Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for either the Minister of Transportation or Housing, whichever Minister wants to take it. I’ve raised this issue before in the House. It’s about an elderly gentleman in Tsiigehtchic, Mr. George Niditchie, who is 73 years old and just got out of the hospital not that long ago from frostbite, suffered as a result of the problem he’s facing with flooding around his home. His home is across the river from Tsiigehtchic. The problem arises due to overflow coming along the Dempster Highway and down towards his place. I noticed that the overflow is now running over the Dempster Highway. They are now up there with equipment trying to dredge the thing using backhoes and whatnot to get the overflow to

flow down the hill. The impact of this decision to reroute the overflow is directly affecting Mr. Niditchie’s home, which was built in 2009 through the Log Home Initiative by this government. It was built with the Housing Corporation’s assistance through this program.

I’d like to ask the Minister if he has an update on what exactly is being done to remedy the situation and also try to find a way around this problem so that Mr. Niditchie does not have to deal with this again this year. I brought this forward in the House last year and it has still not been resolved.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member has raised this issue with me on several occasions. It is certainly a concern. We have a senior who has had a lot of problems with the runoff of water from one of the lakes in the area. We’ve directed our staff to look at the possible remedies and I have not heard back. My staff have been working through the Housing Corporation and the Department of Transportation to see what the options are and in what ways we can assist this senior. I have not heard back formally as of yet.

Yes, it is one of the options we’re looking at. We also looked at the possibility of looking at a better drainage system or redirecting it and changing some of the culverts so the water would run through. It would be fairly expensive. It looks like, at this point, the easiest solution would be to be able to relocate the building. There are some land issues we need to sort out, but it’s a real possibility that this is the avenue we will go.

I’d like to ask the Minister if it’s possible for his staff either in Transportation or Housing to move on this matter as quickly as possible. I think with the warm weather coming, the problem is going to get worse and I think it’s already bad enough as it is right now. The elderly gentleman did freeze his foot. He has been unable to walk for the last two months. He’s housebound because of the frostbite to his feet because of the overflows. I’d like to ask the Minister if he can also keep myself and Mr. Niditchie in tune on exactly

where we’re going with this and try to move on it as quickly as he can.

We certainly can commit to doing that. We also had other discussions with the senior involved, including the possibility of looking at temporary accommodations in a public unit. It sounds, by the Member’s comments, that this was not accepted, so I will commit to having some feedback for the Member as soon as I can get an update from my own staff and provide that to the Member.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d also like for the Minister to keep the chief of Tsiigehtchic involved and, more importantly, the Gwich’in Tribal Council. This issue has come up in the Gwich’in Assembly. The area that is being flooded is on Gwich’in land. So this issue is an issue that came out and there could be legal issues around it. I’d like to ask the Minister if he can also keep the political organizations involved in where we’re going with this.

We’ll respond to all the different organizations that have contacted us over the last while regarding this issue and keep them informed as we move forward.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to direct my Member’s statement to the Minister of Health and Social Services. I’d like to know how much of the flow-through money that is specifically earmarked for social workers and counsellors for the smaller remote communities stops in the regional centres, especially here in Yellowknife. I’m asking if the Minister would be able to provide our riding with such information.

Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d be happy to make a commitment to get back to the Member on that. We spent about $8 million on mental health and addictions area. But I’ll have to talk to him more about exactly what programs and services he means for what communities. I understand we have a breakdown between the authorities, but I understand that he would like information on how much money flows through to

small communities. I could work with the Member to get him the information he needs. Thank you.

Just off my Member’s statement for Sachs, Paulatuk and Ulukhaktok in my riding, Mr. Speaker, given the many communities that share social workers or counsellors within our small communities or regional centre, will the government re-evaluate their staff, their role in the delivery of the structure in the regional centres so they have more time and resources to assist small and remote communities as intended? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, Mr. Speaker. Absolutely. In fact, I am in the process of doing that right now. The Member and I were able to visit Paulatuk and Sachs Harbour. It was a huge issue in Paulatuk where the residents came out and told us about their needs specifically. Since then, the CEO of Beaufort-Delta Health Authority has travelled there. We are putting a proposal together to see how we could address the immediate needs and specific needs of Paulatuk. I am also aware that, in general, there is a huge vacancy rate among the social worker staffing for Beaufort-Delta. I have asked our director in the department to travel there to get me more information about what is going on. This is very much part of our work right now. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Minister. Mr. Speaker, will the government consider increasing the resources for social workers, counsellors in small remote communities in the next round of budget discussions? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, we will have to ask for that in the budget process, but very much the Minister’s action plan or department’s action plan for next year coming forward, I had the opportunity to make a presentation to the Standing Committee on Social Programs on Friday. We are looking at each community to see what the needs are and how we are meeting the needs and some innovative ideas to do that. I am sure it will be a very much detailed discussion as we move forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Jacobson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to remind the Minister in regards to our constituency tour we had together and how important it is for this position to get filled in all the communities. No more lip service. Let’s get it done. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. I don’t know if I heard a question there. Ms. Lee, I will allow you to respond.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thought I was quite specific on my action plan. I

don’t know what “lip service” means. Mr. Speaker, I am aware that Beaufort-Delta especially and their social services system has more vacancies and more turnover rates and the community would like to have more services in their communities. I am working on that right now. I hope to give him a specific proposal. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recognizing that fuel emissions are a primary source of greenhouse gases and climate change is a problem for us, and recognizing that there is little significant effort right now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, will the Minister of Transportation commit to adopting California fuel emission standards for the Northwest Territories? Thank you.