Thank you, Mr.

McLeod. The

honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was

very pleased to have the Minister of Health and

Social Services, the Hon. Sandy Lee, accompany me on a tour of my constituency May 4 to May 7. I appreciate her going with me to hear first-hand the concerns the residents of Nahendeh have with the NWT Health and Social Services system.

One of the concerns that was brought up several times in our travels, Mr. Speaker, was the lack of emergency dental care in that community. When the residents I represent get a toothache they are expected to wait for the next time the dentist comes to town. The current guidelines state that persons can travel to other communities for dental care only in emergencies. I’m not sure how emergency is defined. Does the tooth have to be broken, or does there have to be an obvious abscess? If I had a bad toothache and the nurse was only giving me Tylenol 3 and I was expected to wait a couple of weeks for a dentist to come, I would certainly classify that as an emergency.

In Yellowknife and a couple of the other larger centres if you have a toothache you can get to see a dentist the same day. Some of the dental clinics even have after-hours and on-call dentists you can call in an emergency.

Mr. Speaker, people are suffering needlessly. It’s a pretty simple solution to allow people with dental emergencies in Nahendeh to travel to Hay River or to Yellowknife. The nurses or CHRs in the community can make a determination of how much pain a person is in and balance that need against how long they will have to wait for a dentist to come to the community. To allow people to suffer needlessly because they live in smaller communities is not right. The department needs to develop or improve the policies that address this issue. Mahsi cho.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The

honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Safer

Communities and Neighbourhoods Act was a groundbreaking initiative brought forward during the 15th Assembly in an attempt to deal with the drug

trafficking and crimes devastating our communities. Although the SCAN bill died an unfair death, the problems it was meant to address still continue. Law-abiding citizens continue to be intimidated by crack dealers and bootleggers in their neighbourhoods and are frustrated by the inability of the police to shut down these operations, not to mention the time it takes to do that. With drug houses next to our schools, our seniors’ homes, et cetera, the days of it being a spectator sport needs to end. It’s time this government creates laws and

enforcement tools that finally push back on this problem.

Mr. Speaker, the saying “taking back our streets” is certainly not new, but it deserves the recognition that this government needs to support that. Meanwhile, other jurisdictions, such as the Yukon, have had significant success using SCAN-type legislation that allows the authorities to close these drug and crack houses down and stop the other illegal activities that continue to destroy our communities.

Mr.

Speaker, SCAN was a leap forward in

protecting our citizens. It should come as no surprise to this government, to this House — to anyone — that for everyday people their quality of life is being stepped on, and they’re being taken advantage of. This government’s job, principally, is to protect its citizens and to ensure they are safe. But the image out there is that the government’s more worried about those creating illegal activity than those who are trying to live everyday, law-abiding lives. Mr.

Speaker, the Northwest

Territories as a whole would benefit from a Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act. I would encourage the Minister of Justice to bring forward a bill at the earliest opportunity to finally put our citizens first.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Item 4,

returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m pleased

to recognize my youngest daughter, Janesta, who is down visiting for a couple of days. Welcome to the Assembly.

I’d like to recognize a former resident

of the Northwest Territories, Denise Lockett, who is here in the gallery with a bright orange jacket up there. You can’t miss her. Welcome, Denise.

I’d like to recognize a constituent of

mine, Roy Courtoreille, regional vice

- president for

the UNW, in the gallery.

If we missed anyone else in the gallery today, welcome to the Chamber. I hope you’re enjoying the proceedings.

Item 6, acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my

Member’s statement today I spoke about the need for the SCAN legislation to be returned in some form or another. As far as I’m concerned, our law-abiding citizens’ quality of life is still put in jeopardy.

My question for the Minister of Justice is: what is his plan in regard to potentially bringing back this bill, bringing it back to life to ensure that our citizens’ quality of life is protected?

The honourable Minister of Justice,

Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The

quality of life and the safety of the Northwest Territories as a whole is a top priority not only for the Department of Justice but also for the Government of the Northwest Territories. Yes, I will be introducing the legislation to this Assembly during the life of this Assembly. Mahsi.

Those are excellent words. I’m really

appreciative of the fact that this Minister is willing to lead this initiative, although it has had some bumps and grinds on the way. The fact is that it’s an important element of protection. When can we expect something like this to happen?

I would like to propose

this legislation to this Assembly during the life of this Assembly, taking into account that there needs to be consultation with the Members. It also has to be a made-in-the-North model, not just something that came from the south and changed to our name. I want to meet the needs of the 33 communities we serve. As long as it meets their standards and our standards, we’ll be satisfied.

I appreciate that answer. I respect

that. We certainly want to be very inclusive on specific legislation like this, because it’s very important to us. When can I expect that type of communication and consultation to come out to the general public?

As the Members are

aware, this legislation was brought forward in the 15th Assembly. There was some consultation that

took place. Our plan as a department is to continue with the process of dialoguing with our colleagues, the Regular Members. We were hoping to sit down this fall and start talking on this particular proposal. That’s our initial discussion.

I appreciate that. Would the Minister

commit to making sure my office is informed? I don’t sit on the Social Programs Committee, but

would he commit to keeping me informed of all steps and developments of this, whether it’s in regard to consultation with committee, the general public or other jurisdictions? Any information he can make available to me I’d appreciate.

I think it’s clear that the

Chair of the Social Programs Committee will be sharing that with the Members. Our office and our department are willing to do that as well with the Members who are not on the committee.

Thank you, Mr.

Lafferty. The

honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.

The honourable Minister of Municipal

and Community Affairs, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We provide money to the communities through a number of key programs in three key areas. Those areas, of course, are operations and maintenance, community/public infrastructure, and water and sewer services. Eighty per cent of our budget in Municipal and Community Affairs flows to the communities. On top of that, we also have a number of federal programs that we have joint, co-management agreements with. That is the gas tax program, and we’re still working on the Building Canada Fund, of course. That comes in at around $82 million that we provide to the communities on an annual basis.

Does the department have a long-

term plan to improve standards in smaller communities during the budgeting process?

Historically, a number of

governments have worked on improving the standard of living in the communities and the programs to the community governments. I can recall being involved in a committee in the 15th Assembly, the Committee on Non-Tax-Based Community Affairs, and we made several recommendations at that time. Whenever we work with the communities to develop formulas, we take into consideration the unique circumstances that face, especially, the smaller communities. Our O&M formulas include the northern cost index. We have a commitment to review programs on a five-year

basis. We certainly take into consideration the special needs of communities.

I thank the Minister for part of the

response. I was looking to see if they actually have a physical long-term plan that Municipal and Community Affairs works out with municipalities. I’m asking the question: does the Minister have a long-term plan for the communities?