Mr. Speaker, I understand that there are two different estimate numbers out there. I understand that the territorial government is estimating at $700 million. There’s a company out there, MAC group, Mackenzie Aboriginal Corporation, whose estimate is $1.8 billion. In between, there’s got to be a number. I know that this government doesn’t have this kind of money to build a highway. I’m asking if the Minister would look into his budget and commit so many dollars that it would say the construction of the Mackenzie Valley Highway. I think we all know and recognize and understand clearly that the federal government has a major, major role in terms of this construction, but also they’re taking millions and millions of dollars out of the Northwest Territories. I’m just looking for some creativity, some solutions, some ways that we can get people the hope that we can be a master of our own course in the Northwest

Territories. Can the Minister start identifying in a budget line item money towards the Mackenzie Valley Highway?

Mr. Speaker, there are probably a number of dollar figures floating out there that people have put together in terms of trying to estimate the cost of this piece of road. The $700 million estimate, I think, has come during the days of the 12th Assembly and it’s quite old and

aged. There are other estimates out there.

We, as a government, as a department, have undertaken to do a couple of things to improve the business case. We’re doing economic analysis of that piece of infrastructure. We’re also doing more baseline studies to give us a better idea of certain pricing. We’re also doing a scope of the whole project. There are areas that we have included in our budget.

As for doing a complete analysis of the whole road, I think we’d have to see if there was more of an interest from the federal government before we decided that we need to do more work and provide more investment. The resources we have at hand are already strained, so we’d have to see something that was fairly positive before we would undertake such a huge task. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Mr. Speaker, I take it that in terms of waiting for the federal government to have a favourable response in terms of our business case, as the Minister said, in terms of building the Mackenzie Valley Highway we’re sort of waiting to see what the federal government is saying, which they aren’t saying anything. I guess I’m asking the Minister in terms of going to the federal government specifically to Minister Strahl with the other aboriginal groups, people of the Northwest Territories, to say that we have an interest, there are other ways that we want to construct the Mackenzie Valley Highway. I’m very happy to hear that they are doing other work. I’d like to see in the budget a budget line item that says the construction of the Mackenzie Valley Highway, environmental baseline, regulatory issues. I know the Minister is going to have some thought to this, but I’d like to see it somewhere where it shows that we see this as a priority and the federal government starts to see this as a priority.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. I didn’t hear a question here. It’s not time for Members’ statements; it’s time for questions. Thank you, Members. The time for question period has expired. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to return to item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Thank you.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to acknowledge one of my most important constituents in the riding of Yellowknife Centre, my oldest son, McKinley Hawkins. He’s here with me today at work because the schools have PD days. So he’s helping me out at the office here until Wednesday. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We welcome everybody in the gallery today. We hope you’re enjoying the proceedings. Item 8, written questions. Item 9, returns to written questions. Item 10, replies to the opening address. Item 11, replies to the budget address, day seven of seven. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Mr. Speaker, as we all know, we have some 33 communities in the Northwest Territories. As we all know, we’re going through a recession and yet, Mr. Speaker, there are still high pockets of unemployment in a lot of our smaller communities in the Northwest Territories. The recession will hit them harder than most of the larger centres who have other economies to depend on, whether it’s oil and gas, minerals, government, industry, or manufacturing. Mr. Speaker, we must find a way to stimulate all our communities in the Northwest Territories with the budget that’s before us to find ways that we can get the dollars into the communities and have projects that basically can move forward.

Mr. Speaker, I, for one, was a full supporter of the community capacity funding which rolled out in the previous government in regard to some $30 million that went into communities all across the Northwest Territories which was on a base-plus formula which was fair, equitable and that communities really saw that they can do something with that infrastructure funding. Mr. Speaker, I think we have to roll out a similar initiative in regard to either the $50 million for funding by way of housing or looking at some way we can use the Building Canada Fund for those types of special projects. I think it won’t be fair if you look at application-based programs and

expect all 33 communities to have the capacity to bring forward an application and expend these dollars over two years. Realistically, I don’t know how you’re going to do it. It is going to be challenging just to expend the capital dollars we have in this government where year after year our capital carry-overs continue to grow with last year’s carry-over exceeding $200 million, not counting the new capital infrastructure funding we have before us.

As a government we have to be realistic and find unique ways of spending these dollars and also, more importantly, stimulating our economy, putting people to work, being able to bring in revenues by way of payroll taxes, personal income tax, corporate taxes and property taxes to ensure the revenues of this government are stabilized. Without that, we as government will be no worse off than we were in the 13th Assembly when we had to cut

some $130 million. Realistically, that can happen again today.

Mr. Speaker, one of the big challenges we face in our communities is just dealing with the day-to-day issues on capacity through programs and services. Mr. Speaker, the challenges we face are a lack of dental care, a lack of doctor care, in some cases, a lack of nursing care and, more importantly, mental health and addiction services. Yet, Mr. Speaker, this government was in the process of cutting those dollars for mental health positions. Now we find that because of pressure from Members on this side they are now going to be reinstated. I say whoop-dee-do.

Mr. Speaker, as we all know, there are strings attached. Sorry, we can give you the money, give you the person, and give you the position. But unless that person’s got a master’s degree in psychology, that person ain’t going into your community. The same thing applies to other professions that are required in our communities.

Mr. Speaker, we have to take down some of these stovepipes to realize that small communities have unique challenges, as we see in policing in regard to the community I represent, Tsiigehtchic, where again I’d like to thank the Minister of Justice for taking down those stovepipes and find a unique way to provide police services. That means putting an extra police officer in Fort McPherson and designating him to serve the community of Tsiigehtchic; I’d say have at ‘er.

Mr. Speaker, we as government have to work closer with our First Nations partners. I talk about the aboriginal governments in the Northwest Territories and especially those ones with land claim agreements which this government signed on behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories and the federal government on behalf of

Canada. Mr. Speaker, it’s sad to see in this day and age that this government is competing directly against those land claim organizations that have invested their own dollars in regard to business ventures that they have taken a risk. Regardless, if it’s real estate in regard to the office complex for Inuvik, our large $100 million capital project in the Gwich’in settlement region where now all they got was six loads of gravel...Shame, shame, shame.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister, in regard to Public Works, tabled a document in regard to giving a list of all the subcontractors which included some Gwich’in subcontractors, but yet today nothing is being done. To top it off, Mr. Speaker, when this government uses public funds to run directly counter to an aboriginal investment by lending dollars that they borrowed in regard to $10 million and then use public funds to the tune of $34 million, totally putting that business opportunity out of reach, in which a company again has no way of being able to compete against government funds in that sector. Again, Mr. Speaker, there was no, I repeat, no market disruption strategy or plan imposed on that lending of $34 million, which is a no-no in the Government of the Northwest Territorial Financial Administration Act. Again, Mr. Speaker, we are stepping out of bounds by way of taking these actions knowing that they would directly affect the economy of the Northwest Territories, especially for aboriginal investment in the Northwest Territories economy.

Mr. Speaker, what are we saying to the aboriginal investment dollars that are spent in the Northwest Territories? Should they maybe consider taking those dollars and investing in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton or, for all we know, Toronto? Toronto is a good place to spend money; everybody’s looking for money these days in regard to the Toronto Stock Exchange, in regard to venture capital. They can do that. I do not think it’s fair for this government to be competing directly against aboriginal development corporations in light of the economy that we’re in and putting them out of business for the sake of making a small 10 percent investment. Oh, I forgot to say there’s also an administration fee that hasn’t been added to this.

Mr. Speaker, the aboriginal communities I represent are tired of lip service in regard to how government is going to improve programs and services in our communities. The doctors’ visits are becoming shorter; you get to see him once a month. Nowadays you’re lucky to get in to see him twice a month if not every three months. Dental care, well, you might see him twice a year. In regard to mental health positions for communities, in a community I represent, Fort McPherson with 850 people, they get to see a mental health person once a month. How do you expect people to deal with their mental health issues by someone driving into the

community for a couple of hours, drive back to Inuvik once a month, and say you’re providing a service to that community?

Mr. Speaker, this government has to wake up to the reality that communities don’t expect anything less than those large communities in the Northwest Territories. Sometimes you might have forgotten what it was like to have one school in regard to a teacher in one community or what it was like to have a nursing station with one nurse running the whole community when you have dementia centres, walk-in clinics, doctors’ visits, major hospitals in Inuvik and Yellowknife. Yet, Mr. Speaker, people are struggling in our communities to get the basic services.

I got a call the other day from an elder in my community. She told me, David, bring something up for me. I said what. This person has to go to Edmonton for cancer treatment. If this person leaves McPherson at eight o’clock in the morning, she has to drive to Inuvik and catch the flight at 1:30. You get to Edmonton at almost six o’clock, and if the plane is late, you don’t even...If you don’t have any money or you don’t have any dollars to go to the cafe in the Inuvik Airport or at the airport here in Yellowknife, you don’t eat, you don’t drink anything until you actually get to where you’re going. There were some cases where people were stuck at the airport in Inuvik for almost eight hours and finally realized the flight was cancelled. These things have to be thought about by people in regard to how they deal with the whole issue around medical travel. How do we take care of the patient once they leave home, once they get to the hospital in regard to Edmonton or Larga Home? Again, those little things that we may take for granted, an elderly person who is dealing with cancer, for them it’s a big thing. It’s not bad enough that they have to deal with stress alone during their travel, leaving home, loved ones, but worrying about how their trip is going to be and how are they going to get there.

Mr. Speaker, as a government we have to sometimes take off our blinders, take a step back and realize the unique challenges that we face in different communities; you have to treat them differently. We, as government, have to realize that all policies, procedures and legislation we put in place do not fit all. We have to allow for a system that takes into account that you have to allow for differences and unique situations so that maybe you can change the policies to allow small communities to have people who may not have a psychology degree in regard to a mental health position, but someone there that people can talk to in regard to emotional stress, regardless if it’s residential school problems that occurred over the years or just dealing with suicide and death in our communities.

Mr. Speaker, these people are in our communities already. These people have taken training on the Hay River Reserve. Yet, Mr. Speaker, the sad part about it is our own people who took this training aren’t good enough for this government to have them hired in regard to those positions in our communities, regardless if it’s mental health or addictions. Mr. Speaker, it tells me that either whoever is writing these policies is too high up on the scale of knowing what the North is all about or somebody just fell out of university and comes forward from the sunny South, Toronto or Vancouver, and comes to the Northwest Territories and drafts our policies and says, well, this is how we do it in the South so maybe that’s how we should do it in the North. I think sometimes that’s exactly what we’re putting forward by way of legislation or policies that we think were great at the time but afterwards realizing it doesn’t work for all in the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, a major challenge that we face in the Northwest Territories is climate change and the mitigated effects that it’s having on our communities. I know I rattled on a little bit last time about the flood in Aklavik and trying to get an access road in regard to a gravel source close by, and being able to find the gravel that’s going to be needed to house up that community so the next time there’s a flood they’ll know that they’ll have some sort of protection mechanism in the community and that they have the gravel sources to be able to respond in regard to any berms that have to be built to house them in case there is a flood in the community. Yet, Mr. Speaker, again the community has to start from ground zero, come up with some sort of a plan in regard to ensuring that the engineering design and the construction of this project is coming forward.

Mr. Speaker, the funny thing is that this gravel source has 54 million cubic metres of gravel which will last for the next decade if we get into it and use it for the Inuvik region. Yet, Mr. Speaker, when it comes to site 177, there was nothing done by way of how many gravel resources are there. Is there even enough gravel in that source to build a road to Tuk? I was surprised to hear that from a resident of Tuk at the Beaufort leaders meeting. Yet this government says it’s done due diligence in regard to that capital investment.

Again, this government has to ensure there’s transparency, fairness, and that all communities are treated equally and not just cherry picked from among a few. The government has to implement programs and services which are universal, which will serve 33 communities, and not just play us off one against another, as we’re seeing happening in the capital budget process.

I think it’s important to know that as a government we have the responsibility to be seen as fair, transparent, and that any capital investment that’s put in place is being offered to other communities throughout the Northwest Territories and not just one or two.

A major issue that has occurred in my riding and other small communities throughout the Northwest Territories is in the area of dust control. I think it’s important to realize that some people who may not think it’s a problem should go to one of our communities where you’re actually eating dust as you walk down the street, or have to keep your windows closed because of the dust that’s blowing in communities, or where the elderly people suffer from asthma and breathing problems and the suffering they go through during the summer months.

There was a program a number of years ago called the Main Street Chipseal Program for some 15 communities in the Northwest Territories. I was totally surprised to realize that the community of Fort Smith was going to be requesting $6 million to chipseal their streets. Yet the small communities were told that program no longer exists, we can’t help you, good bye, see you later, take it out of your gas tax money. Most of the small communities’ gas tax money adds up to just under $100,000.

I think to be fair and transparent we again have to ensure that whatever capital investment that is in place is fair, is transparent, and everyone has an opportunity to participate.

One of the highlights of the budget that jumped out at me was the whole idea around policing. I mentioned it earlier. That step is one step of ensuring safe and secure communities. I don’t know what it’s going to take for this government to realize that the smaller communities are feeling left out with regard to how they are being treated in light of programs and services, policing, and capital infrastructure. For us to walk away from small municipalities and say sorry, you’re now on your own...It works great in tax-based communities where there are major revenues coming in through property taxes, corporate taxes, and other taxes they receive. For us to do justice, we have to ensure there is a program in place to identify communities separately with regard to those communities that fall outside the lines, such as charter communities, band communities such as Colville Lake or Wrigley or Tsiigehtchic, and they’re not recognized as municipalities in the sense of the Northwest Territories. They are different, yet we stamp them with the same stamp Yellowknife gets. I do not see that being fair on the small communities to allow them to struggle getting through their deficits, capacity issues, finding simple things, and financial officers, band

managers. I think as a government we’ve got to realize that there’s more to the Northwest Territories than mega projects of $100 million schools, major dementia centres and looking at walk-in clinics. Whoop-dee-doo. The people in Tsiigehtchic really need a walk-in clinic, but I’m not too sure where we’re going to put it.

I think it’s important to realize we’re here to serve everyone and offer everyone an opportunity to live healthy, vibrant and reliable lives. What is the cost to our health care system when we neglect a community by not having nursing services or policing services or mental health services? What happens to those people when you finally realize they have diabetes or cancer long after these things could have been prevented by simply having a position in the community?

I don’t think we realize the financial implications for small communities until they become a statistic with regard to the burden on our health care system. Everything I talk about today can be prevented, as long as we treat everybody fairly equitably, and, more importantly, with compassion.

We’re a consensus government. We’re not a province. I think it’s important to realize that this government has to do a better job dealing with small communities in a way that makes them feel like they are a piece of the Northwest Territories and not simply an outpost for a fishing camp out on the river. I think this government has to get around that and start treating the communities more favourably and importantly, with honesty and respect.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I really appreciate this opportunity. The Minister highlighted during his budget presentation that this is one of the greenest budgets ever and, indeed, I think it is. This makes me happy. We’re really getting down to it, finally. But it also makes me sad how little we have done in relation to the need.

I’d like to take this opportunity to read into the record some quotes that outline the gravest of concerns that we, the people of the North, and indeed the people of the world, now face. While I read these into the record I will have in mind the young McKinley Hawkins and other wonderful people of the North and throughout the world.

The quotes come from a book by Gwynne Dyer, a Canadian intellectual, called “Climate Wars”. It was just published. I’d like to proceed with reading from a series of quotes from our top scientists on the

issue of climate change. It starts with a quote from John Holdren, director of Woods Hole Research Centre, past-president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. This is in February of 2008.

“We depend on the climate for the productivity of farms and forests and fisheries. We depend on the climate for the availability of water. We are at risk from the climate -- from heat waves, from floods, from droughts, from wildfires, from sea level rise -- and what we are seeing is all of these things happening faster. We are seeing not only a rise in the surface temperature of the planet, we are seeing changes in circulation patterns, changes in storm tracks, increases in flood intensity and frequency, increases in drought intensity and frequency, more and stronger heat waves, more powerful tropical storms right across the board. Everything that is expected to result from global climate change driven by greenhouse gasses is not only happening, but it’s happening faster than anybody expected.”

Mr. Dyer says, recognizing that we are now at 6.7 billion people on the globe and we’re marching forward to nine billion, that it is extremely unlikely that there will ever be nine billion human beings on this planet. It’s not just...

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. If I could have your attention for a moment. I’d like to remind you of our rules for reading extensively from documents that are not before the House. Just to keep your reading from documents short.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just for clarity, I have a number of them, but they are short. Each one is short. Is that acceptable?

---Interjection

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Dyer himself says, “It’s not just that there’s no obvious way to feed the next 2.5 billion; in the relatively near future global heating is going to start depriving us of a large and steadily increasing proportion of the food supply that supports the present 6.7 million.”

I’d also like to note a quote from James Hansen, the top scientist on climate change. He says, “If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed, carbon dioxide will need to be reduced from its current 385 parts per million to at most 350 parts per million. We’re currently at about 388. If the present overshoot of this target carbon dioxide is not reached, there is a possibility of seeing irreversible catastrophic effects.”

Part of the problem is that in the assessments that have been done to date, we have not included the feedback loops, the things that accelerate the whole system. And it’s because there’s a process in the IPCC reports, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, that necessarily uses data that’s five or six years old and doesn’t allow really current information to get involved. What scientists are trying to do now is give us an update that’s really current.

Some of these feedback loops that we’ve heard about: an increased rate of evaporation from warmer oceans that will lead to more warming; melting of the polar ice cover, particularly on the Arctic Ocean, around the Atlantic coast and Antarctic coast. This melting near the two poles will replace highly reflective white ice sheets which bounce 70 percent of incoming sunlight straight back into space, with open ocean that absorbs 94 percent. So we’re going from reflecting 70 percent to absorbing 94 percent of the sunlight striking it and converting this into heat.

Another feedback loop is the release due to warming of vast amounts of fossil methane hydrate from the Arctic and also the release of methane hydrate from the oceans. We’ve heard about those. This methane is 22 times worse than carbon dioxide as a warming agent, so warming will be much faster as you include this feedback mechanism. We know now that this is already happening in the Arctic.

Another issue is that the carbon that has been absorbed by the oceans, which is a huge thing we have in our favour. The oceans actually take carbon from the atmosphere and absorb it and store it so it doesn’t affect our climate. Unfortunately, we have now realized that the capacity of the oceans is cut in half because of the warmer temperatures and the carbonation of the water. Now, this starts getting into some complicated science and so on, but the major fact here is that this is another feedback loop that is causing things to happen much, much faster. Again, it addresses this gravest of concerns.

One more quote from Vandana Shiva, director of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Natural Resource Policy in New Delhi.

“With more and more land that is diverted for industrial biofuels to keep cars running we have two years before a food catastrophe breaks out worldwide. It will be 20 years before climate catastrophe breaks out, but the false solutions to climate change are creating catastrophes that will be much more rapid than the climate change itself.”

I want this House to be fully aware of the context within which we develop budgets and deliver

programs to our people. This is something -- and I feel awkward talking about this because I know people still are not aware of how grave the situation is -- I feel obligated to my people, and the people of the world, to really highlight this and stress we can’t just toy at this. We can’t debate and argue about this. The science is very clear and it’s becoming clearer every day that we speak. We need to really focus and completely green our economy, if you will. Again, I don’t want to turn people off that are tired of the green operation, but we need to redo our whole systems, the way we develop our economy, the way we do business, how we educate our children and so on. We need to really start addressing it in a holistic way. Our difficulty is that our time frame is quite short. We know that we’re already past what is sustainable. But we also know that we can take that for a while, as long as we return as quickly as possibly or, say, within a matter of decades to a level of carbon in the atmosphere that is sustainable again.

The way this happens, of course, is with each and every one of us and each and every one of our constituents out there acting in knowledgeable ways, becoming aware of the issues and then acting together to address this.

So I once again very much appreciate this opportunity to address this context within which these budgets are developed and go forward. I guess I make a plea, and I would be on my knees if need be, because we are discussing the gravest issue here for human kind and, of course, for the ecological system out there. Let’s really get aware, let’s become aware, let’s focus on working together on this and let’s focus on getting effective and make sure our budgets from this time forward are more and more cognitive of this both demand and opportunity.

Fortunately, I think recognizing everything we do must be within this context, I see the happy coincidence of many great opportunities for doing things in better ways for people that actually will respond to the need to do this. I’m looking forward to working with this government towards that end. The solutions are myriad, it’s just that they’re desperately needed yesterday.

It’s going to take a lot of awareness and commitment and innovation to act effectively on these opportunities, but the goal is great and the outcome is worth our complete dedication and focus. For our people I again make this plea to this House: become aware and act quickly. I will offer my full help on that in any way that’s useful.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled Northwest Territories Public Accounts 2007-2008. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Item 16, notices of motion. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Wednesday, February 18, 2009, I will move the following motion: I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, that the Speaker be authorized to set such sitting days and hours as the Speaker, after consultation, deems fit to assist with the business before the House.

At the appropriate time I will be seeking unanimous consent to deal with this motion today.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Item 17, notices of motion for first reading of bills. Item 18, motions. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to deal with the motion I gave notice of earlier today.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, that the Speaker be authorized to set such sitting days and hours as the Speaker,

after consultation, deems fit to assist with the business before the House.

Motion is on the floor. Motion is in order. To the motion.

Question has been called.

---Carried

Item 19, first reading of bills. Item 20, second reading of bills. Item 21, consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters: Tabled Document 7-16(3), Ministerial Benefits Policy; Committee Report 2-16(3), Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures Report on Matters Referred to the Committee; Committee Report 3-16(3), Report on the Use of Laptop Computers and Blackberry Devices in the Legislative Assembly; Tabled Document 11-16(3), NWT Main Estimates 2009-2010; Bill 1, An Act to Amend the Historical Resources Act; Bill 3, International Interest in Mobile Aircraft Equipment Act; Bill 4, Public Library Act; Bill 5, Professional Corporations Act; and Bill 7, An Act to Amend the Student Financial Assistance Act, with Mr. Krutko in the chair.

By the authority given me as Speaker by Motion 10-16(3), I hereby authorize the House to sit beyond the daily hour of adjournment to consider the business before the House; and further, by the authority given me as Speaker by Rule 11(4), I appoint the Member of Kam Lake to act as deputy chair of Committee of the Whole for today.