Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The challenge of Highway No. 1 has certainly been a very frustrating point in our work on Highway No. 7 with our department and our contractors. Work is being done in terms of Highway No. 7 reconstruction. We are digging up that part of the section. What we want to do is take part of the section, dig it up, put the proper basing in there to rebase the road, and then reconstruct it to a passable section of road. We are looking at options in terms of how we can keep traffic moving between Fort Liard and the other communities, so we will take the Member’s suggestion. If it gets really bad, then we would have to look at a bypass to keep the traffic flowing for the people in Fort Liard.

Thank you very much,

Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister to reach out

and grab all the resources he has, put them together and then build our road.

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to know how much work has been done to date. It’s apparent to constituents that it looks like nothing is being done, but I’d like to know: have tenders been provided? Who is going to do the work? When, at the bare minimum, can they build a bypass road past these muddy sections that are causing the most interruption?

Mr. Speaker, if I were to reach out, I would have other MLAs question me.

Mr. Speaker, we have looked at the road. We have a plan in place. Again, with the weather being on our side, Mother Nature plays a big part in terms of how much work we can get done. We want to do rebasing of that section. We are looking at it. I will instruct my officials to come back and look at the options. This is going to cause us a lot of hiccups during this season. We would have to look at a bypass that would at least be less disruptive to the travelling public of Nahendeh. I will get back and keep the Member informed. However, the contractors and our staff in that section are working extra hard. We’re working to see how soon we can get this road back into standard operational travelling condition.

Once again, the bypass road has got to be part of the reconstruction plans. I would like to know when they will be building and constructing the bypass road. Failing that, Mr. Speaker, can we get a bridge?

Mr. Speaker, we’ll have to wait for the bridge.

I will call my officials this afternoon, and we will, hopefully, have some discussions on the bypass road and see what type of work is being done so far. If a bypass road is something that we have to do, we will do it for the travelling public. However, I would like to first speak to my officials, and I will keep the Member informed in terms of the options that he’s talked about today.

Thank you, Mr.

Yakeleya. Final

supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d just like to reiterate one more time the frustration of the travelling public and the people of my communities at having the road closed.

Once again, can the Minister tell me when he can start building the road? I think we can still move gravel, even if the conditions are rainy, up to the muddy sections there. Thank you.

I understand the frustration from Liard residents and people in Fort

Simpson about the road closure. I understand completely, because I come from a region that doesn’t have a road. I know the frustration the residents are talking about. I would share my frustrations with the Member here. We are moving on this road. We are looking at what we can do. We are looking at how we can get this road back into drivable condition.

We did have a road that was transferred by the federal government to this government. The standards weren’t up to par, so we are reconstructing roads right across the North to bring them to meet the National Standards Safety Code and have the safety of our public on these roads as a first priority. I will get back and I will speak with the Member after the House in terms of the details of action. I wouldn’t mind taking him to Highway No. 7 here and looking at how we can do this road to satisfy his people.

Thank you, Mr.

Yakeleya. Oral

questions. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When I was reviewing senior management within the GNWT, I noticed that 15 per cent were aboriginal, and this was after 20 years of Affirmative Action. I was appalled at the numbers that I’ve seen. I use the word “appalled” because it sounds better than “totally disgusted.”

A few years ago they had the Public Service Career Training Program, which helped some of these people who had experience but lacked some technical skills. This helped them work their way up the ladder. It was a good program. My understanding is that it had a fairly good success rate. The program is no longer in existence.

I’d like to direct my questions today to the Minister of Human Resources. I’d like to ask him why the decision was made to cancel the program. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

McLeod. The

honourable Minister responsible for Human Resources, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My understanding is that it was a decision made at the time of division, at which time there was legislation that prevented the Legislature from going into a deficit position. At that time it was one of the reductions. There was a small portion that was left over that went into Education for training.

I’m not quite sure if I understand the answer, but since division our public service has grown quite a bit more than we had when Nunavut was still a part of the Northwest Territories.

I’d like to ask the Minister if he is aware of where that direction came from to cancel that program. Was it a decision made by the Legislative Assembly?

As part of a budget reduction exercise, it was a proposal that was put forward as part of the transition planning process from one government to the next incoming government. It was a proposal that was accepted and passed by the Legislative Assembly.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Minister for that. We have a lot of good, hard-working aboriginals out there who want the opportunity to move up based on the merit of their work. Some of them can go to school, but a lot of them, like I said before, with experience to do the work, just need a little more training. By training them, I think this government would realize savings by not having to pay SFA if they’re going to school. They’d be taking the training and doing the work at the same time.

I’d like to ask the Minister what opportunities there are today for aboriginal employees of the government who wish to gain more training without having to go to school and to be able to work their way up the ladder.

The government still has programs that are available to be accessed. One is the Management Assignment Program, which has an intake of, I believe, 20 people per year, and I think it had taken input in until last year. Anybody who applies or whose name is put forward has to be assessed with regard to the skills they have. Then, basically, they obtain experience through transfer assignments and work assignments of that ilk.

Also, senior managers or departments have the ability to identify aboriginal people who have the potential to move up, and they can develop a training plan for them so that they can go out to university and get their graduate degree or what have you. These are the kinds of things that are usually negotiated at the deputy minister level. Other than that, they can take training, and the government will reimburse them when they successfully complete the course.

I said that I’d never endorse the practice of hiring aboriginals just to fill a quota, but there are many good, qualified and willing people out there. The Minister spoke of the transfer assignments. I think that’s just another way of getting specific people into specific positions. I don’t

think it’s designed for aboriginals. I may pose that as a written question.

I’d like to ask the Minister if Affirmative Action applies to the MAP program.

The Affirmative Action Policy applies to the MAP program, but generally, it’s application-based. If an aboriginal person doesn’t apply, then they don’t have an opportunity to be selected.

I should point out that our government is looking at a number of different ways to try to address the problem. One is the employment equity program, whereby we would target specific groups and sectors to increase the number of aboriginal people. Also, we’re reviewing the Public Service Career Training Program, which was cut some years ago, to see if it could still apply.

Thank you, Mr.

McLeod. Oral

questions. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today in my Member’s statement I spoke about housing issues in the Northwest Territories. I have questions for the Minister of housing.

Has the Minister given direction to the Housing Corporation to establish a long-term plan that specifically addresses the issue of the CMHC’s declining fund?

Thank you, Mr.

Beaulieu. The

honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member knows, that’s an issue of some complexity. We have engaged with the other provinces and territories. We passed a motion in this House recently for support and encouragement to the federal government. We’re going to work collectively with the other provinces and territories to encourage the federal government and Minister Solberg, and we acknowledged that in our Framework for Action. As we move forward with the business-planning process, we’re going to have to keep working on the political pressure to elevate this to the national table. The Ministers of Finance and the Premiers have also picked up the issue of housing as a critical national one for us. We have taken that offensive to address that issue.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister kind of answered my second question, about what the federal commitment has been so far, but I’m

curious. I’m assuming that the decline is going to happen. I’m assuming that CMHC is not going to come back with long-term O&M dollars. My question is: has the Minister given direction to the Housing Corporation to address this issue of the CMHC declining fund?

Mr. Speaker, the intention is not to throw in the towel in terms of negotiations with and encouragement of the federal government. We’re convinced that sooner or later they’re going to have to recognize that they have a national crisis on their hands which they have to play a role in. In the meantime, as we go to our Framework for Action plan and our annual business-planning process, the issue of declining funding is going to become more and more evident, I believe, starting in 2010–2011.