I was very glad to hear the Minister finally mention the education boards. He mentioned a lot of different organizations and finally mentioned the boards that he is consulting with as well. That’s a good thing.

The Minister has received a letter from the regional boards, and there are a number of recommendations in that letter for the Minister. On a similar vein, I’d like to know what action the Minister is planning to take to address these suggested options, apart from meeting with these board chairs.

Mr. Speaker, we did meet with the Deh Cho superintendent, who is coordinating for the superintendents, and also with the chairs of the respective regions’ education boards. We met a couple of weeks ago. They proposed three or four options for us to consider,

but we wanted to deal with the immediate issue at hand: the new recruits and the returning teachers coming to the North, especially in the isolated communities that may not have housing units.

We’re going to work closely with the Housing Corporation to identify vacant units that can be made available to the teaching staff. That is one area where we have found possible solutions. The superintendent also gave us the option of moving forward with the long-term plans. We are making progress in that area and working closely with the education boards and with the department as well. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, we are wrapping up our process of recruiting teachers and principals for the North. We’re focussing on their arrival, whether it be August or September, possibly mostly in August, when they arrive before school starts. That’s a short-term solution we are identifying. The long-term solution will be in the next few years. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr.

Lafferty. Final

supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That’s good to hear, and I hope we can find a solution for housing in every community that currently has a problem. One of the options suggested by the boards in their letter was to allow regional boards to have the same authority as the local Yellowknife board and that they be given the authority to acquire and dispose of real property.

I’d like to know from the Minister whether or not this is something the department will or can consider and when we might expect to see a change in the legislation before this House.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This option was just given to us recently, so we need to sit down as a department and go over the options. Certainly, it will be presented once we move forward. There’s still ongoing discussion within my department. It hasn’t moved forward because this will be a long-term solution. Once we’ve made a decision, we’ll certainly come back to the committee, possibly the Social Programs Committee, that deals with our ECE department. At that point in time we’ll certainly be sharing that information with the committee. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr.

Lafferty. The

honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since it’s our last day before we sit again in October, I want to use this opportunity to question the Minister of Transportation on dust control, because in October we won’t have to worry about it.

The Minister has heard many times from myself and my colleague from Mackenzie Delta on the need for dust control on the Dempster Highway. I’d like to ask him if those decisions to apply dust control are made at the regional level or from headquarters.

Thank you, Mr.

McLeod. The

honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Regarding the issue of dust control and some of the issues on the highway transportation systems, certainly the regional offices have some say in terms of moving projects forward. They certainly come up to the headquarters level. At the headquarters level we have discussions in terms of funding allocations and priorities in the areas where we have to look at reconstruction. From there we make decisions, and we provide that back to the regional office in terms of the projects that go forward.

I’d like to ask the Minister if the regional office does submit budgets to headquarters, and in those budgets do they earmark particular money for dust control.

Mr.

Speaker, the

Member is right. The regional offices submit certain projects to go forward. When it comes to the headquarters level, we certainly have some discussion and forward that to the regional office for approval of certain projects based on funding requirements and priorities in our transportation system across the North.

Obviously, the Minister has heard our concerns in this House. The travelling public in the Beaufort-Delta have expressed their concerns to us, to the Minister, to the regional office. There’s a disconnect somewhere; somebody is not getting the message, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to ask the Minister if his department or headquarters would direct the regional operations to earmark a particular pot of money for dust control, so we can have more than 100 feet of dust control on the Dempster.

I have driven the Dempster; I know what the Member is talking about. I certainly made the deputy and the regional

office aware. We have set aside a certain amount of money in each of the regional operations. They forward their requests and know that the regional office in Inuvik has indicated it’s very high on the list in terms of the issue of improving the dust-control budget.

We have increased the budget based on his recommendations — not to the amount I know the Member would like us to. However, I made it clear to the deputy that I would like to see the Dempster Highway receive more of the dust-control revenue. It’s a major reconstruction, so I made it very clear to the department that I’d like to keep the focus on this issue — as the Member has talked about — on the Dempster Highway, in terms of dust control.

Thank you, Mr.

Yakeleya. Final

supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker. It’s a

concern, because I’ve seen rocks flying. I’ve seen rocks exploding windshields. It’s a serious concern to the travelling public of Beaufort-Delta.

The Minister stated that the department does allocate money for dust control. I’d like to ask the Minister, just in closing, if his office monitors the amount of money that is spent on dust control, and the amount of work that was done on the dust-control situation on the Dempster.

Mr. Speaker, I share the concern with the Member, because as I’ve said, I have driven the Dempster Highway. I know what the people there are faced with.

We certainly monitor our dust control in terms of the Dempster Highway. We’ve continued to increase the budget. I would like to see the budget increased to satisfy the people who drive the Dempster Highway. I’ve again asked the department…. If we were to find some additional dollars, I’d certainly like to have the Dempster Highway looked at as one possibility in terms of putting money into it to deal with the dust control.

Just for your information, dust control up there for the North is very expensive. We’ve estimated it at $5,000 per kilometre, as opposed to the southern parts of the Northwest Territories, where dust control on gravel is about $1,500 per kilometre. We have to somehow deal with some of these costs.

I do share the concern with the Member and look forward to working with him in terms of how to deal with this issue.

Thank you, Minister Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Mr. Speaker, I just want to follow up on my Member’s statement where I spoke about

ignition interlock devices. A constituent from Fort Simpson recently advised me that Alberta is instituting theirs beginning July

1. In the 15

Assembly I did raise it in this House with the Minister of Transportation then. I’d just like to know how much work is being done with the ignition interlock device issue within our government and within the Ministry of Transportation.

The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Yakeleya.

Mr. Speaker,

the

Member has raised a very good point. The Member has also spoken very strongly in terms of this issue.

Certainly, safety is our number one concern. I want to say that we’re working on a program called the problem drivers program. We are looking at implementing this program, building the business case for it, and one of the components is the ignition interlock device. We’re coming to the point now where we’d like to see if this program could be implemented in the Northwest Territories.

Thank you very much. I’m very glad to hear they’re seeking not only that but other alternatives. I’d just like to know once again: how soon are they looking at implementing such a program? And do interlock devices require separate legislation, or will they be including that in any amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act?

The ignition interlock device — we certainly want to implement it as soon as possible. Our department right now is building a business case in terms of federal regulations and our Motor Vehicles Act amendments. We’re looking at all of this. Hopefully, we’ll have this together, and hopefully, we can implement this program as soon as possible.

Certainly, we’ll notify and work with all the Members in terms of how soon we can get this device on the road. We look forward to discouraging drinking and driving on public roads for the safety of our people.