received from northerners. The panel's key recommendations include:

• • replacing the "fixed pool" with a formula-driven approach providing three separate grants to the territories based on each territory's own needs and fiscal capacity;
• • addressing concerns regarding adequacy of funding levels;
• • improving the incentives for the territories to raise our own revenues by decreasing the offsets against revenue growth; and,
• • using appropriate escalators that reflect population growth and the growth in provincial and local government spending, rather than the fixed and inadequate 3.5 percent per year proposed by the federal government.

These recommendations clearly tell us that the expert panel has listened to the territories' concerns. Not only did the panel stretch its mandate to recommend both removal of the "fixed pool" of funding and replace it with the calculation of separate grants for each territory and an escalator that responds to our growing needs, but the panel also accepted our arguments supporting an increased fiscal incentive to develop our economies.

The panel recommends that revenues from natural resources be dealt with in separate agreements and not in the formula itself.

---Applause

The panel clearly stated their support, however, for the territories to see direct benefits from the development of their resources. The Prime Minister himself has stated that northerners should be the primary beneficiaries of the revenues generated by resource development in the NWT.

We cannot know with certainty what today's report means to us fiscally until we see the final arrangements that Canada will put in place. From our perspective, however, the report of the expert panel presents a reasonable approach to structuring formula financing arrangements. Although we must continue to focus on ensuring that overall funding levels are adequate, I am confident that, if the federal government accepts these recommendations, we can reach agreement on technical details. In fact, given the consensus of the three territories, my territorial colleagues and I have written to Minister Flaherty proposing that work on formula financing should begin in advance of and independently from discussion on equalization.

We now have the three key reports that we need in order to move forward:

• • the Report of the Expert Panel on Equalization and Territorial Formula Financing;
• • the Report of the Council of the Federation Advisory Panel on Fiscal Imbalance; and,
• • the federal budget paper on restoring fiscal balance in Canada.

Minister Flaherty laid out a process in his budget for reaching agreement on federal/provincial/territorial fiscal arrangements. Finance Ministers will be meeting at the end of June to begin discussions on these three reports and on how to incorporate their findings into new fiscal arrangements. A number of other intergovernmental meetings will be held over the summer, with a First Ministers' meeting to be held this fall. The 2007 federal budget will lay out the new fiscal arrangements. I look forward to meeting with Minister Flaherty to begin these very important discussions.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the expert panel for coming north and listening to the concerns of our residents and also for compiling a report that acknowledges these concerns and proposes solutions that will help to address them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Ministers' statements. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak today about several ground search and rescue initiatives implemented by the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs.

The department recently produced new ground search and rescue training standards, which will be used to train community representatives in ground search and rescue techniques. Community representatives will then use the standards to train their individual ground search and rescue teams.

Training standards will ensure all participants are trained to the same level and individuals who volunteer are safely employed during any search operation. I am pleased to advise that the Northwest Territories is the first Canadian jurisdiction to develop these formal ground search and rescue training standards.

The Department of Municipal and Community Affairs has also developed a Northwest Territories Youth Search and Rescue Prevention Program. The intent of this program is to provide children with information on basic survival skills they will need to survive should they become lost while out on the land.

The Department of Municipal and Community Affairs has also worked with the federal government on its ground search and rescue information system database. This database will provide information specific to the Northwest Territories. The data made available from this system will be used to track and report on search and rescue operations on the land and on inland waters. The database will produce information on lost person behaviour patterns in order to determine high probability search areas.

Finally, the department has recently completed a study of all radio communications infrastructure in the Northwest Territories. This study has produced a comprehensive listing of the location, frequency type and owner of all radio communications, and will be used to determine what radio equipment could be called on to assist during emergencies if backup communications are required.

The initiatives undertaken by the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs were done in partnership with the federal government's search and rescue initiatives fund, which provides assistance to provinces and territories to develop new and innovative projects to assist in search and rescue work.

These initiatives will support community volunteers and help to increase the effectiveness of Northwest Territories search and rescue situations. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to speak on our justice system and offer one suggestion as to why our jailhouses are full. We have all heard the phrase: "If you do the hard time, you will do the tough time." In Nahendeh, there is another phrase: "If you do petty crime, you will do a long time."

Mr. Speaker, what I am referring to is the growing number of constituents who are expressing their concern that they are being advised to plead guilty or accept sentencing conditions without adequate legal advice or other proceedings. I have constituents who are being advised that if they choose to plead not guilty and use the system, then the punishment is often worse. Oftentimes, during these emotional and difficult times when the accuser is unaware of their rights or their judgment is clouded, during these pressing situations individuals can agree to what is recommended by justice. Yet we have a fundamental principle in our legal system that is meant to curtail this type of justice: innocent until proven guilty.

I have asked in this House to give me conviction rates in my region. I believe it is timing and this is one of the reasons why there are more and more people in our jail system. I feel like it is strong arming our people into a plea before they adequately have the legal resource to make an informed decision. To compound this problem, lawyers are often difficult to retain, let alone one that the accused feels comfortable with. Mr. Speaker, it does take many phone calls and a number of weeks by Nahendeh residents to even establish first contact. It is important to be mindful of the justice staff in our communities, yet once again our training, policies, procedures and resources are not responsive to the real needs of our people. We need proper legal consultation and proper legal accommodation.

Our justice system must recognize that in small and remote communities the level of judicial infrastructure or professional services is limited and assistance and flexibility must be given to the accused. I am not saying that an offender should be given special treatment or there should not be repercussions for their actions, but our justice must be fair for all. If one region has it, then all regions must have it. I feel that the number of convictions in Nahendeh have increased and, I will go further, I don't think it's fair that the punishment is worse if you use the system. It's there to protect the rights of all people, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi cho.

---Applause

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to speak today about the situations surrounding the overcrowded conditions at Catholic schools in Yellowknife. As you might recall, Mr. Speaker, at the end of the February session we agreed, very reluctantly on my part, to give the Yellowknife Education Facilities Review

Committee a chance to conclude its work, as long as the Minister agreed to make some decisions before the June session. With two days of session left to go, we are not any further ahead than we were. As I expected, and any reasonable person looking at the situation should have expected, the committee has not been able to reach a decision about what to do about the imbalance of numbers at the schools. One thing the committee has agreed on is there is only one person who has any legal power and obligation to resolve this issue and that is the Minister of ECE.

Mr. Speaker, I have to say how troubled I am that even in my most recent conversation with the Minister, he continues to show a complete lack of understanding on exactly what his powers and authorities are on this issue. He continues to see himself as a bystander who is watching the procession go by or, at the very least, he wants someone else to make the decision for him or make the whole mess just go away. He continues to show no capacity whatsoever to see the consequence of his inaction or the ability to foresee, prepare or otherwise deal with the aftermath of his inaction and lack of leadership.

Mr. Speaker, I have to tell you I have attended a number of public meetings on this issue. I have to commend the trustees of both school boards and teachers, parents and students for valiantly trying to see their way out of this. During no time did the Minister ever show a plan of action, a vision or a roadmap on how we are all supposed to get out of this mess he has created. He could not bring himself to present a plan that could work for both parties, which I believe is possible if he would just put his mind to it, and effort, and show some leadership.

Mr. Speaker, the result of this inaction is that the students, teachers and trustees of both school boards are placed in an enormously difficult position very unfairly and the ensuing discussions threaten to divide our school communities unnecessarily. We might just end up with a lawsuit on our hands. This all goes to show you, Mr. Speaker, how much it costs the government and taxpayers when a person fails to do his job. All I can say is good luck to him, because the time is running out for him to dither any longer. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I just want to talk about this government's approach to achieve a public service that is more representative of the population it supposedly serves. When this government introduced a new approach to developing a home-grown public service back in 2002 by proposing to phase out the affirmative action policy and taking the new employment equity approach because, "It will be based on a philosophy that employees will hire a more representative workforce because it made good business and operational sense to do so, Mr. Speaker."

Mr. Speaker, we are now four years down the road from when this statement was made in this House. According to the latest statistics, the 50 percent aboriginal population of the Northwest Territories is less represented in our public service today than we were when this new employment equity approach was introduced. The number of aboriginals in management positions, the Graduate Employment Program, the summer student employment initiatives have all seen declines in the number of aboriginals. Aboriginal students are telling me that they are unable to get hired as summer students, because it is not what you know anymore but who you know that gets you a summer job in this government.

I hear about long-term aboriginal employees getting squeezed out of government positions because they raise issues that are discriminatory in nature. I hear about long-term government employees who are aboriginal and may qualify for government positions in management, only to find that positions have either been cancelled or reprofiled, or they have not been given notice or explanations as to why the human resource practices have changed.

Mr. Speaker, these are just some of the aboriginal actions and concerns I hear about all the time. If this government thinks that it is going to make some positive changes in developing a better representative public service here in the Northwest Territories, I can easily find 1,200 public service employees who will strongly disagree, because that number represents 30 percent of our public service which are aboriginal, underrepresented and underemployed by this government. This has not improved in the last 10 years, Mr. Speaker. Where is the good business sense in all of this? Where is the good operational sense? The numbers definitely do not reflect any of this.

Mr. Speaker, I think this is totally unacceptable, and I will be asking the Minister of Human Resources and FMBS questions about the thousand government positions that should be filled by aboriginal northerners later in today's session. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

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

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The high cost of northern living, Mr. Speaker, is an issue that affects each and every one of us every day. It is an issue that is often debated directly and indirectly in this Assembly. We have taken some steps to address this, Mr. Speaker. Last October, we passed motions in this Assembly on energy costs and the overall cost of living. We, through our committee system, requested the government to bring forward information and proposed actions on the high cost of energy and the high cost of living. They did so. I think they did so in a very useful and a progressive manner.

Mr. Speaker, in February of this year, this Assembly did something else. We passed a motion calling for an increase in the federal northern residency tax deduction and the ongoing annual indexing of this deduction to the cost of living.

Mr. Speaker, in the NWT, we have been told that on an annual basis we spend on average $2,000 more on food than the average Canadian, we spend an extra $2,400 on housing and our utility bills are $1,200 higher, yet the federal government's northern residence tax deduction has remained unchanged since 1991, at approximately $5,475.

Mr. Speaker, in the recent federal budget, all Canadians received some limited degree of tax relief. We are going to see the GST drop by one percent on July 1st. Personal income taxes for Canadians have also been reduced. But what about the high cost of living here in the NWT?

Mr. Speaker, our own ability to make a universal, equitable change in the cost of living for all of our residents is very limited, but the federal government can. This is why we asked in our motion in February for our Premier to speak with the Yukon and Nunavut counterparts about a pan-territorial appeal to Canada to make this very progressive change. I will be following up with the Premier to see how he has advanced that request, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

---Applause

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to raise awareness in this House to the need for support for small businesses in the North. It has again been brought to my attention that there is not enough support for small businesses as it relates to ongoing northern development and, more specifically, the proposed pipeline. Expectations were understandably raised since the division of RWED into Industry, Tourism and Investment and Environment and Natural Resources. Has there been anything new come from Industry, Tourism and Investment for small business since this division? Are there any new monies out there available for lending? Are there any contribution programs like the former EDA Program with the federal government?

If northern companies are going to participate and respond to the new demands that the pipeline will create, they need to know what will be available for capital and start-up funds for their business. Has the GNWT been in discussions with any banks or lending institutions on if they will be looking to finance small business involved in the pipeline and what their requirements would be? We need a commitment from this government to host a financial conference or workshop that brings small businesses and lenders together to discuss financing needs and solutions to ensure that those needs are met by lending institutions. When I talk about small business, Mr. Speaker, I am talking about the many owner-operated northern businesses that we have. There are a lot of potential investors out there as well, but this government does again need to play a role in facilitating matching those investors to the opportunities that will be here in the North.

Mr. Speaker, I would appreciate some answers and some action on the part of this government and, as someone has said, the opportunities for the pipeline are coming and are going to be going right by our door if we're not prepared. We need to provide as much support to small business as possible and we can't afford just to be offering kind of clich‚ answers to these kind of questions.

Mr. Speaker, I've been told time and again that businesspeople in the North feel that they could operate their companies more cheaply in the South, but they don't want to leave the North. They want to be here; they want to employ northerners. But we have to ask ourselves what we can do to ensure that they have the support that they need to continue to live and operate their businesses here in the Northwest Territories. Later today, Mr. Speaker, I'm going to have questions for the Minister of ITI as to any new initiatives or anything on the horizon that will go directly to the issue of support for small business. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. (Translation) Mr. Speaker, my Member's statement today will be regarding the Chief Jimmy Bruneau School. It's been over 30 years, we've been having a lot of graduates over the years. (Translation ends)

...within our Tlicho region has been recognized and chosen as one of the best aboriginal schools from across central, northern, and Atlantic Canada, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Mr. Speaker, Chief Jimmy Bruneau Regional High School in Behchoko has been selected by the GNWT and the non-profit Society for the Advancement of Excellence in Education to be part of the research study that will produce 10 case studies of exemplary aboriginal schools in order to identify and share success practices. The schools selected from across Canada were done in consultation with government and aboriginal authorities.

Mr. Speaker, the Society for the Advancement of Excellence in Education is an independent, non-profit research agency founded in 1996 to commission and share research on improving student achievement in Canada. To date this organization has produced 28 studies through research grants from Canadian foundations and governments and other agencies.

Mr. Speaker, Chief Jimmy Bruneau Regional High School is recognized throughout the North as one of the premier culture-based schools within the NWT. However, it is also becoming known for setting high standards in other areas including academic achievements, trades and technology, preparation, athletic development, and often a wide range of extracurricular opportunities for Tlicho students, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Chief Jimmy Bruneau Regional High School has the highest number of aboriginal high school graduates than any other community school across the territory. It is hoped that the research done for this case study will highlight the unique characteristics and strengthen the Tlicho students, staff and community so that other schools across the North can learn from the model of CJBS presence.

Mr. Speaker, this would not be possible without the hard work of the staff of CJBS, their hard work and dedication, the board, the resources people and the Tlicho leadership. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, graduation ceremonies are taking place across the NWT. Every region speaks about the high number of graduates they have in their communities, and that's a good story, Mr. Speaker.

Now comes the next step: going off to college. There, Mr. Speaker, lies a lot of my concerns as a Regular MLA. When many of these students go on to college, they apply for student financial assistance. While we continue to have the best support for post-secondary students in the country, there are still a few bugs that could be ironed out. One of the major concerns, Mr. Speaker, that I hear about in Inuvik is the fact that students attending schools in the South receive the same amount as students living in the North. Is the high cost of living not factored into the amounts allocated? The cost of living continues to escalate, but the amount that students receive stays the same. I have spoken to students outside of Inuvik who wanted to quit because it was becoming more difficult to attend college on the assistance they receive.

Mr. Speaker, while it is the responsibility of the students to help arrange their financing for school, we should do all we can to encourage students to attend post-secondary institutions and do all we can to assist them. The North will be the major beneficiary of the education of northerners. I will have questions at the appropriate time for Shawn Horcoff's uncle. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Laughter

---Applause

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