Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe

,

Mr. Beaulieu.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]

Mr. Speaker, since being elected MLA for Tu Nedhe in October of last year, I have worked with

numerous Ministers and both communities to get a clear picture of the infrastructure needs of Fort Resolution and Lutselk’e

.

After learning that no

project has been allocated to Fort Resolution and Lutselk’e over the next three years, or the balance of this 16th Assembly, I’m now pursuing a mandate

to increase infrastructure dollars in my riding.

According to the plan, the community of Fort Resolution will receive zero dollars, while Lutselk’e

will receive $55,000 to finish this year’s project. In other words, Mr. Speaker, of the 100 and some odd million dollars being allocated, Tu Nedhe will be receiving some holdback dollars. Mr. Speaker, I’m not asking that we shift infrastructure dollars from a higher priority to some other higher priority communities but, rather, that we revisit the allocations made to Tu Nedhe.

A couple of weeks ago while visiting Lutselk’e I walked into a government owned office and I had to step around pots and cans that were strategically placed on the floor to catch the rainwater coming through the roof. If this is not a clear example of problems our smaller communities are facing with their infrastructure needs, I have to ask: how bad do things have to get?

This government plans to spend $20 million in energy programs. The GNWT should make it a priority to allocate some of that money to Fort Resolution and Lutselk’e

for items such as wood

stoves, insulation and other energy efficient projects so that my constituents can feel like the GNWT is paying some attention to them.

Mr. Speaker, community infrastructure was handed to the communities through the New Deal in 2005 and was initially delivered to hamlets and charter communities. Lutselk’e

and Fort Resolution are

neither; however, I have heard from each of the communities, and both agree that the Department of MACA has been doing very well working with them, and they have been a big help.

Mr. Speaker, my goal is to work with the communities and the Minister to look at infrastructure dollar amounts in the Tu Nedhe riding.

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

Unanimous consent granted.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. It seems that my riding is a low priority when compared to other communities. I have a highway that is below standard. I have dust problems in both communities, drainage problems and much needed chipsealing in both communities and much, much more.

In this respect the government is failing my communities. The goal is simple, Mr. Speaker: to increase infrastructure dollars in the Tu Nedhe riding. The solution is a cooperative approach with the Minister, the communities and myself to develop a new infrastructure plan for each community. Later today I will have follow-up questions for the Minister of MACA. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday in the House I asked the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment about the status of the contract for the Inuvik school. He informed us that the contract had been awarded. Later in the Committee of the Whole we found out that the awarding of the contract was only really a letter of intent to the contractor with details yet to be worked out. We were told that the letter of intent does not bind this government to the project as planned or designed.

The binding agreement will be in the form of a signed contract. Mr. Speaker, we have a shortage of capital dollars. Projects that communities are in dire need of have been pushed back or completely disappeared, so it is incumbent on this government to make the most financially prudent decisions possible when it comes to our capital infrastructure budget. It is also incumbent on our government to distribute and share these limited dollars in the fairest way possible throughout our territory in all sizes of communities.

For that reason departments must be able to defend decisions made for the rationale for the priority placed on certain projects and for the amount that we are prepared to pay to acquire these projects. To our duty for accountable and transparent government it is our job as Regular Members to ask questions about contracting processes and decisions.

Just because a contract is negotiated, in my opinion, is not sufficient to deem the details to be confidential until after the contract is signed. Because we know that after the contract is signed, Mr. Speaker, it is a little too late for us to do anything about this. Of course, it brings back memories of the Deh Cho Bridge project

,

where

Members were not allowed to have details of that agreement, either, because of the third party interest in that project. Now here we are again, being told that the details of a negotiated contract are also protected by confidentiality until the letter or the contract is signed.

Mr. Speaker, I will be seeking a few things yet in regard to this project in terms of information. I will just put it out there as notice that I would be very interested to see a chronology of all events related to this project. I would like to request a copy of the letters of support for the negotiated contract from the various parties, but I don’t know to what date they go back.

Also, I think it would be good to get an analysis on the cost of this school in relation to other schools on a per square foot basis, with all the necessary adjustments for its size, economies of scale and those various things. Those are the kinds of things I’ll be seeking on this project. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve been a Member of this Legislative Assembly for just over five years now, and I continue to enjoy bringing up issues that are important to both my constituents and residents in the Northwest Territories.

I do believe it is easier to stand over here, day in and day out, and ask questions than it would be to be on that side of the House and answer them. I have been very critical of this government’s performance, because it’s my job to do so. I am of the belief that if you are going to be critical, you should also provide suggestions on how you could do things better. I continue to find it very frustrating that I can stand here for five years and make suggestions to the government, and at the end of the day I have to wonder whether anyone over there is actually paying attention to what I’m saying.

For example, I’ve been asking questions and suggesting that a permanent trust fund, or heritage fund, be set up here in the Northwest Territories. It should be an integral part of any negotiation with Ottawa on resource revenue sharing and devolution.

I have also been suggesting that the three northern territories be declared tax free zones in an effort to address the high cost of living, Arctic sovereignty and the inability to retain and attract health and other professional occupations. For starters, Mr. Speaker, the federal government should immediately take the GST off home heating fuel for Northerners. For Northerners, we don’t have much choice. Either we pay or we freeze. Where is the letter to the federal Minister of Finance asking and demanding that this be done?

Another suggestion that I have been making is: why is it the Government of the Northwest Territories

seems to be the only one that stands to gain nothing out of the proposed Mackenzie Valley Gas Project? Yet we spend upwards of $3 million a year getting prepared and over $20 million to date. Prepared for what? To be taken advantage of? We should be demanding an equity stake in the pipeline. Watching our resources go south while everyone is making money except for the Government of the Northwest Territories is not acceptable. We need to demand that we get access to the gas for our own citizens. Why should it be shipped south, processed and shipped back to us? So we can pay an exorbitant price for it? It makes no sense to me and it makes no sense to the residents, Mr. Speaker.

Those are a few examples and suggestions I’ve been making to government. I’m standing here every day waiting for someone to grasp something I have said.

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

Unanimous consent granted.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Again, I’m standing here every day waiting for someone to grasp something I have said. Unfortunately, I believe all they hear over there is the criticism. It’s time they expand their horizons and actually listen to what I and other Regular Members on this side of the House are saying. We’re not just criticizing. We’re making suggestions in order that we can make consensus government work. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

[English translation not provided.]

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Many homeowners across the NWT heat their homes with wood or pellet stoves. This is something that the government is actively encouraging people to do in order to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.

Many homeowners in our smaller communities who burn wood or pellets are running into some problems. In order to get or renew their insurance on their homes, these wood burning appliances need to be inspected or certified. There is often no local or even regional person to inspect or certify these wood stoves.

A constituent of mine was told these types of inspections were not within the mandate of the Office of the Fire Marshall. His only option was to get a private contractor certified to do wood stove

inspections to come from Hay River. The cost of this inspection was around $1,400.

Mr. Speaker, this is just wrong. People are caught between not carrying home insurance and paying outrageous amounts of money in order to comply with the required safety standards.

The GNWT provides a number of inspection services throughout its departments, such as electrical and boiler services. Why can’t the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs provide wood stove inspection services or work with community governments to ensure that there is someone properly trained to carry out these inspections?

This isn’t just an insurance issue. It’s also a significant safety issue. If the government is encouraging the use of alternative energy sources such as wood burning appliances, it has an obligation to ensure that people can get them inspected and certified in a timely and affordable manner. I urge the government to address this gap in our service as quickly as possible. Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to highlight the work of artisan craftspeople in the Great Slave riding and commend the government on its recent commitment to enhance funding up to $500,000 for art, as outlined by the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment yesterday. This money will go to the NWT Arts Council, to cultural organizations such as the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre, to heritage centres where northern artists’ crafts are showcased and to new program planning, development and evaluation throughout the NWT.

As an avid supporter of the arts and culture I am happy to see this government taking these steps. I look forward to continued and enhanced investment in these areas over the years to come and continued partnership between Education, Culture and Employment and Industry, Tourism and Investment.

The Great Slave riding is home to many artists whose creative work provides just a small section of the artistic talent in our territory. Knife maker Edward McRae, photographers Alice McLeod and Bronwyn Watters live in the riding, as well as musicians Moira Cameron and Steve Goff of Ceilidh and Friends. The Great Slave riding is also home to Bill Gilday of the Gumboots, visual artist Rae Braden and painter Brian McDonald. Bonnie

Madsen’s murals can be seen on Franklin Avenue, and she also operates a gallery out of her home in the riding that showcases her excellent paintings. The many accomplishments of constituent Keira Kolson, a hip-hop artist and aboriginal youth advocate, show that homegrown artists are capable of great achievements alongside their counterparts in the South.

The Northern Arts and Cultural Centre is the only performing arts centre in the Northwest Territories located in the Great Slave riding. NACC continues to host local, territorial, national and international talent and is an integral part of the territorial arts community. Many young Northerners have discovered the love of performing arts there, and many performers have inspired audiences to pursue their creative goals.

The enhanced funding will support a proposal to administer a new northern theatre arts program, and I look forward to the opportunities that this initiative will offer Northerners.

The Northwest Territories arts community has a great potential and continues to grow. However, as artists in any discipline can tell you, success requires hard work, perseverance and support. We as a government must be sure to encourage and develop northern talent to continue to offer emerging artists as many opportunities as possible.

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to thank the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment for his department’s commitment to the arts. Creativity is a renewable resource, and few groups of people celebrate our unique northern culture and identity as vibrantly as our artists.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Under today’s fiscal and environmental challenges we need to be doing things in a more financially efficient and environmentally benign way. With the intake and delivery of water to residents of Dettah, there is a clear opportunity to reduce both financial and environmental costs.

Currently Dettah has to send a truck 16 kilometres two to three times per day to get water from the City of Yellowknife’s pumphouse at the Yellowknife River. They have to pay a full time driver and maintain and operate the truck on challenging road conditions. MACA is funding this at $170,000 annually, supplemented by the Housing Corporation’s indirect contribution of $160,000. Fuel consumed is about 9,000 litres, generating 20,000 kilograms of carbon emissions last year, which flies

in the face of our recognition of the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The City of Yellowknife is currently in the process of examining its own system with the option of eliminating this pumphouse and pulling water directly out of Yellowknife Bay. It will no longer make sense to keep the pumphouse just to supply water to Dettah. The energy costs for the pumphouse won’t make sense. The energy costs for the water tanker won’t make sense. If the city can pull water directly out of the bay, there’s no reason why Dettah can’t do the same.

Building a small pumphouse in Dettah would save the cost and time of trucking water all the way from the river and would radically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It would ultimately provide a cost savings to the community and to those such as the GNWT that fund their current system.

Right now Dettah is paying $160,000 a year to the City of Yellowknife for water. Because they have to truck it from the river, they have to pay the full time employee. Although maintenance and fuel costs for the truck are around $30,000 a year, altogether, if Dettah pumped their own water directly from the bay, there is a potential savings of at least $200,000 a year and possibly much more. Even if a pumphouse were to cost $2 million, a very generous estimate, the financial payback would be less than ten years, and the reduction in environmental impacts would be significant.

With the city currently in the process of revamping its own system, now is the perfect time to look at a solution for Dettah as well. All that’s needed is the commitment and a wise investment from Municipal and Community Affairs to get this done. I have no doubt that our Minister will have that wisdom to move on this opportunity; nevertheless, Mr. Speaker, I will be asking the Minister questions on this. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to read into the record a motion that passed back in the 14th Assembly, which I moved, seconded by Mr.

Leon Lafferty, the Member for Monfwi.

“WHEREAS the stated mission of the Department of Health and Social Services ‘is to promote, protect and provide for health and well-being of the people of the Northwest Territories;’

AND WHEREAS residents in small communities do not have access to the same level of health and social services programs as residents in large communities;

AND WHEREAS services vary between health authorities meaning that some residents are being better served than others by virtue of where they live;

AND WHEREAS services available in small communities can be restricted to emergencies only or withdrawn completely with very short notice due to staff shortages;

AND WHEREAS some of those staff shortages are related to vacancies or training and can be anticipated and planned for;

AND WHEREAS only providing emergency medical services has serious health consequences for the very young and the very old who need access to preventative health programs;

AND WHEREAS preventative health programs such as diabetes clinics, well baby clinics and other preventative programs are essential to the continued health and well-being of a community;

AND WHEREAS many smaller communities do not have access to such core programs as mental health and alcohol and drug workers and cannot begin their road to recovery without such assistance;

AND WHEREAS one of the foundations of the Canadian health care system is universality and the Department of Health and Social Services and its subordinate health authorities are choosing to ignore this principle;

AND WHEREAS the Minister and the

Department of Health and Social Services are ultimately responsible for the provision of these services to the Northwest Territories residents….”

Mr. Speaker, my point is that this motion was passed in the 14th Assembly, and we’re talking

about the same issues now in the 16th Assembly.

No one should have to have an issue outstanding for that long period of time and should realize that this has to have some unique responses. It’s got to be essential by way of programs and services, and it is affecting the lives of people in the small communities with regard to health care and core services.

I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

Unanimous consent granted.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. These motions that are passed in Assemblies time and time again have to change. We have to ensure that motions really mean something when we pass them in this House with regard to services to our people. It is affecting the quality of life of our residents, the quality of life in our communities and the well-being of those communities to sustain themselves and have healthy communities.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I will be asking the Minister of Health and Social Services about this particular motion and those aspects of this motion, because we have to do something. This is an urgent matter. If we’re not treating it as an urgent matter, we may have to take some urgent steps.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Item 4, reports of standing and special committees. Item 5, returns to oral questions. Item 6, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Mark Bogan of the Great Slave riding. He’s an advocate for fathers’ rights.

I would like to recognize the pages from the Hay River Diamond Jenness Secondary School who have been working with us this week: Michelle Babiuk from Hay River North and Brette Jameson from Hay River South. I’m not sure if they’re here, but I’d like to thank them for a job well done.

Mr. Speaker, I have the pleasure today, much to my surprise…. I have a stepsister from Ontario who’s here visiting. I just saw her for the first time here. Her name is Karen Viaene, and her daughter is Amy Switzer, who is a schoolteacher here in Yellowknife. They’re in the visitors’ gallery today. Good to see you.

It’s my pleasure to welcome the group of students who are up there behind me. They are a grade 6 class from William McDonald School, from the riding of Frame Lake, and they are accompanied by their teacher, Amy Switzer.

These students have been studying Canadian government and have been working with the Federal Election Student Vote Program. They will be voting tomorrow. Word is that if all the kids in Canada voted, we’d know who the Prime Minister would be. I’d like to just mention their names, and these are in no particular order: Clayton Ashlie, Craig Pike, Isaiah Martin, Nicolas Berube, Nicholas Hayward, Peter Palfrey, BJ Coomber, Jamie Le, Joel Haward, Donovan Worsley, Drake Saunders,

Perry Tologanak and Jeremy Stannard. I hope you guys are having a good time up there. Welcome to the Leg.

If we’ve missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to the House. We hope you’re enjoying the proceedings.

Item 6, acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I talked about infrastructure needs in the Tu Nedhe riding. I talked about how there seems to be a lack of attention to the riding. As a follow-up to my statement I’d like to ask questions of the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.

Mr. Speaker, it’s been three years since the implementation of the New Deal. Can the Minister provide me with a detailed evaluation of how the New Deal has been working in Fort Resolution and Lutselk’e?