Good morning, colleagues. Orders of the day. Ministers' statements. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.

It is my pleasure to speak today about the recent accomplishments of staff from community governments and other community and regional organizations who have achieved program completion through the School of Community Government.

The Department of Municipal and Community Affairs' School of Community Government works with community governments and other national and territorial partners to design programs, write curriculum and schedule courses that provide meaningful theory and practical experiences to be used by students when they return to their workplace.

Since the School of Community Government was first established in 1999 as a response to training needs identified by community government and aboriginal organizations, more than 2,700 students, mostly community government staff, have taken part in training. Each year, the school offers approximately 100 courses in 15 broad program areas in communities throughout the Northwest Territories.

At the 2007 annual program completion ceremony held on April 12th, a total of 32 students of the School of Community Government were honoured, six students received their occupational certification as community finance officers and 26 received their completion certificate in the areas of land administration, community finance, community firefighter, firefighter instructor level one, administration, recreation facility operations or bylaw enforcement.

A significant highlight of the ceremony was the presentation of the first School of Community Government program completion certificate for our water treatment plant operator to Ms. Mary Louise Nitsiza from Behchoko. This is a remarkable achievement for both Ms. Nitsiza and for the community government of Behchoko which supported her throughout the courses and exams. Six students received their occupational certificate as community finance officers under the Government of the Northwest Territories' Apprenticeship, Trades and Occupations Act. This means there are now 18 community finance officers with occupational certification who are able to work in community governments. Occupational certification provides community government employees with a recognition of their competence in the skills and knowledge needed to perform their finance duties.

The program completion ceremony is an important milestone for the community government staff who meet the many challenges that face adult students in the Northwest Territories. This is the culmination of several years of work during which time students sacrifice time with family, time at work and their leisure hours to attend classes. The ceremony was an important opportunity to recognize this dedication and celebrate the successes achieved by these dedicated community government staff.

In closing, I would like to congratulate the students of the School of Community Government and all the community governments for supporting their employees and preparing for the future. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Ministers' statements. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to draw Members' attention to the RCMP change of command ceremony that will take place later today in the Great Hall.

Chief Superintendent Tom Middleton will be appointed as the 34th commanding officer of the RCMP "G" Division. He continues the excellent work of his predecessor, outgoing Commanding Officer Pat McCloskey. Chief Superintendent Middleton is a 30-year veteran of the RCMP and will provide leadership to officers across the NWT. He will have a critical role in strengthening RCMP relations with communities, government agencies and institutions as well as non-government organizations.

Our communities are served by about 200 regular and civilian RCMP members. They work in the hardest of conditions to respond to crimes, protect public security and prevent criminal activity. The work can range from community patrols to disrupting the operations of organized crime gangs. I know that everyone in this House has the greatest respect for the work these officers do.

Please join me today for the change of command ceremony at 2:00 p.m. in the Great Hall. As Minister of Justice, I would like to welcome Superintendent Middleton to the Territories. I would also like to thank Pat McCloskey

and Superintendent Rick Roy for their leadership over the past few years.

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Thank you. We look forward, Mr. Speaker, to working with Superintendent Middleton to address the continuing policing and security needs of all communities. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Bell. Ministers' statements. The honourable Member responsible for the Workers' Compensation Board, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, every year, we join together to celebrate North American Occupational Safety and Health Week, which this year falls on May 6th to 12th. This safety and health related week was first marked by an agreement between Canada, Mexico and the United States in 1997. In Canada, Canadian Occupational Health and Safety Week had been celebrated for 10 years prior to its international launching.

North American Occupational Safety and Health Week's goal is to focus the attention of employers, workers, the general public and all partners in occupational safety and the importance of preventing injury and illness in the workplace and at home. This year's theme, Start Today, expands on last year's theme of making a lifetime commitment to safety and health. It is never too early, or too late, to start learning about and practising safety.

As part of this year's activities, the organizing committee has several exciting safety and health related events planned. The Department of Transportation is hosting safety video lunches for GNWT employees in Yellowknife, Inuvik, Hay River and Fort Simpson. All Yellowknife schools have been invited to explore the Workers' Compensation Board's Mine Safety Discovery Zone. The unions, including the Union of Northern Workers, the Public Service Alliance of Canada and the Northern Territories Federation of Labour, have organized safety video lunches and quizzes, complete with prizes.

Today, the WCB is holding the 2007 Ready, Set, Go Safe! Team Challenge, a community safety relay race with lunch provided at a community barbeque hosted by the Northern Territories Federation of Labour.

I encourage all Members to get involved in North American Occupational Safety and Health Week this year, by participating in or by attending some or all of the planned events and to strengthen their commitment to occupational safety and health. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in celebration of National Nurses Week from May 7th to 13th, I would like to acknowledge the tireless contributions made to the residents of the NWT by our nurses.

This year's theme, Think You Know Nursing? Take a Closer Look, focuses on the expanded roles of nurses as leaders, innovators, pioneers, primary care providers, mentors, educators, researchers and administrators.

Mr. Speaker, the nursing shortage being experienced across Canada is also a reality here in the NWT. We are addressing this by training our own northern workforce through a four-year degree program at Aurora College. Each graduate northern nurse is offered a full-time job within the NWT health care system. We are supporting our current nurses through career development opportunities in community health nursing and other specialty areas.

We must continue to find innovative ways to deliver health care, and we look to nurses to continue their various roles in developing a strong and vibrant health care system, one that is responsive and reflects the priorities of northerners.

As Minister of Health and Social Services and on behalf of all northerners, I would like to express my gratitude for the many contributions each and every nurse makes on a daily basis. I invite the public and Members of the Legislative Assembly to join me in celebrating National Nurses Week. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to speak today about nurses and draw attention to the fact that this week is National Nursing Week across Canada. Tomorrow, Mr. Speaker, May 12th, is Florence Nightingale's birthday. In 1971, the International Council of Nurses declared May 12th International Nurses Day. In 1985, the council passed a resolution to begin negotiations with the federal government to explore having the week including May 12th proclaimed as National Nurses Week. A few months later, in recognition of the dedication and achievements of the nursing profession, the Minister of Health at the time proclaimed the second week of May as National Nurses Week. In 1993, the name was changed to National Nursing Week to emphasize the profession's accomplishments as a discipline.

The purpose of National Nursing Week is to increase awareness amongst the public, policymakers and governments, of the many contributions of nursing to the well-being, not only of Canadians but to northerners. It's also an opportunity to educate Canadians about health issues by providing information they need to make decisions about their health and to promote the role of the nurse.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to publicly acknowledge the hard work, dedication and

conviction shown by our nurses here in the Northwest Territories. Many of them have been through trying times over the past few years and nurses, Mr. Speaker, are the cornerstone of our health care system. Nursing for me is very close to home as my wife, Amanda, is a registered nurse and I get to have a very close-up look and understand some of the challenges and demands that are placed upon our nurses.

Mr. Speaker, I have the utmost respect for our nurses and I am very proud of the work and care they provide to our residents each and every day, in our hospitals, in our health centres, in clinics and in public health units and in our senior care facilities, Mr. Speaker.

With that, I want to thank the nurses for all they do for us each and every day. Mahsi.

---Applause

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize nurses week being May 6th to the 13th. I also would like to express my congratulations to Gail Beaulieu on her completion of the Nurse Practitioner Program at Thebacha college last week.

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I would also like to see Ms. Beaulieu return to her hometown of Deninu Kue and continue to provide nursing services to the residents, because we do have a shortage of nurses in our community and people are encouraged to visit our health centre on an emergency basis only.

Mr. Speaker, the nurses here in the North have to be very dedicated, hard working and committed while working in an atmosphere that is very personal, sensitive and often borderlines on abusive in nature. The long hours and effects on their personal lives and health are often overlooked by many residents who use our health care providers on a regular basis. Mr. Speaker, this has to change.

We, as a government, have to fully support and recognize that there needs to be more emphasis on educating northerners about the positive, long-term effects that communities can realize when we start treating all our health care professionals, especially our nurses, with the respect and the dignity they so rightfully deserve.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, I want to encourage people to value, commend and thank our nurses at all times of the year and not just this week or on nurses day tomorrow, May 12th. I hope people will start doing that and then we can realize that our nurses will want to stay in our small communities to treat the people that they know personally. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, May 6th to 13th is International Nurses Week and at this time I would like to acknowledge nurses week and recognize the work and dedication of nurses around the world, across the country and here at home in our communities in the Northwest Territories. It seems that with each passing year, there is more and more pressure put our health care system and in the face of shortages in our different, varying medical professionals that are being experienced across the country, sometimes in the absence of a doctor, it is nurses that will take on additional responsibilities, especially in our small northern communities.

Nurses are involved in the whole spectrum of health care, home care, health promotion, public health, diabetes care, emergency care. Our nurses provide service in long-term care, acute care, dialysis management, psychiatric care, prenatal, obstetrics, telephone advice via our Tele-Care program. This is quite a list of responsibilities in a wide spectrum of health care services.

To give a sense of proportion of staff that are nurses, roughly one-third of the staff at the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority are nurses. They are professionals with a broad knowledge of care delivery and some go on to specialize in certain areas such as managing chronic diseases, dealing with infection control or becoming nurse practitioners.

In Hay River, we are very fortunate to have many long-term nurses and although there have been periodic vacant positions, I commend the hospital staff, the CEO Paul Vieria and the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority for their efforts in managing, scheduling and filling these vacant positions in order to provide the level of health care that we enjoy in Hay River.

In closing, I would like to congratulate our nurses and health care workers for their excellent service to the public and thank them for the contribution they make to ensuring the health and safety of the residents that they serve. Tonight, Mr. Speaker, we will have the pleasure of joining with our health care professionals in Hay River, along with Minister Roland, to honour them in a night that is specially set aside to show our appreciation for them.

Mr. Speaker, not to change the subject, but I was figuring out a way that I could work this into my Member's statement. I would like to recognize my two daughters-in-law who are involved in a different type of nursing for many, many hours lately and they will be celebrating their first Mother's Day this Sunday as mothers of my two new grandchildren, and I also wish Happy Mother's Day to all the women across the Northwest Territories who are fortunate enough to be mothers. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The financial and community, territorial and federal governments, and

certainly the developers of the Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline project, are, I think, still trying to get used to the stunning news of a couple of months ago about the revision, cost and the timing of the pipeline. The cost is more than doubled to something like $16 billion Canadian with a completion date for the project now in 2014. One global energy advisor, a company called Tristone Capital, in a report just last week, said that the very high-risk project, in order to earn the high returns that would normally be required on a project of this nature, is not commercially viable and that it may need as much as $2 billion in government support or financial aid or incentive to make this happen.

Now, Mr. Speaker, many Canadians absolutely shudder at the thought of subsidizing ventures such as Exxon Mobile which had revenues of over $370 billion in 2005. Certainly, we have to take on an abundance of caution whenever we are starting to talk about government support or investment of taxpayers' money in projects like this. But we have to look at some of the significant barriers we have here in the NWT to our own sustainable development. That really involves infrastructure, the kind of thing we have been talking about of late here, the Deh Cho Bridge, hydro investment, ports and communication facilities. So we have yet to see, Mr. Speaker, any real legacy project arising from the already significant developments that have happened in the NWT. So here it seems is an opportunity for the federal government if they are going to come on board to invest and contribute to this project not through any equity position, Mr. Speaker, or direct subsidy or financial support but in the building of these very crucial, very necessary and I think very significant kinds of investments that will help this project to become a reality and indeed leave the kind of legacy that we need here in the Northwest Territories for generations to come, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Before I begin my Member's statement, I would like to send a birthday wish to my brother Frank Pokiak in Tuktoyaktuk and also to Therese Voudrach.

---Applause

Mr. Speaker, just prior to me coming down to attend the Sixth Session of the 15th Legislative Assembly, a well-respected elder from Tuktoyaktuk spoke to me regarding the water quality that is delivered to the residents of Tuktoyaktuk. He is concerned with the chemicals added into the water; for example, chlorine and fluoride.

Mr. Speaker, this elder remembers long ago when everyone would haul water from nearby freshwater lakes for drinking purposes. As a young person growing up, I too remember hauling water from nearby freshwater lakes and getting ice from these lakes for dog teams. Mr. Speaker, years ago, water was delivered by trucks and pumped into 45 gallon barrel drums for daily use. Today, most communities have water reservoirs and the water is either trucked or piped into water reservoirs. Once the reservoirs are filled, the hamlet maintenance staff add chemicals to the water.

Mr. Speaker, I understand there are strict water policy guidelines to follow when treating water. The concern raised by the elder is that he is worried because, over the last number of years, people are becoming ill. It is not known if the chemicals added to the water may be a cause for these illnesses.

Mr. Speaker, I am confident the hamlet's maintenance staff are qualified to treat the water for safe drinking purposes. In closing, Mr. Speaker, as a government, we must ensure the water quality is safe for all the residents of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. (Translation) Today, I would like to recognize some of our youth that play in soccer. Students from the Chief Jimmy Bruneau School travel south for tournaments. They recently went to Grande Prairie. They really tried to win those games. They will compete in other tournaments coming this fall. There is also another person that is recognized as a valuable player who was selected recently. They have played in a lot of tournaments last year. They have been trying for many years now. They are recognized as good players. I would like to recognize the 11 players and also their coach, Michael Botermans. (Translation ends)

Today, I would like to recognize all of our youth who represent our communities in sports. In particular, I would like to recognize some particularly talented athletes from Chief Jimmy Bruneau School in Behchoko. Congratulations to Rae Warriors under 20 boys soccer team who put on a fabulous show at the 2007 Northern Lights Cup in Grande Prairie, Alberta, this past weekend. As a result of their fantastic talents, Mr. Speaker, four of the star players were identified and selected for soccer scholarships this fall.

---Applause

They will be playing for the Grande Prairie Regional College in September 2007. Congratulations to Marvin Migwi, Tyrone Fish, Rusty Mantla, and Almer Tinqui. Just as exciting, Mr. Speaker, Cordelia Bouvier, who was also given a soccer scholarship to play for the Grande Prairie women's team. She has shown for many years that she can play with the best of the boys. Her feisty play and strong defence are her strong qualities, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, this year, the same team has been named the 2006-2007 NWT Team of the Year by the Sport North Federation. These young athletes earned it and deserve this recognition for years of dedication and hard work. Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate this team. Mahsi.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Member's statements. The honourable Member for the Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to speak about the success story of the Norman Wells Day Care. This is a great example of how a community can work to provide for itself. In the past, I spoke about the need for day care places in the Sahtu. The entire region had only 59 licensed day care spots. The new Norman Wells Day Care will add 20 day care and 10 pre-school spots thanks to the efforts of the Norman Wells Early Childhood Society. I would like to congratulate the society for the workers, the volunteers, Chamber of Commerce, the Norman Wells Land Corporation, the Town of Norman Wells, the corporate donors and all the GNWT departments that made this project possible.

This is a remarkable success story, Mr. Speaker, because people almost gave up on this idea. They could not find the estimated $500,000 fund required to build a new facility. What turned their fortune around was the Housing Corporation of the Northwest Territories agreeing to supply to surplus three houses for a nominal fee. The ownership was transferred to the Norman Wells Early Childhood Society and several community businesses chipped in to help out with the renovations and the relocation of a building to a site donated by the Town of Norman Wells. At the end, Norman Wells will one day have a day care opened this fall for less than half the original estimated cost.

The Norman Wells Early Childhood Society estimates that start-up costs were around $200,000. This success is a great example for a community for its driven solutions. I would like to congratulate the residents and businesses of Norman Wells for their endless efforts and the agencies for the collaborations for making day care a reality for the mothers. Maybe this is a happy Mother's Day gift to all the mothers in the Sahtu in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

---Applause

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