Good afternoon, colleagues. Welcome back to the House. Orders of the day. Ministers' statements. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, later today, I will be tabling the Northwest Territories energy plan.

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This plan provides a comprehensive roadmap to guide and supply GNWT decisions regarding the development, generation, and use of energy in the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, we have a tremendous supply of energy resources in our territory, yet the cost of energy in our communities is very high and contributes significantly to our elevated cost of living.

Meanwhile, the environmental impacts of energy use, and in particular climate change, are already being evidenced across the North.

For this reason, and to emphasize the importance of addressing the impacts of climate change and establishing targets for greenhouse gas emissions, my colleague Minister McLeod will also be tabling today the revised NWT Greenhouse Gas Strategy.

Mr. Speaker, our residents are demanding action in many areas, including: energy efficiency and conservation; the development of renewable energy; the application of emerging technologies; and, the reduction of energy use by the GNWT.

This plan focuses on actions and investments. It proposes both new initiatives and the enhancement of existing initiatives, representing a total investment of approximately $6 million. It includes a number of specific projects such as the Taltson hydroelectric expansion, the conversion of three public buildings in Fort Smith to interruptible hydroelectric power, the expansion of wind monitoring and a geothermal pilot project for Aurora College.

It also provides for a significant commitment of funds to advance and support the goals and targets that have been identified in the revised NWT Greenhouse Gas Strategy.

Mr. Speaker, much of this investment will be leveraged with federal programs and funding. For example, the recently announced $5 million in federal funding from the EcoEnergy Trust initiative will be directed towards the priorities identified in this energy plan.

Together, we are working to ensure a lasting legacy of clean, affordable energy for future generations in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Bell. Ministers' statements. The honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, later today, I will be tabling the revised Northwest Territories Greenhouse Gas Strategy.

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In 2005, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources took a stakeholder review of the previous Greenhouse Gas Strategy released in 2001. This review revealed the existing strategy was on the right track and represented a good start towards managing greenhouse gas emissions. It also identified shortcomings, including a lack of emission reduction targets, the absence of an implementation plan, insufficient funding and a general lack of accountability for results.

The revised strategy remedies these shortcomings. Meeting climate change and greenhouse gas emissions head on requires action, and that action is captured in this revised strategy.

The strategy commits the Government of the Northwest Territories to lead through example by adopting a greenhouse gas emission reduction target of 10 percent below 2001 levels by the year 2011 in our own operations.

This will be accomplished by actions such as testing and purchasing hybrid vehicles, increasing energy performance in government buildings and developing a new green procurement policy for the Government of the Northwest Territories.

There are also actions to reduce emissions in the community and residential sectors and in the commercial and industrial sector that have been incorporated into the revised strategy.

This revised strategy will also place a much greater emphasis on the need to respond to the impacts of climate change. Following implementation of the revised Greenhouse Gas Strategy, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources will begin to develop a climate change impacts and adaptation plan.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, the revised Greenhouse Gas Strategy commits the department to undertake a further review of the strategy in 2010 with the objective of establishing long-term targets beyond 2011.

Between the Greenhouse Gas Strategy and the energy plan, I am confident our government will strike the right balance between meeting the energy needs of our residents and industry and the need to protect the environment.

Mr. Speaker, I want to stress that the time for change is now. There is a saying that goes, "think globally, act locally," and I ask the people of the Northwest Territories to start acting locally by making at least one small change to reduce their own personal greenhouse gas emissions. It can be as simple as not idling our vehicles, or lowering our thermostat in our homes by one or two degrees. Big changes can begin with these small actions.

I invite Members of this Legislative Assembly and the public to join Minister Bell and myself in the Great Hall later this afternoon for a press conference following the tabling of the energy plan and the Greenhouse Gas Strategy. Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Minister McLeod. Ministers' statements. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Roland.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have chaired the most recent Canada Northwest Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Partnership, CNFASDP, Ministers' meeting on March 10th. The NWT is the lead jurisdiction for the partnership, and Ministers from Nunavut, Yukon, British Columbia and Manitoba, along with representatives from Alberta and Saskatchewan, attended the meeting in Victoria, B.C.

The partnership recognizes the importance of addressing the issue of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, or FASD, by sharing information and best practices in order to promote and develop prevention, intervention, care and support strategies for individuals affected by FASD.

Two years ago, the partnership established a research network to carry out and support research initiatives in western and northern Canada. At the meeting in Victoria, Ministers agreed to increase the funding of this research network to ensure projects underway can continue and to leverage alternative funding.

Ministers from the partnership were invited to attend the closing ceremonies of an international FASD conference held concurrently in Victoria. This conference was sponsored in part by the partnership. The closing ceremonies provided an opportunity for children and young adults with FASD to recognize the work and added value the partnership brings to the lives of children, families and communities affected by FASD.

During the past year, the partnership has achieved a number of other successes. For example:

• • network action teams with lead agencies in Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia were established;
• • Saskatchewan hosted a biannual conference attended by 650 delegates from every province and territory, and the United States, and countries as far away as Africa;
• • the research network carried out consultations with First Nations, Metis and Inuit communities; and
• • a meeting was held in Yellowknife in September 2006, where Ministers discussed the research priorities of the network in future years.

Manitoba will be assuming the lead of the partnership at the end of this fiscal year as the jurisdictions rotate this position on a yearly basis. The NWT will continue to play an active role in the partnership. I look forward to our continued full participation.

FASD is a lifelong condition. Effective prevention efforts, early diagnosis, support environments and a range of special supports and services are necessary to assist individuals and their families in their journey towards self-reliance and well-being.

The GNWT is committed to preventing FASD in our territory. It is an important task and with alliances such as this partnership, we are working together to help residents make healthy decisions for themselves and their babies. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Roland. Ministers' statements. Before I go on to the next order on the Order Paper, colleagues, I would like to bring you're your attention to the gallery to the presence of a former Member of this House and former Speaker, Mr. Sam Gargan.

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I am going to use my Member's statement to talk about this government's policies on the rental arrears kind of spiralling out of control here for the past five to 10 years at the Housing Corporation. I do support all of the initiatives that do assist people to address their outstanding accounts with the Housing Corporation or the local housing organizations, but this government definitely has to make some fundamental changes to the rent scale policies and their eviction processes if they wish to recover any significant amount of the $8 million-plus that is owed to the LHOs and to the Housing Corporation, especially if these people that are living in public housing, if we want to stop them from continuing to slide deeper and deeper into debt, which seems to be the way we are going now.

The first thing that this government has to do is to develop a small communities rent scale policy that is not based on the market rent for Yellowknife and is not adjusted because of the vacancy rates in Yellowknife either, and clearly does not reflect the fair share of real earned income that people are willing to pay for some of the conditions that they have to live under like overcrowding and the large inventory of dilapidated housing that we have in our smaller communities.

Mr. Speaker, every client of the Housing Corporation with outstanding arrears has to be addressed on an individual basis and the methods of repayment customized to each individual circumstance. Mr. Speaker, the people who are stepping up to the plate to pay down their outstanding accounts have to be given the gratitude and consideration that they deserve for doing what they are doing, because it is often very difficult for these people to pay down such large debts, especially when they have large families to support and they are on small incomes or they might be on income support.

I have constituents who have made significant sacrifices to pay down their debt, Mr. Speaker. But then, again, they are not given due consideration for better housing or even housing programs because of their so-called bad credit that they had with the Housing Corporation or the LHO. But these are the people who should be accommodated and properly housed, because they have obviously shown us that they can assume the responsibility of keeping current with the rent and may be the better clients with the lesser risks to taking on homeownership, which, I believe, is what this government is working towards and we should continue to do that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Next Monday, the federal Minister of Finance for Canada, Mr. Flaherty, is going to be delivering his budget. There are a few things on that list that I want to take one more opportunity to make sure Mr. Flaherty knows, from the point of view of northerners, we would sure like to see in that budget.

Mr. Speaker, at the very top of the list, of course, goes the desire and the very deserving proposals that we have been looking for resource revenue sharing, Mr. Speaker, and devolution of the control of those resources to the Northwest Territories. Bring those resources and the wealth home, Mr. Speaker.

We have been asking for, after I think it is some 18 years now, a re-evaluation of the northern residents income tax deduction. The cost of living has increased 150 percent since then, Mr. Speaker. We have calculated that, here in the NWT, if you are making an annual wage of about $60,000, by increasing this long-overdue tax accommodation for the cost of living up here, you could have about $840 stay in your pocket if you made $60,000 a year. I think that is something very worthwhile.

Mr. Speaker, we want to see the cuts that the Conservative Party of Canada brought in last fall restored. I would put it at the very top of the restoring the cuts that were made to literacy, Mr. Speaker, and to the volunteers initiative.

One more item on my shopping list for the budget next Monday, Mr. Speaker, is that the Visitor Rebate Program be evaluated to make sure that a GST application, which has never been there before, is not put on the cost of visitors coming into Canada when the product was sold to them offshore, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Braden. Before I go to the next Member, I would like to draw colleagues' attention to the visitors gallery. There is a group of 16 new officers with Foreign Affairs and International Trades Canada visiting here in the Northwest Territories. Their visit to the Legislative Assembly here today is part of their training to become familiar with economic, political and social issues of Canada prior to their future postings overseas in Canadian embassies, high commissions and consulates. Welcome to the Legislative Assembly. I hope you are enjoying the proceedings.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to comment on the Yellowknife schools issue, this ongoing saga that has become a very large topic of discussion here in Yellowknife. I have listened to many parents who have phoned or e-mailed me with their concerns. Parents and students are being put in a very difficult position because their children are all part of a very serious discussion regarding space utilization in Yellowknife schools.

Mr. Speaker, some are quick to point the finger at our Education Minister for his known aversion to making decisions. However, the circumstances surrounding the crises that are out there today is not the sole responsibility of Minister Dent or the Department of ECE. To his credit, the Minister has worked with both boards and the Regular Members from Yellowknife on this issue for well over three years. He has tried his best to get both boards to set aside their differences and to do what is best for the children of our community.

Mr. Speaker, I find myself in a very difficult situation with both Ecole St. Joseph's School and N.J. McPherson in my riding. I have seen the space crunch at St. Joseph's first-hand. With the fire last summer and the renovations that are desperately required, their students need to be accommodated somewhere. If the number of empty seats in YK 1 schools is anywhere between 500 and 800 empty seats, then a solution should be workable between the two boards. No one wants to see funding cut or a school close. What parents I have spoken to want to see is a resolution. How can we expect to teach our children to share and to cooperate when both school boards seem so bent on not working together? I implore both boards to cogitate about what their differences are doing to the community, its parents and students. A solution is out there and must be found. I do hope that all relevant information is available to parents of both school districts. The Minister should also host public information sessions

for all parents and stakeholders of both districts to come and discuss the issues. In a time of crisis, this community has a history of being able to pull together. We owe it to our students and to our community to work out this situation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I recently had the opportunity to meet with the Territorial Farmers' Association in Hay River. Agriculture is a renewable resource activity that has great potential in the North. In fact, in times past, it has contributed significantly to the production of food in the Northwest Territories.

The TFA has undertaken several innovative and amazing initiatives recently. In September 2006, the TFA hosted a pan-North American circumpolar agriculture conference in Hay River. The theme of the conference was Changing Times in Northern Agriculture. The objective of the conference was to promote agriculture possibilities in northern regions and to generate North American interest in circumpolar agriculture.

I had the pleasure of representing Minister Bell at this conference and speaking at one of the noon luncheons. The TFA has also been involved in testing a product combining sawdust, straw and peat to compost chicken manure to be used to enrich the soil of northern farms. Another very interesting project was the harvesting of a seed collection that would see the future pipeline route re-vegetated with northern plant species after construction.

Mr. Speaker, a study by the Territorial Farmers' Association estimates that 25 percent of the produce shipped from the South could be grown in the North. This 25 percent could be worth as much as $13 million and could generate as many as 80 jobs. Soil surveys have proven that about 3.6 million hectares of land in the South Slave lowlands and the Upper Mackenzie, including the Hay River and Fort Liard regions, are potential arable lands.

Mr. Speaker, our government needs to support this forward thinking association. We have all heard the pleas of our people regarding the high cost of living, the high cost of food and the lack of availability of fresh foods in many of our communities.

In order to encourage agricultural activity during our pre-budget consultations last summer, we heard from the TFA of a way that our government could do their part to encourage agriculture through the re-examining of how agricultural land is assessed under the Property Assessment and Taxation Act. There is no unique distinction in the PATA for agriculture lands assessment. Agriculture is a low-impact activity and, unlike non-renewable resources, effort and money invested in agriculture isn't here today and gone tomorrow. I would like this government to demonstrate its commitment to continuing to work with the TFA and its members, by attending the 16th annual seminar in Hay River on March 24th.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement, please.

The Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude her statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You may conclude your statement, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This year's focus will be on gardening and greenhouses. Many interesting presenters are lined up, including a company that specializes in water treatment plants which could provide innovative ideas for small communities and businesses that would benefit from alternate water delivery systems. Mr. Speaker, we need to do what we can as a government to support organizations like the Territorial Farmers' Association who work very hard to generate interest and support producers in the area of agriculture. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have been in discussions and have been contacted by a constituent. This constituent is a president of one of the territorial sporting organizations that have soccer for the Northwest Territories. He has raised a number of significant concerns with me in regards to the funding and the new structure that is there. Basically, Mr. Speaker, he paints a picture of an inverted pyramid that comes down and is on the backs of a handful of very dedicated, taxed volunteers that he says are frustrated and burning out.

The president states that the organization and funding of sports and recreation is in a state of crisis in the Northwest Territories, and that the overall system is drastically under funded and the allocation of actual monies to the grassroots volunteers in the territorial sporting organizations results to less than $400,000 out of all the money that the government puts into sports. The president goes on to state that, this year, 22 out of 27 TSOs are penalized $20,000 in late fees and $89,000 in performance penalties for a total of $119,000 being removed from their collective base funding. Mr. Speaker, that comes to 50 percent of the funding for the Soccer Association. All appeals, he says, have been denied. The president goes on to state that it is a bureaucratic nightmare that is taxing volunteers to the maximum. The question is asked, what happens to the $119,000 that the TSOs are supposed to get if they don't get it? The net effect is that there will be a negative effect on the communities, that they will have difficulty in delivering programs in their communities. He doesn't anticipate there will be a problem in Yellowknife, but there will be in the communities. These problems have put a stranglehold on the system, he said, not allowing the system to grow or move forward.

The president goes on to point out about a serious overlap of duties between MACA and Sports North, not to mention the feud that exists between them. He suggested the system needs some serious streamlining. The net result of all this, Mr. Speaker, is a burning out of volunteers at an alarming rate. The president goes on to recognize that Sport North has become a games delivery organization, which they do very well, but they are little use to TSOs, Mr. Speaker. May I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement?

The Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You may conclude your statement, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The president goes on to suggest that the TSOs should be dealing directly with government, as they do in other provinces. In regards to the funding and the lotteries, the president asserts that is a fallacy, almost unethical to believe, that lotteries can, or should, fund our system. They help, but the government needs to step up and commit real capital dollars to sport.

Mr. Speaker, this points to some serious questions in how do we work together in this new system to make sure we keep all the players in the tent. I will be asking the Minister questions later today in question period.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The sudden death of Mrs. Voudrach of Tuktoyaktuk shocked husband, Paul, his family and residents of Tuktoyaktuk. Mrs. Voudrach broke her wrist by slipping outside the Rosie Ovayuak Centre on February 2, 2007, in Tuktoyaktuk. After complications in her wrist, the local head nurse decided to send her out to the Stanton Territorial Hospital in Yellowknife on Monday, February 19, 2007, for a wrist operation. My understanding of the situation, she was to have the surgery the following day, on Tuesday, February 20, 2007. Mr. Speaker, for some reason, the surgery was performed on the same evening she arrived at the hospital. Is this a normal practice for people that require surgery on the same day? Complications arose during the operation and eventually Mrs. Voudrach became asphyxiated during the operation and suffered a cardiac arrest. The doctors and staff tried to revive Mrs. Voudrach, but she died on the operating table.

Mr. Speaker, many residents rely on doctors and nurses during minor and major operations. They are specialized in the profession they take and we respect that. However, the question that remains: Did the doctors and staff make the appropriate decision to operate on Mrs. Voudrach that evening? I understand an autopsy was conducted on Mrs. Voudrach and the report won't be available for eight to 10 weeks. Is this a normal time to release information on cause of death?

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Voudrach has publicly announced in the newspaper by asking questions why the operation was conducted on his wife, Norma Voudrach, that evening; why the report of the autopsy will take eight to 10 weeks to become public; and why the Department of Health and Social Services cannot provide him with information on the cause of death. I understand that Mr. Voudrach may be seeking a legal opinion on his wife, Norma Voudrach's death with the Department of Health and Social Services.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, these questions raised by Mr. Voudrach and his family need to be addressed by the Department of Health and Social Services. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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