Thank you, Mr.

Beaulieu. The

honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

Since Sunday is Father’s Day, I would like to speak a little about fathers. It is hard to fully describe the value of fathers’ influence on the lives of their children. The approval, support and nurturing of a father will be felt throughout a person’s entire life.

My own father passed away 11 years ago, but his sayings and advice are often thought of and reminisced about when I have a chance to get together with my siblings. My father never hesitated to share his opinion, and I’m very thankful for that. He wasn’t perfect, but he was a god-fearing man. He took his place as the head of the household and as spiritual leader of our family. He truly loved his children, and no matter what friends, teachers or others had to say about us, we had the steady approval and love of our father. And when I say teachers, I always mention teachers because my teachers didn’t like me for some reason, and I was voted the most likely to completely fail in life.

Laughter.

The father of my own children is also a very big blessing to me, to our children and also now to our grandchildren.

I’d like to today make mention of a special father in Hay River. I mention him because he was born on the same day and the same year as my own father. His name is Eugene Patterson, and he is an amazing individual. He is a father, grandfather and great-grandfather. He has recently turned 88 years old, and he still goes to work every day. Many of you will recognize his name through his long involvement in business in the forest industry.

Now he is very excited and enthused about his greenhouse business, where he grows bedding plants, strawberries and all kinds of vegetables and

is doing a very good job. I just spoke to him on the phone this week. I asked him how he was feeling. He said that he’d had a little health problem, but that did not slow him down at all. I’m just amazed by his resiliency and enthusiasm for life at 88 years. So I wanted to make special mention of Mr. Patterson today.

To all the fathers in the NWT, particularly in Hay River, to you, Mr. Speaker, and to my colleagues in this House who are fathers: Happy Father’s Day. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs.

Groenewegen.

Members’ statements. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much,

Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]

Mr. Speaker, the part of the highway system that connects Nahendeh communities to other NWT communities and southern Canada is, quite frankly, a mess. Highway No. 7 between Checkpoint and Fort Liard has been closed intermittently for several weeks, and this has caused a lot of frustration for people in my region.

Mr.

Speaker, I am relieved to hear that the

Department of Transportation has a plan to reconstruct the road and has begun the work. I am also pleased that the Department of Transportation is investing in Highway No. 7 through the capital plan. I hope this investment includes the chipsealing of that road. This would make road travel safer by reducing dust, washboards and soft spots as well as potentially reducing the amounts of maintenance and repairs.

The other challenge to our road system in Nahendeh is Highway No. 1 from the junction of Highway No. 3 to Fort Simpson. This stretch of road is in rough shape, and it, too, needs to be chipsealed. Mr. Speaker, I urge the Minister of Transportation to make chipsealing that section of Highway No. 1 to Fort Simpson a priority and include it in the department’s Capital Acquisition Plan. This will greatly improve the road system for both residents and visitors to the Deh Cho region. Mahsi cho.

Thank you, Mr.

Menicoche. The

honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the ice being gone and people out boating, every year across the Northwest Territories you hear reports of people drowning. After an accident in Inuvik last year the town of Inuvik recognized that something needed to be done, so they’ve taken it upon themselves to put together a really important initiative, and that’s to make sure that every kid in Inuvik knows how to swim. Along with some partners that pay for pool time — the pool time is free — the kids would be able to go there and learn how to swim. It’s a very important initiative in the town. What they’ve also done is they want to provide life jackets for pretty well every kid in Inuvik that goes out boating.

I think the town recognizes that this is a problem, and they’ve taken the steps to try to do something about it. Mr. Speaker, we don’t want to have to hear in Inuvik or anywhere across the Northwest Territories this year about people drowning.

I’d like to commend the town of Inuvik and their partners for taking the important initiative of donating free pool time, providing life jackets and making sure the kids know how to swim. It may not seem like much now, Mr. Speaker, but in a few years or maybe even this summer whatever these children have been taught may come in handy. If this whole program saves one life, then it was a job well done. I’d like to commend the town for that.

Thank you, Mr.

McLeod. The

honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, today I offer my congratulations to Peter Boggis, a graduating student from École St. Patrick High School, on being named one of two Yellowknife recipients of a Millennium Excellence award. This award is a national competition for university and/or college entrance scholarships. Mr. Boggis has won the award in recognition of his dedication to environmental awareness and his participation with his school community.

Peter is a member of the École St. Patrick High School Green Team that promoted the establishment of a recycling program at his school, which in turn generates money for the school yearbook. Peter is also an active facilitator for Development and Peace’s Think Fast campaign, which raises funds for charitable organizations in

Africa, Asia and Latin America. He has worked to raise awareness about injustices in Third World countries.

Peter will receive a $4,000 scholarship. Mr. Boggis is intending to enrol at the University of Alberta to study biomedical engineering. Please join me in congratulating this exceptional young man with a very bright future.

Thank you, Mr.

McLeod. The

honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr.

Michael

McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all our pages that have been working for us this week here at the Legislative Assembly. I’m very pleased to recognize today Ms.

Shiana Sabourin and

Ms. Lynette Sabourin, both young ladies from my riding of Deh Cho. Ms. Shiana Sabourin is in grade 8 at the Deh Gáh School, Fort Providence, and Lynette is also at the same school in grade 9.

I want to also thank the Legislative Assembly staff for all the support they’ve given our pages over this past week. I also want to thank Rachel Vanderveen for accompanying our pages and wish them very safe travels home.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Members’ statements. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, as well, would like to recognize the two pages that have come down from Samuel Hearne Secondary School in Inuvik, young Michael Fehr and Karlie Robert, who have helped us get the work done and spent some late nights in this Assembly. I’m sure they’ll have some stories to tell their friends back home in Inuvik.

I’d also like to thank their chaperone, Mrs. Anick Jenks, who is also a teacher at Samuel Hearne Secondary School.

As well, I’d like to thank the staff of the Legislative Assembly who helped set this up. With our late hours we haven’t, as Members, been able to spend much time with the pages who’ve come down.

So I’d just like to wish them a safe journey back home. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Item 6, acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr.

Beaulieu. The

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

Thank you,

Mr. Speaker. The first step, of course, is predicated on the passage of the budget, hopefully this coming week. The commitment’s been made, and the planning is there. We’re also committed to sit down with the Members, EDI, to look at the concerns raised about the structure of the care program and the fact that there are concerns about the Seniors’ Home Repair Program being so fully imbedded in the CARE program and ways to do that policy improvement.

So the planning is underway. Everybody’s listening eagerly for the final assent to be given to the budget so that the very many initiatives we have as a Legislature and a government can start to unfold.

Mr. Speaker, for planning purposes, I would like to ask the Minister if he has advised senior staff to proceed with this project.

Mr. Speaker, we worked with the Housing Corporation, the president and his staff, to come up with the plan and the movement of the money back into the repair area at the suggestion of the Legislature. So yes, we have been working closely with the Housing Corporation to get geared up for this.

Mr. Speaker, has the Minister given direction to Housing Corporation staff on the level of security and documentation that’s required to complete elders’ files for these repairs?

There is a lot of work that’s there. As in most cases, there is more demand than there are resources. Now that we’ve put more resources back into the mix, we’ll have the ability across the Northwest Territories to look at the files and provide greater service in terms of repairs than we were going to previously be able to.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I spoke about Income Support monies being clawed back by the government because of beneficiary dividend payouts. My questions are to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Is the Minister prepared to reinstate the exemption for the beneficiary dividend payouts from the income support clawback?

Thank you, Mr.

Jacobson. The

honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.