Good afternoon, colleagues. Welcome back to the Chamber. Orders of the Day. Item 2, Ministers’ statements. The honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.

Mr. Speaker, the continued high cost of energy is an ongoing concern for people in the Northwest Territories. Many residents are making changes to reduce their energy use and costs. Many are taking advantage of our energy contribution programs to make these changes.

Last year our government paid out more than $165,000 in rebates through the Energy Efficiency Incentive program to residents who purchased energy efficient appliances and vehicles. The majority of 549 approved applications were for the purchase of new household or home heating appliances in communities in every region in the NWT.

We also provided rebates to ten successful applicants through our Small Renewable Energy Fund to install solar photovoltaic and wind turbine technologies in their homes, which are off the grid. This resulted in a total fuel savings of 20,772 litres, or 58,900 kilograms, of greenhouse gas emissions per year. All applications for this program came from the North Slave region.

The department is currently developing public information to promote the use of alternative energy technologies. One of the main purposes of this work is to help people learn about how they can use these technologies in their homes and communities.

Four applications were approved through the Community Renewable Energy Fund. These included the installation of solar hot water systems in seniors’ centres in Hay River and Fort Providence and support for the Remote Community Wind Energy Conference in Tuktoyaktuk last November. Support was also provided for the Con Mine Geothermal Study in Yellowknife.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has reviewed the energy contribution programs to ensure they respond to the need to reduce energy use, particularly in the area of home heating costs.

The Energy Efficiency Incentive program has been refocused this year to assist homeowners in dealing with the high costs of home heating by increasing rebates for purchasing energy efficient models of home heating appliances.

As Members are aware, wood pellet heating appliances are becoming more popular. Advances in wood pellet technology have resulted in the production of new furnaces and boilers that are replacing or augmenting oil furnaces and boilers.

Rebates of $700 for wood pellet furnaces and $1,000 for boilers are now available to homeowners purchasing these appliances. Rebates are also available for the purchase of wood pellet stoves, wood stoves, high energy efficient oil furnaces, gas furnaces and boilers, hot water heating appliances and energy efficient home appliances.

Mr. Speaker, we all know that there’s a need to start using alternative energy technologies to reduce our dependence on oil and diesel fuel. To help business owners deal with these costs, we have updated the Alternative Energy Technologies program to include the new Medium Renewable Energy Fund. This fund will provide one-third of the costs, up to $15,000, of qualified alternative energy systems for businesses in the Northwest Territories.

Other changes to our energy contribution programs include making community and regional aboriginal land and development corporations eligible for funding for community projects through the Energy Conservation Program, and adding solar hot water

heating systems to the list of eligible systems under the Small Renewable Energy Fund.

Mr. Speaker, these program changes reflect the priorities of the 16th Legislative Assembly and help

residents, businesses, municipal and aboriginal government and non-profit groups address the high cost of energy.

By becoming more energy efficient, we will save money and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. We will continue to review our energy contribution programs and make sure they are responsive to the needs of our residents.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, our government is tasked with balancing our efforts to address immediate energy challenges with the responsibility for investing in longer term energy solutions. Since its release last year the NWT energy plan has been the framework that has guided our work and investment to meet these two key challenges.

At the appropriate time this afternoon, as the Chair of the Ministerial Energy Coordinating Committee, I will be tabling the draft NWT Hydro Strategy. This is the next step in our government’s comprehensive and strategic approach to energy planning.

Mr. Speaker, the growing impacts of our use of fossil fuels on the environment underscore the importance of harnessing clean and renewable energy for the future. Meanwhile, rising and volatile prices emphasize the reality that we must find ways to reduce our reliance on imported diesel.

Our territory has some of the best undeveloped hydroelectric resources in Canada. It is critical that we fully explore and understand the true extent of this natural energy potential.

The actions of the Hydro Strategy are aimed at developing the environmental and technical baseline data that will enable us to make informed decisions. We will focus our actions on key strategic areas, including:

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preparing for hydro development;

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protecting our environment; and

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financing

hydro

projects.

Once established, hydro facilities in the NWT will be able to provide clean, reliable energy, insulated from rising oil prices for 100 years or more.

In addition to producing clean and secure power for our communities, hydro power holds tremendous economic opportunities for our people. In fact, in the next ten to 15 years this strategy could result in over $1 billion of investment.

Developing our hydro potential, however, will require a great deal of time, effort and capital investment. This draft NWT Hydro Strategy looks forward and will allow us to consider a number of key initiatives to advance the long term development of our world class hydro potential.

I encourage all communities and residents to share in this work and to take time in the coming months to consider this draft strategy and provide us with input and comments.

Your timely insight will allow us to finalize our Hydro Strategy by April and to move forward with a concerted, long term approach to the development of our hydro resources reflective of the vision, principles and values of all NWT residents.

Together we will build on our existing hydro legacy to maximize the benefits and the promise of this sustainable energy source for future generations.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Among Canadian women breast cancer is the form of cancer most often diagnosed. It ranks second after lung cancer as the leading cause of cancer deaths. More than 21,200 Canadian women will be diagnosed with this disease each year, and more than 5,200 deaths will occur as a result. In the NWT about 20 new breast cancer cases are diagnosed each year, comprising 40 per cent of all cancers diagnosed in women. The incidence of breast cancer among NWT women is higher than the Canadian rate.

The evidence is strongly established that routine mammography screening reduces the number of deaths from breast cancer by detection at the early, most treatable stage. I am pleased to announce that as of September 2008 we have expanded the mammography breast cancer screening program to Hay River. This builds on the program we have at Stanton Territorial Hospital.

The implementation of this core service, made possible with assistance from federal funding, will improve wait times for women being tested in the area. The service will have a common database with the Stanton Territorial Health Authority screening program and will work in collaboration with the breast screening program in Yellowknife.

An estimated 450 to 500 women will be screened in the Hay River area each year.

This new mammography program is in addition to the mobile mammography services being provided through Screen Test Alberta to residents of Fort Smith and other South Slave communities. This service will enable women to take charge of their own breast health by providing them with results sooner, screening education, as well as recall letters when they are due for their next screening exam.

I applaud the collaborative work of the authorities and the NWT breast screening committee in making this project become a reality, and I encourage all women to get breast screened regularly to ensure early detection of this disease.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Item 3, Members’ statements. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to pay tribute to the late George Blondin. George Blondin was an uncle to many people. He was an uncle to me. I have a statement here I want to make in the House.

George Blondin, a respected elder from the Sahtu, passed away October 12, 2008, from a heart attack and double stroke at the age of 87.

George was a traditional Indian and a skilled hunter and trapper who enjoyed living off the land and water. He’s best known as a storyteller for the Dene culture and tradition. He was an author of three books: When the World Was New, Yamoria and Trail of the Spirit. The Dene people will forever be grateful to him for preserving these stories and knowledge.

As a youth George spent four years in a residential school but went on to raise seven children whom he encouraged to get educated so they could continue to help with their people.

As he got older, he wrote regular articles for The Native Press and the News/North. He spoke at many universities and conferences to talk about his books and to accept various awards. He was a great storyteller with a powerful voice who captivated audiences with his humour and booming laughter.

His involvement in politics and Dene rights spanned 30 years. He was chief of Délînê, vice-president of the Indian Brotherhood of the Northwest Territories representing the Denedeh elders and Chair of the

Dene Culture Institute. The George Blondin scholarship was recently established, and he was the recipient of the Order of Canada in 2003 for preserving the heritage of his people.

George will be greatly missed by all his family and friends. He led a full life and left a legacy behind of many issues that were important to him and his people. God bless George Blondin and his family.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to quote five sentences and phrases from the North American Outlook, which is an economic activity newsletter prepared by Nesbitt Burns of the BMO. This edition of the newsletter was released last week.

Quote number 1: “The outlook for the North American economy is lowered in response to the watershed events that have reshaped Wall Street and roiled the global credit markets.” Number 2: “The near term growth outlook has worsened.” Number 3: “Minimal recovery in ’09.” Number 4: “The higher borrowing costs, tighter lending standards and equity sell-off will prolong the slump in consumer and business spending.” And number 5: “For Canada, the pullback in commodity prices will slow the Western provinces.”

I am not intending to be an alarmist here. I know that the Canadian banks are sound, with sufficient resources and better lending practices than many banks in other countries. I know that the Canadian mortgage system is strong and that our mortgages are a smaller percentage of our home values and our disposable income than averages in American mortgages.

However, I am very interested in the views of the Minister of Finance of how the change in the North American outlook has affected the short and long term fiscal outlook of this government. How is the Mackenzie Gas Project affected by lower natural gas prices and by reduced share prices for the producers? How are the diamond mines affected by the huge sell-off in equities that has occurred? Is the borrowing of the Government of the NWT affected by the freeze-up of bank to bank borrowing? Is the Minister of Finance now facing higher interest charges? How does the slowdown of the Canadian economy affect our fiscal forecast?

I listened to the CBC interview last Tuesday with a local mortgage broker who explained that there was a slowdown in Yellowknife housing sales which he had not seen since the ’90s. There was another

CBC interview last week about the sharply declining share prices of Aber Resources and MGM Energy. Both companies have seen an approximately 65 per cent decrease in share values in the last six months. MGM is an energy corporation working on exploration in the Mackenzie Delta. If companies we have counted on to lead economic development have been hit hard by the market decline, what is the effect on the GNWT?

The Minister of Finance advised Members of this House in his fiscal strategy statement that he was counting on economic growth and population growth for the longer term. How realistic is this now?

I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

Unanimous consent granted.

I would expect that the Minister of Finance has had to take some of these realities into consideration during the preparation of the government’s business plan. At the appropriate time I will be asking the Minister of Finance to share his views on the changed fiscal outlook of the GNWT.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Some months ago I posed questions to the Minister of Public Works and Services about P3 projects and policies. As we now move into discussion of the 2009–2010 capital budget, I have to ask myself if my questions in February had any effect or created any action.

Most people will agree that the proposed 2009–2010 infrastructure plan is ambitious but that it still leaves many projects undone. This 16th Assembly

has several megaprojects on our wish list. Expansion of the Taltson hydro power plant and the building of the Mackenzie Valley Highway to Tuk are just two examples.

I think we all acknowledge the GNWT on its own cannot accomplish these projects, that we will need financial assistance from other partners, the federal government and/or private industry, to see these projects through to fruition. But are we prepared for these types of projects? Going by the answers to my questions in February and information received or not received to date, no, we are not.

There seem to be no consistent P3 policies in place. I was told in February that projects are dealt with on a case by case basis. Further, as found in

the Hansard record of February 14, 2008, the Minister stated:

“There have been very few projects brought forward to this government that are classified as P3…. As we move forward, there needs to be more analysis done as the federal government has, as part of the Building Canada plan, a funding initiative that’s referred to as the P3 model. We need to move forward if we’re going to access some of those dollars.”

I couldn’t agree more.

And from the same Hansard record, “We’ve agreed that we will all be as competitive as we can, and I’d be glad to bring the issue of the P3 forward to that committee for consideration.” I believe the committee referenced was the ministerial infrastructure committee. I appreciate that this committee has been busy, and I recognize and give credit to that committee for a lot of the work that’s been done; it’s been very good work. But I have yet to hear or see any report that references the development of P3 policies and procedures.

I said in February: “I urge the Minister to get a policy in place as soon as possible. These kinds of projects are somewhat unusual, and we need to have as much governance, as much of an umbrella for overseeing these projects, as possible.”

I hope repeating my words will have an impact on those across the floor who are hopefully listening. Not surprisingly, I will have questions for the Premier or the appropriate Minister later on.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]

Today I’d like to talk about housing policies, the changes needed to housing policies and how the window for accessing housing policies is too narrow for non-market communities.

All too often my constituents fail to meet criteria for housing programs. The NWT Housing Corporation is trying to make people eligible for programs as opposed to making programs that fit the people. We have empty units now that are being sold on the open market. The NWT Housing Corporation has failed my constituents by putting houses in place for people in need, but nobody fits that program. Is it not incumbent upon the NWT Housing Corporation to use the sale proceeds to help people in need in communities such as Fort Resolution and Lutselk’e?

From what I understand, the federal affordable housing program is designed to remove the people from core need and to lower the overall need in the communities. I would guess that it’s not to build new houses in communities and then to sell the units on the private market. I don’t think it’s designed to circulate the money back into the system to address areas that are easy to resolve. This needs further exploration.

Mr. Speaker, the NWT Housing Corporation has not completed a needs survey since late 2003. It is vitally important the needs survey be current and that spending be put where the needs are highest. It should not be based on population.

I see houses being built in market communities, and people in need are moving into their units. They do not sit vacant for very long. The new homeowners get a unit that is worth more on the market than what they owe for their home. The system works well for those communities.

Mr. Speaker, I’ve said over and over to open up the program. Understand the difference between communities. Understand that one size does not fit all when it comes to delivering social programs. The NWT Housing Corporation must understand the difference between the communities with a market that is as strong as anywhere else in Canada and communities with a few hundred people, low incomes and no market in sight.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll have questions for the Minister on this later on.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over the Thanksgiving weekend something horrible happened. A young mother in her youthful prime had a stroke, and because of her condition level, she needed to be sent to an Edmonton hospital to meet her needs. So she was medevacked to Edmonton Monday night and arrived around 11 p.m. with her daughter and three month old nursing son in tow.

As anyone can imagine, this is a difficult situation, but what can be noted here at this specific point is that it has the appearance that the system may be working. That is, you get sick, and the publicly funded system, via taxpayer dollars, is there to care for you when you need it most.

However, this is where the system did not work, because when this mother needed it most, it seems to have fallen off the rails. When she got to the

Edmonton hospital, there was no room to forward her to. When she got there, she spent the remainder of that evening and most of the next day in emergency. In total, she sat there almost 19 hours in the emergency room — again, with two in tow.

I don’t know what the reasonable level of health care is and how it would be defined by our Health Minister, but, Mr. Speaker, I can tell you that if we stepped outside of this building, no one on these streets would tell you that waiting 19 hours in emergency is considered a reasonable level of care considering our taxpayer dollars are paying for something much better.

Why do I keep pointing to 19 hours? Well, that’s when an enclosure in the emergency room was found. I don’t know where it may have been. Maybe it had been lost. To be honest, Mr. Speaker, I don’t even know what an enclosure is. Is it a broom closet? Is it a coffee room? Is it a storeroom? I just don’t know. Again, this is not a reasonable level of care that I would normally define. I only wish the story ended there, Mr. Speaker.

So this woman with a stroke, two in tow, waited 15 more hours in the enclosure. But I’m pleased to say, that as of 9 o’clock this morning, after 34 hours of this whole ordeal, she finally received a room.

Now, this is very important. As I’ve come to understand the situation, a memo had been forwarded to the Health Minister almost two weeks ago saying that there were no rooms available. That’s two weeks ago. How can that be? How can we leave health care to chance? Mr. Speaker, this stresses me out just thinking about this statement. How do you think the husband felt? How do you think she felt? How do you think her children felt? No one should feel abandoned by our system, certainly not like this.

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

Unanimous consent granted.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, colleagues. So what happened? Why were there no rooms available? There is more than one hospital in Edmonton that I’m familiar with. Where is the assistance from our northern nurses who work down there to make sure our northern patients are taken care of? What about that great arrangement we have with Capital Health? We pay them. What are they doing? At this moment I’m not sure. It sounds like they’re not doing their job.

So what is the problem? What was the plan? Knowing full well that there might not be room, why did we send her? Why didn’t we send her to Calgary?

Mr. Speaker, I don’t want to have wait six to nine weeks for an answer from the Health Minister on this situation, but I can guarantee you that this family deserves a written apology and a public statement saying that this level of care will not be delivered to anyone and that this is not a reasonable level of service for anyone to receive in the future.

Mr. Speaker, I will have questions for the Health Minister later today. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have previously spoken about the distressing standard and condition of the Dettah road. The road presents a direct cost to the people of Dettah and those who work or visit there, and there are safety concerns that result from the state of the road. The government well recognizes the need for reconstruction to resolve this dilemma.

Despite their proximity to our capital and the seat of government, this situation has festered to the point where the people of the community are developing their own response to try and deal with it. It is my understanding that through the good work of some caring and can do people, a coalition of agencies and dedicated individuals is putting together a plan to get it done.

Mr. Speaker, where there is a will there is a way. With resourceful people and agencies like the chiefs of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, the Mine Training Society, the Deton’Cho Corporation, and even the North Slave region and perhaps our Department of Transportation, partnerships can be made and results can happen. Reconstruction of the Dettah road can be prohibitively expensive as a one time hit for any one player, at least in the short term. However, a number of partners working cooperatively over a period of time on the same goal can actually yield many benefits. In this case, I am optimistic that such an approach can yield a reconstructed and safer road, a bunch of trained workers, enhanced efficiency of financial and human resources, more experienced aboriginal businesses and strengthened working relationships.

Mr. Speaker, as an aside I would like to acknowledge the NWT Aboriginal Business Conference establishing economic cooperation, a conference on northern business and workplace development that’s happening today, as we speak, in Yellowknife.

I am pleased to say that such a coalition of determined partners does indeed seem to be

coming together. I do not doubt that our government recognizes that when our people move, this government has a role in recognizing and supporting that commitment. I suspect our Minister of Transportation has such foresight, and I want to acknowledge the fundamental role, perhaps in a more behind the scenes fashion than is typical, his departmental staff may provide in being available to help the people move this project forward.

I have spoken before about what it says when we have a community of original inhabitants of this land living surrounded by expensive, well constructed and paved roads while they suffer with substandard access.

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

Unanimous consent granted.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to express my appreciation to all the partners who are working to put this initiative together, and I want to thank the Minister and staff of the Department of Transportation for whatever they can provide in assistance to help it come to a successful end. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since this has already been referred to in the House, I am going to follow on the lead of my colleague from Frame Lake on this whole issue of refocusing government and reviewing our boards and agencies in the Northwest Territories. In the previous government I sat on a committee with Minister Miltenberger and Minister Lee as we looked at agencies, boards and commissions.

Mr. Speaker, when we are talking about refocusing government and looking at our governance structure here in the Northwest Territories, there are many, many considerations to be taken into account. I do not believe we should think that because something looks good on paper, it is the way to go. We can draw a fancy org chart with all kinds of ideas to consolidate things like housing, education and health service boards. The fact is that our regions and our communities are so extremely diverse that a cookie cutter, one size fits all approach will not work. The impetus for this reorganization should come with extensive consultation, and perhaps even the request for it should be from the ground up, as opposed to us dictating from this level of government down. We

have for many years in our government talked about the need to build capacity in our communities and in our regions. We need to keep that in mind with the self-government negotiations that will continue to take place.

I am personally fearful of what could happen: the destructive effect of taking a less than cautious approach to any consideration of consolidation of boards and agencies. I believe that a lot of good work has been done. A lot of money has been spent to develop some of these boards, and to take a kind of wholesale approach that’s not well thought out could result in considerable damage.

So I guess my caution to the Minister who will be heading up this review on refocusing government would be to proceed with caution and respect the work that has been done to develop these agencies in the communities and in the regions. Please bear in mind going forward, as perhaps more self-government and aboriginal government take on a greater role, that these boards may be needed to ensure local and very good quality input into the provision of these very important services. Thank you.