Good afternoon, colleagues. Welcome back to the Chamber. Orders of the day. Item 2, Ministers’ statements. The honourable Deputy Premier, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to be before this House to announce the GNWT’s approach to improving the regulatory system for NWT’s lands, waters and resources.

The people of the Northwest Territories have told us they want to have a say in the decisions that affect them. They want a regulatory regime that encourages resource development, ensures the environment is protected and provides benefits to residents now and in the future. Ensuring we have the tools, processes and resources to effectively guide and participate in decisions about how this land is managed is a key priority of this government.

We have a unique system in place here in the Northwest Territories rooted in the settled land claims. It is a system based on shared responsibility and cooperation that provides a framework for governments, communities, industries and other organizations to work together to ensure development occurs in a responsible and sustainable manner.

Far from being a weakness, this inclusive approach provides that all Northerners, especially in our more remote communities, have a voice in decision-making. We do not need to apologize for that uniqueness.

Mr. Speaker, this government has developed a comprehensive approach to regulatory improvements that includes a number of target improvements to the regulatory system. Several of these improvements can be undertaken in the short term and will produce immediate results. We have communicated to Minister Strahl that we want to engage with Canada and collaborate to ensure the interests of Northerners are considered if changes are made.

Mr. Speaker, the GNWT supports a fully implemented, integrated system of land and water management in the Northwest Territories as called for in the settled land claims. Such a system would function in the public interest, allow for efficient decision-making by Northerners and facilitate the eventual devolution of authorities to our governments. Unfortunately, right now, all the pieces of that system are not in place. And the parts that are in place are not always fully implemented.

Mr. Speaker, we cannot agree with those who would suggest that eliminating or restructuring the regional land and water boards is required. These boards are created for a reason to ensure that Northerners, especially those in the communities, have access to the regulatory system. Instead, we need to ensure that the existing structure is properly implemented and supported. This would create more certainty and predictability of Northerners and other users of the system.

Mr. Speaker, board appointments is one area where immediate changes can be made. The federal government’s commitment to examine the board member appointment process is a good start. We believe the delegation of authority for the GNWT to appoint our own board members would speed up the appointment process. This would help ensure board quorums are maintained. It would also be seen as a move towards devolving authority to the Government of the Northwest Territories.

During all of the regulatory improvement initiatives, stakeholders have repeated concerns that there are currently no clear processes or timelines for decisions made by responsible Ministers under the Mackenzie Valley Resources Management Act. As a responsible Minister, I share those concerns.

Clear guidelines on roles and responsibilities for regulatory authorities would ensure the processes were transparent and timely and would help to alleviate those concerns.

Recent federal announcements of funding of $900,000 for the NWT Cumulative Impact Monitoring Program and a $300,000 training fund for regulatory boards is a start on addressing some of the capacity needs of the integrated system. However, it is more important that consistent, predictable funding for all elements of our existing regulatory system be put in place.

Mr. Speaker, an efficient and effective regulatory system will create benefits and increase the quality of life for our residents by providing certainty to all parties with an interest in how resources are managed and developed in the NWT. Our government has developed an approach to regulatory improvement design to help us realize these benefits. We look forward to sharing and discussing our proposed approach with Members, aboriginal governments, key stakeholders, and the public during the coming months.

Governments need to continually improve their way of doing business within their own areas of responsibility. The GNWT is no different. We are continuing to look for ways to improve in those areas where we already hold authority, but as Northerners, the GNWT, aboriginal governments, and northern stakeholders need to work together to ensure that the federal government takes our interests into account when it makes changes to a regulatory process that we will someday inherit.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Item 3, Members’ statements. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This week people have been getting together in Fort Simpson for the Beavertail Jamboree. Celebrations kicked off last weekend and today is a big day with a community feast, official opening ceremonies, and tonight there will be fireworks. Our hardworking organizers have arranged a mix of events to get people outside in the fresh air. It’s time to enjoy the longer days of sunshine.

People will be coming into Fort Simpson from all over the Deh Cho, and Tulita, Fort Providence, Yellowknife, and even northern Alberta. The tradition of the Beavertail Jamboree began 32 years

ago and the festival is as lively as ever. This may be one of the longest continuous ones in the North.

There are activities for the youngsters and folks of all ages. Events have changed over the years, but this year some of the old favourites are back. One of these is a beard growing contest and another, for the more active, is dog team racing that starts tomorrow. There’s a free lunch followed by youth games, the corporate challenge, and the youth talent show -- and that’s just Friday. Saturday there’s another dog team race, snowmobile and snow cross events, and save some energy for one of the main events: the adult talent show. The talent show is my favourite event. I often enter the jigging contest with my daughter Diedra Villeneuve.

---Applause

Thanks to all the many volunteers and organizations that have contributed to the festival. In particular I’d like to thank Ms. Cindy Browning, president of the Beavertail Jamboree Committee. She has helped with the jamboree for the last nine years. Also I would like to thank the Members of the jamboree committee: Ms. Connie Villeneuve, Troy Bradbury, Ms. Darleen Sibbeston, and apologies to those that I missed. Corporate sponsors and the many volunteers deserve a very honourable mention.

I encourage everyone in Fort Simpson to come out and kick up their heels. I hope that the weather is great and everyone has a happy and safe weekend. Good luck to all. Mahsi cho.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over the last six weeks I’ve gone on record and recognized a number of voluntary sector non-government organizations. Specifically I have talked about the Centre for Northern Families, SideDoor Youth Ministries, the Salvation Army, the Yellowknife Association for Community Living, the Yellowknife Association of Concerned Citizens for Seniors, the YWCA, Sport North Federation, the Tree of Peace Friendship Centre, Ecology North, and the John Howard Society of the Northwest Territories. This is a short list of the different voluntary sector non-government organizations providing high quality and incredibly important services to the people of the Northwest Territories.

If there were more days, I would have highlighted more; important organizations such as, but not limited to, the Aboriginal Sport Circle of the Western Arctic, the NWT Council of Persons with Disabilities, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Association, and the NWT Seniors’ Society, to name just a few.

These organizations provide incredibly important services to the residents of the Northwest Territories. Often they can be more responsive to the needs of our residents due to the limited bureaucracy and the desire to be flexible, and acknowledge the differences in situations and clients rather than adhere to rigid guidelines that the government often has to. These organizations are a key element to the health and overall well-being of residents in the Northwest Territories. Fortunately the 16th Legislative Assembly has

indicated that supporting a healthy and sustainable voluntary and not-for-profit sector is a priority for this government. It’s about time.

I’d like to applaud the Department of Finance and MACA for taking an important step in holding a Volunteer Summit last weekend. I believe that this summit was important and will help obtain needed input from these organizations on how to improve the relationship and funding processes between them and the GNWT. This goes a long way to improving services to the residents of the Northwest Territories.

I did receive some feedback on the summit and I’m happy to say that some of the attendees have indicated they are feeling much more optimistic than they have for a very long time about the potential for the government and the voluntary sector to move ahead on relationship building and funding. This is an important step. We as the 16th Assembly must not lose the momentum that has been built and the positive step forward that we and the voluntary and not-for-profit organizations have taken.

I look forward to working with the Minister of Finance and the Minister of MACA, as well as representatives from the different organizations, as we move forward on these initiatives. Once again, I would like to offer a huge thank you to all of the volunteers and staff of the different voluntary and not-for-profit organizations in the Northwest Territories who help make the NWT a great place to live.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When I hear the needs of my seniors in Nunakput communities I wonder if the government is taking them seriously or the status quo. The government must get serious about spending for our elders and seniors.

In Nunakput, the community of Ulukhaktok constituents have initiated and completed a petition to get this government committed to build a badly needed seniors facility. Caring for our elders and their well-being must be a pillar of this government. The community of Ulukhaktok elders really have no place to gather. They often gather in the hamlet, the Northern Store, or the restaurant. In addition to these severe shortages of facilities specifically for seniors housing and care.

Previously I expressed my community’s concerns with the growing cost of living that is eating away at disposable incomes, especially from our elders. I also expressed the growing concerns with the government’s reduction of services, projects for seniors during this session. We have heard government’s plan to strip benefits and services from seniors. What I find unfair is this government is not considering that in Nunakput the cost of living is 81 percent higher than Yellowknife. Even for such an enormous difference, the government continues to use formulas such as per capita, market conditions. This is wrong. Ulukhaktok needs an elders facility just as much as Yellowknife, Inuvik, and Hay River.

For as long as I can remember there’s always been talk about two different types of Northerners. There are ones from larger communities and ones from the smaller communities and economically disadvantaged communities. I challenge this government to bridge these together.

During my various leadership positions I will continue to try to improve the life of our elders. Things such as better quality and less expensive foods, better living conditions, facilities, and health care. I challenge this government to implement plans for real changes for real problems.

Lastly, I wish my colleagues an enjoyable spring and to all my Nunakput constituents, especially my good friend Patrick Joss.

Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to congratulate the City of Yellowknife Council, which approved the plans and awarded a construction contract for the fieldhouse indoor recreational complex. After six long years of planning and deliberations, Clark Builders Construction and Ferguson, Simek, Clark will begin construction later this year. The project will employ 50 workers and is scheduled to be completed by August of next year.

The new facility will be located in the Kam Lake riding next to the Multiplex. This is a $17 million facility that will include two full-sized indoor soccer fields, a three-lane running track, and children’s playing area. I’ve spoken about the need for our residents to get more physically active. A facility like the new fieldhouse will give residents and visitors another excellent venue to be physically active.

The current demand for recreational space in the city exceeds capacity by 30 percent. This will be a much needed addition to the city’s recreational facilities.

I’d like to acknowledge the hardworking members of the Fieldhouse Development Committee, who worked tirelessly to prepare the final recommendation for city council. Those are: Councillor Bob Brooks, the chair; Mark Aitken, the vice-chair; Mayor Gordon Van Tighem, John Carr, Ryan Fequet, Craig Hockridge, Mike Roesch, Terry Brookes, Judy McLinton, and from the city administration, Mr. Max Hall, Carl Bird, and Grant White and also, Mr. Speaker, the rest of Yellowknife City Council. I know that Yellowknife families and their children and many Northerners from outside of Yellowknife will benefit for many years to come in partaking in exciting games and sports that will take place at this new facility.

Once again, congratulations to Yellowknife City Council and residents who have this great new facility. It is an exciting project. I wish you all the best with the construction, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday, medical staff alerted me to an alarming situation related to crack cocaine addictions right here in Yellowknife. While the degree of crack addiction in our city is itself horrendous, in major

Canadian cities where similar degrees of addiction have developed, addicts increasingly suffered from other even more serious consequences.

Mr. Speaker, here is what I am hearing from one concerned physician who is working on the front line of infectious disease in the North. He notes that “outbreaks of TB and syphilis pale in comparison to what I now see emerging on our city streets. Further, intravenous crack cocaine use is becoming increasingly widespread in Yellowknife. This ominous development has a number of serious implications. Intravenous crack cocaine needs to be injected frequently to sustain its high. On the streets of Vancouver, addicts will routinely inject crack one to two times per hour. This need to inject frequently led more than any other factor to an explosion of HIV and Hepatitis C in Vancouver’s downtown east side with now well known results.”

In Yellowknife, he notes that this is like a pile of kindling waiting for a flame. Mr. Speaker, what are we doing about these addictions and increasing potential for an epidemic of diseases? On October 29, 2004, a motion was debated and passed in this House to get more addictions programs on the ground here including for youth. Quoting here from Hansard for that debate, MLA Sandy Lee had this to say, “I tell you, if we let this stuff spread without any kind of aggressive campaign, we are going to pay for it. We could be the kind of place where people from down south will send their people up here because we have such a great program, we are on the ball and we are dealing with it.”

What has changed in the ensuing five years, Mr. Speaker? Not one thing. As mentioned in the 2004 debate, our only addictions facility was the one in Hay River. Unbelievably, the exact same thing is true today. We have one facility, the one in Hay River. The Health and Social Services website says, presently the NWT does not have a residential addiction treatment program for children and youth located in the NWT, but provides access to these services in southern Canada.

Mr. Speaker, as noted by a Yellowknife physician, quote, “Our homeless population is highly addicted already and the introduction of IV crack use is the flame that will cause an explosion of HIV and Hep C here.”

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

---Unanimous consent granted

Yes, the physician’s statement, our homeless population is highly addicted already and the introduction of IV crack use is the flame that will cause an explosion of HIV and Hep C here. Mr. Speaker, we knew five years ago that serious

and effective action was needed. The situation is now compounded by a lack of action and an accelerating and loaded predicament. Can we expect this Minister of Health and Social Services to act quickly to prevent this potential outbreak now? Mahsi.

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

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Today I wish to speak about the important issue of providing affordable and adequate housing for senior homeowners in Tu Nedhe. Mr. Speaker, as I talked about earlier this week and many times during session, housing is a huge problem in my riding. It is very personal and often stressful for the constituents. I will continue to work on this, particularly trying to address seniors’ homeowner repair issues. Mr. Speaker, I will continue to work with the Minister and both communities on homeownership concerns for seniors in the area of cost efficiency and comfort. For seniors that own their own units, I will continue to work on repair and renovation issues on their behalf.

Mr. Speaker, approximately 90 percent of the seniors’ home repair and much needed renovations can be addressed through a program that provides up to $25,000 in repair and renovations to the homeowners. I will be seeking an innovative community-based approach for addressing the home repair and renovation issue for both Tu Nedhe communities with monies available. I will be seeking $1.6 million of infrastructure funding to put towards this initiative; $600,000 for Lutselk’e and $1 million for Fort Resolution. This is based on the total amount of senior homeowners in each community. With barge date and material take-offs, time is of the essence. So this is something that I will be working on immediately.

Mr. Speaker, to start the process, inspections need to be carried out and this will determine the scope of work for each unit for the procurement of materials and supplies and the hiring of technical and other staff that must be planned immediately. Mr. Speaker, with this initiative, planning and support is needed from the NWT Housing Corporation staff to assist the communities with this innovative approach. Later on, I will have follow-up questions for the appropriate Minister, the Minister of Housing. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In regards to the Minister’s announcement today in regards to GNWT’s approach to regulatory reform, we are trying to find ways to improve it.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to go back in history. I first got involved in aboriginal politics in 1985. From that, there was already in place land use planning work going on by way of land use planning commissions set up in the Northwest Territories. In the 1980s, we had planning boards in place. A lot of the legwork was done. At the same time, there were negotiations going on in regards to the Dene-Metis comprehensive land claim. In 1988, the Dene-Metis signed an agreement-in-principle which clearly defined what regulatory systems they wanted to see in the Northwest Territories by way of land and water management systems, land use planning boards, looking at the establishment of wildlife management authority and also the Dene-Metis, through the comprehensive claim process, were involved in the work that was going on in regards to land use planning for the Mackenzie Valley. Yet, Mr. Speaker, since then, the Gwich’in have settled their land claim based on the Dene-Metis model. Following that, the Sahtu and now the Tlicho, but, Mr. Speaker, other groups are still negotiating their agreements in regards to the Dehcho Process. The Dehcho Process is basically developing a land use planning system which will be consolidated to the land claim agreement which should be the basis of any plan regardless if it is a land use plan for development, a land use plan because the regulation requires it, but yet we don’t seem to be supporting them on that effort.

Mr. Speaker, there should be a land use plan completed for all regions in the Northwest Territories so that we can have a basis so that when the developer or individuals from our communities know what is going on out there and make industry and developers aware of what the sensitivity of the region is by way of the land use plan identifying those sensitive areas. Mr. Speaker, again, we still haven’t come forward with concluding that process which is clearly defined.

Mr. Speaker, my view is, the biggest challenge we are facing in regards to regulatory reform is just having the funding available and the capacity in our small communities to deal with the regulatory process. I use an illustration in regards to the communities in the Northwest Territories. Whenever an application comes forward…

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

---Unanimous consent granted

In regards to communities in the Northwest Territories to take part of development applications which are going forward before the Environmental Assessment Review Board, basically there is a clause in the agreement which clearly states that, as part of the review, they have to consider the social and economic impacts on small communities. It is in the legislation. Mr. Speaker, the community of Kakisa had to take the regulatory board to court to tell them why they are not following their own rules. By doing that, the government is now opening up a process to ensure that small communities have the capacity to not only be involved in how do you intervene on a regulatory process but also having the capacity to basically do that.

Mr. Speaker, I don’t think there is anything majorly wrong with the regulatory process in the Northwest Territories. It is only 10 years old. It is a young regulatory system, but for us to be dictated by people in Ottawa or basically have a consultant come up here from Calgary to tell us what is good for us, I don’t agree with that. I think the process is in place. We should ensure that we follow the systems that have been negotiated going on 30 years and allow that process to take hold. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to acknowledge the emergency service personnel, particularly NWT firefighters, both career and volunteer members and both municipal and airport squads. Service personnel stand by for us 24 hours a day, seven days week, ready and willing to do dangerous work if called upon. These men and women train and prepare to be ready for action at a moment’s notice. They have specialized skills and knowledge that enable them to do an outstanding job, often in difficult weather and in treacherous locations. They put life and limb at risk to keep us safe and to keep our homes and businesses safe. But sometimes all they can do is control a situation and businesses and homes are lost. Unfortunately, in the course of their work, firefighters sometimes get injured and occasionally fatally.

On March 17, 2005, the City of Yellowknife lost two firefighters, one a veteran, one a rookie, as they fought a fire in the line of duty. They gave their lives for this community as they performed a job they both loved. We won’t be here next Tuesday, Mr. Speaker, so I want to specifically remember and

honour Cyril Fyfe and Kevin Olsen, two exemplary firefighters who were both fatally injured on March 17th , four years ago.

In their memory, I recognize and honour all NWT emergency personnel as they go about their jobs today and every day. To each and everyone I say thank you for protecting us, thank you for taking risks for us. To my colleagues I say as you return to your communities over the next few days and weeks, take the time to search out and visit your local firefighters and thank them personally, and on March 17th stop and take a moment to think of

those who we have lost. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, historically we know that air transportation is an essential service in the Northwest Territories, especially in the Sahtu region. Having a runway that is the appropriate length is critical to the air transportation companies so they can operate safely and provide the best type of aircraft to service our communities.

Mr. Speaker, amendments to the Canadian aviation regulations have been introduced. The proposed amendments deal with take-off weight limitations, operations on gravel runways and other potential changes that will have an impact on NWT airports. These changes come into effect in the Northwest Territories in December 2010. That’s 21 months and counting, Mr. Speaker.

What this means, Mr. Speaker, is that many of the planes currently owned by aviation companies serving the Sahtu will not meet the new requirements. They will be restricted to flying with nine passengers or less on a scheduled flight, making the…(inaudible)…inefficient. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Transportation is currently upgrading the airport runway length in Fort Good Hope and Tulita to approximately 4,000 feet. While community leaders and the aviation companies in my region appreciate the efforts to improve the airport runways, they feel that the current length is not long enough to accommodate more cost-effective, safer aircrafts like the Beech 1900. The joint company in partnership with Fort Good Hope and Deline want to purchase this plane because they believe it’s the perfect fit for their operations and complies with the new regulations. What they need from this government is a commitment to extend the runways in the Sahtu to a minimum of 4,500 feet to accommodate this type of aircraft.

The Department of Transportation has responded by saying that the current runway extensions are sufficient and suggested that the company consider purchasing other aircraft that can land on a 4,000 foot runway. Mr. Speaker, the communities, along with North-Wright, have examined the suggested options put forward by the Department of Transportation and feel that the Beech 1900 is the way to go. They believe that the department’s position not to extend the runways to 4,500 feet is short-sighted and doesn’t take into account the future needs of the aviation industry in the Sahtu.

Mr. Speaker, aviation companies in the Sahtu region are working hard to provide safe, reliable service to the Sahtu communities. They want to upgrade their fleet to include new aircraft that comply with the new regulations and better serve the Sahtu.

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

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, colleagues. Mr. Speaker, they want to upgrade their fleet to include new aircraft that comply with the new regulations and better serve the Sahtu. But, Mr. Speaker, the current approach taken by the department in extending runway lengths is standing in their way.

Mr. Speaker, airports are the prime source of transportation for the people in the Sahtu. They do not have the benefit of an all-weather road that can move people, goods and services to and from the region. For that reason, it’s critically important that the airport infrastructure supports the needs of the communities they serve. I urge the Minister to work with the Sahtu aviation companies and community leaders and consider extending the runways in Fort Good Hope and Deline to a minimum of 4,500 feet. By extending the runway lengths now it will serve the communities in the future. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it has been a long six weeks. Mr. Speaker, I came here six weeks ago with many concerns. From my perspective, we have made progress.

There were issues around communication and how consensus government is working. We have

embarked on a process to bring more clarity to how we communicate and work together. As I’ve shared in the House before, consensus government has many good aspects, but there are also some anomalies that undermine the spirit and intent of consensus. Some of these are processes and some are entrenched conventions or attitudes, but we look forward to more work and dialogue on this as we collectively consider the principles of consensus government.

I came here with very serious concerns about the direction of the proposed changes to the Supplementary Health Benefits Program and the impact of these changes on seniors, persons with disabilities and those families who have members with chronic health conditions. Those proposed changes are being taken back to the drawing board for further analysis and consideration and that is a good thing.

I came here with many concerns around the direction of the Board Reform Initiative. This is another initiative that created a lot of concern and input from the public, which is a good thing. The input is a good thing and that is active democracy. Again, the approach to board reform, I believe, has been altered to not throw out the fundamental of looking for efficiencies, but a more consultative, bottom-up, as opposed to top-down, incremental approach to potential changes.

I came here with serious concerns about our government’s approach to the unsolicited proposal for the NTPC merger with ATCO. I am reasonably assured that the sequencing and this review, along with several others related to the supply of affordable and reliable energy to our residents, will progress with involvement from Regular MLAs and the public. I look forward to the results of these reviews.

Some disappointments are related to the fact that I don’t think we found any really tangible initiatives on behalf of northern residents and of businesses to address the cost of living and the conditions of these economic times, but there is still time for those and it is not too late.

I would tell you that I am somewhat disappointed with the lack of enthusiasm from the other side with respect to the milk subsidy and the return of the housing subsidy from ECE to NWT Housing Corporation, but I do sense that the door is not completely closed on those as well.

Some have referred to the interaction between Cabinet and Regular Members in a negative context. I see this tension and the back and forth as a necessary reality...

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

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, colleagues. Mr. Speaker, I see this tension and back and forth as a necessary reality as Regular Members represent the interests of their constituents, and as a part of our role in holding the government accountable.

To end on a positive note, I appreciate all the Members’ engagement in the important issues that have been raised during this session. I leave hopeful and encouraged and ask Cabinet Ministers not to forget us while we’re apart, and until we meet again, don’t do anything we wouldn’t do. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the key goals established as Members of the 16th Assembly was to work to

ensure that we have effective and efficient government. I fully support this because any way we can make sure government is more relevant to the needs of the people, I believe we demonstrate effectively that we are providing value to the work we do here for the people of the North.

One of the priorities that was established is to meet these goals through what we define as effective government, efficient government and value for government through our program reviews. Mr. Speaker, the Program Review Initiative for government was committed to be undertaken to do analyses on our programs that we do. As everyone knows, the program review office has been established within the Department of the Executive and staff were assigned to carry on this work through the established mandates and target areas. Mr. Speaker, that still leaves some questioning what official areas they are talking about.

Although I support the principle of this work very strongly because it needs to be done to make sure that we are working hard and efficient, if truth be known, one-third of our term has gone by and I fear that this initiative may be lost to wishful thinking and we may never have time to fully implement the values of the work that’s being done. Members still hear that progress is being made, but we want to make sure that we’re an equal partner in this process.

More importantly, on top of the issue, the gathering of this information is critical for us to program our wishes, our goals, and our dreams going forward for the needs of the North and to make sure that our economy is running properly. Is our government running efficiently and effectively? I sometimes wonder, but the information still hasn’t come across my desk. That alone points to the fact, is it? I don’t know.

The work of the program office is a critical component to the value of work that we do here. I ask the Premier and the rest of the government, and of course the overview committee for refocusing government, to make sure they get on this work while we leave here in the next while; sorry, before we return here in May, because this will be critical with the upcoming business planning process that will begin tomorrow.

The business plan process creates a new life on its own because the bureaucrats within the system are already starting to prepare the draft business plans that will come up in the summertime that will be moved forward to committee members in the fall. That’s why it’s so important not to miss the next opportunity, because we will have to wait a full business year before we get to deal with this again.

The message I really want to get across here is MLAs need to be informed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to commemorate the life of Jonas Nadli. This is the third senior to pass away during this session from my riding.

Jonas was born at Mink Lake on April 4th , 1931, to

Elizabeth Matto and Louie Nadli. He had five brothers and his mother, remarried to Joseph Minoza, had two sons after his own father passed away. Together they had one son, Leonard, who was better known to all of us as Gozoah.

As a young child Jonas spent many years in the mission in Fort Providence. When his brothers and himself were allowed to return to the community or to his home, he spoke only French and that certainly created a language barrier for them with his inability to communicate with his parents. He had to have one of his older brothers translate for him. It was very difficult, and most of the time when they talked to their parents it was through gestures,

including trying to tell their parents that they were hungry.

Jonas Married Angelique Thom on July 15th , 1955, and together they raised a son, Michael. Michael and his wife, Shirley, have two children, a son named Danny and a daughter named Rosslyn. Michael is the former grand chief of the Dehcho First Nations.

This July would have marked Jonas and Angelique’s 54th wedding anniversary. Throughout

their life together they lived a very traditional lifestyle in places like Horn River, T’elemia, Leshamie, Big Point, Big Island, and, finally, Fort Providence. Living on the land allowed Jonas to become a very skilled hunter, trapper, provider, and the survivor of many hardships.

Because he loved the traditional lifestyle and had a deep passion for what he did, small challenges such as harsh winters did not slow him down. All his trapping and hunting was done by dog team and he always had a very good, hardworking team of dogs. Because he was very skilled in hunting, many people depended on him. He fed many hungry families over the years. Many people have eaten fish from his nets, rabbits from his snares, meat from successful hunts, and shared tea around the campfire and listened to his many stories and jokes.

I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

Adults and youth alike loved to travel with both Jonas and Angelique and live with them wherever they set up their camp. He taught many young people the skills of being a good hunter and a provider and a trapper. More importantly, they were very good role models to our young people. Jonas and Angelique spent a total of 10 years working at our youth camps and very much enjoyed passing on and teaching the traditional ways of life.

This past fall Jonas became very ill and throughout the Christmas season, and finally after Christmas he was forced to spend some time in the hospital. He was there for about a month and he certainly wasn’t comfortable in an environment such as a hospital setting, but he managed to endure his time there and he had a lot of strong support from his family.

Jonas was a very humble man, a very quiet man. He touched many hearts in the community of Fort Providence and throughout the Deh Cho. I think all of us are very thankful that we were given the chance to know him and I want to offer my condolences to his friends and his family.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 4, reports of standing and special committees. Item 5, returns to oral questions. Item 6, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to recognize and thank Pages from Hay River South. David Stanga and Zachary Biggar are both Grade 9 students at Diamond Jenness Secondary School and I’d like to thank them for doing a great job this week.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

It’s my pleasure today to recognize a Page as well; a constituent and a very hardworking Page, Mr. Stuart Hamre, who has been with us off and on for the last six weeks. Thank you very much to all the Pages.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

I have a constituent who is working here as a Page as well, Ms. Madison Phillips. I would like to thank her and the rest of the Pages for all of their hard work over the past six weeks. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Item 7, acknowledgements. Item 8, oral questions. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up on my Member’s statement with questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Given that we have an increasing and accelerating condition of crack cocaine addictions in Yellowknife -- especially with the concentration of diamond dollars, not unexpectedly -- what is Health and Social Services doing to address that problem?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a number of programs and services that the program provides to those who want to address

their addiction issues. The Member knows that we have a treatment centre on Hay River Reserve, Nats’ejee K’eh. We also have out-of-territories service committee, a treatment committee where those persons who need treatment from elsewhere would be placed there. We also have programs in the city. We have counselling services, the Stanton Territorial Hospital Authority has more acute mental health service, the Tree of Peace has a front-line service working with their client groups on addressing addiction issues. There are a number of programs and services that we provide to address this issue.

I’d like to call on this Minister to draw on her full knowledge and recall some of her past work in this area before she became Minister, as well as her current knowledge. I assume there’s no change. At least, I haven’t heard any change from what there was in 2004 when she passionately called for an addiction treatment centre in Yellowknife. More specifically, what are we doing to prevent the HIV and Hep C epidemic typically associated with IV use of crack cocaine, as is now common in Yellowknife? What programs do we have in that area?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m very well aware that the Members have very busy schedules, so I’m not going to ask the Members to read the entire body of work that includes all the statements I made. I want to state that I was one of the few Members on the other side who did not necessarily say that we need a treatment centre was the answer to everything. I said that because I consulted with a lot of people involved in working with people with addictions and a lot of them will tell you that building a treatment centre is not the answer to everything or the answer to a lot of things. It’s nice to have, but something like crack cocaine are very highly addictive and specialized drugs. We have facilities elsewhere that can provide those services better.

On the Hepatitis and other conditions, I want to state that the department has been working really hard to track down and treat those who have STIs. We have hired an extra STI coordinator to address that issue. Tuberculosis cases have all been identified and examined. We have to continue to work on this highly addictive issue area and the work continues.

I appreciate the Minister’s response there. Obviously, however, the work is not working or we wouldn’t have this accelerating rate of crack cocaine addictions that our hospitals are seeing. So additional work is needed on this and perhaps addictions centres are one way to go.

Specifically on the prevention side of things for the HIV and Hep C potential that we have, is the

department going after harm reduction techniques such as has been used in Vancouver? I realize it’s a big city situation, somewhat different, but harm reduction techniques have been demonstrated to be working in this situation and our medical staff obviously think what we’re doing now is not sufficient. Are harm reduction techniques being considered and pursued?

I have read with much interest the same e-mail that the doctor has sent to the Member and myself, and I’m interested in pursuing further what the doctor has to say. Having said that, the government is not at the moment considering the harm reduction proposal that the Member is suggesting, which is the sort of self-service IV clinic in Vancouver. That is not an option that we are considering. However, a small group of people in Yellowknife, the front-line workers are aware of who are our most in need of help in our streets in Yellowknife that the doctor is referring to and we need to continue to work with them to provide the support and services they need so that we avoid contamination or a spread of disease.

I should let the Members know that HIV rates in the Territories remains very, very low. We are lucky in that regard, but all the people working on the front line are aware of the potential danger and there’s a lot of work done to address that.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks for that assurance from the Minister. I’m wondering what sort of monitoring we’re doing for HIV and Hep C in association with crack cocaine addiction, if we have any way of monitoring that.

I realize that these are not all the same conditions, but the recent outbreaks of syphilis and tuberculosis have taught us a lot. It has allowed us to set up a committee of resource people, including those from the affected community; a homeless person or whoever it is that are most exposed to it. We have professionals and people on the street working together to identify people who are most at danger and working and having the STI nurses and coordinators and the front line workers talking to them, being in touch with them, and to make sure that they’re provided with the services that they need. In the long run we do need to have something like a day drop-in centre or something like that, where people could be more protected and have more services available to them. We are working on that.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Going from my Member’s statement today with my elders facility in Ulukhaktok and how important it is to the community. For the Minister of Housing. Will this government place the substandard living conditions for seniors as the highest priority or are they going to continue stripping benefits and services like they have been during this session? Will the government commit to develop and work with me for a seniors facility in Ulukhaktok or are we going to this legacy of neglect?

Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, I’m just trying to figure out what the Member is referring to in terms of stripping benefits and services from the Housing Corporation to the seniors. I don’t believe any of that has happened. In fact, the last couple of years we’ve expanded our programs to accommodate seniors and remove the cap that limited the assistance that was provided to seniors historically. Now our seniors can access the same programs and services as anyone else.

The Member also asked a second question as part of this as to providing facilities for seniors. We do look at and analyze requirements for seniors in all our communities as part of our consideration. However, we do not provide seniors facilities that are considered to be institutions. Certainly we can have a discussion with the Department of Health. The facilities that we provide are usually in the area of existing upgrades or replacement units and the focus is on independent seniors, seniors that can look after themselves.

Would the Minister, you know, since he brought it up about existing units, everything’s been given to the bigger communities. Nothing’s been ever given to the smaller communities such as in my riding of Nunakput. So how could he say that in the first place? Everything’s in the South Slave. Or in your riding. Sorry. All I’m asking for is if this government could try. It doesn’t have to be a full-fledged elders facility; it could be a four-plex for elders.

I would have to undertake to put a list together for the investment that’s been made in the Member’s riding to show that there has been no intention or no neglect of investment in his communities. We certainly will, and could, and, as was requested, follow up and look at seniors facilities. We in the Housing Corporation cannot put a seniors facility that is a higher level than independent. That would have to

be done through the Department of Health and I can convey his request to her. But I can assure the Member that we have additional dollars that are being negotiated right now. We are putting a list together of needs. We’ve heard from his communities. We have seen petitions from the Member and members of his community. We’re taking that into consideration. Until that’s finally signed off with the federal government, it’s difficult to provide him an actual listing. He will have an opportunity to review it and see what the investment will be in those communities that he represents.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. I look forward to seeing this $50 million in new dollars from the federal government’s stimulus package for housing. Could the Minister commit to working with me in the future in regard to getting that structure built as soon as possible?

Absolutely, we’d be pleased to work with the Member. We make a commitment to share the information of investment that’s going to be made as a result of the new agreements with the federal government on the Northern Housing Trust. There are certainly conditions that we would have to keep in mind. Of course, first of all, as I mentioned before, we need to ensure that these houses are independent units; houses for seniors that can look after themselves. We also are not in a position to add to our public housing stock, so we do not have any operating dollars as of yet. That’s our next political challenge, to have those discussions with the federal government. I would be pleased to work with the Member and I’ve already committed I’ll share the information to him and the rest of our colleagues across the way here to ensure that they’re completely aware of the dollars that are being spent in their riding and their communities.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Minister, for that answer. I look forward to seeing your design. We could work together in going over them. All I want to bring up today, we want our elders to stay home. We don’t want to send them out of the community. We want them to stay home and live a happy life and not send them out to Inuvik and the stressful environment where they never get to see family. That’s all we’re asking. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. I didn’t hear a question there.

It was a good point.

The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I heard a good expression on the radio this morning. They used to say that government should be leaner and meaner. Now they’re saying leaner and greener. I think that’s a great phrase: leaner and greener. I appreciate the initiatives that have been announced and undertaken by this government to look at alternate sources of energy. We heard about the biomass, about the pellet boilers. We’ve heard about electric heat from the hydro surplus in Fort Smith. I have been contacting the Minister and will be asking him again today, what has the government done to examine the potential for geothermal heat in the Northwest Territories. I have a constituent who is a third generation business owner in Hay River that would very much like to get involved in the installation of geothermal heat technology and equipment and so on in Hay River, but in order to do that he needs a building, a public building that he can use as a prototype. There are very large sums of federal money available for such a conversion and I would like to ask the Minister of ENR what work has been done on geothermal.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Geothermal is one of the alternative forms of energy that is being considered. There is money in the budget to advance some of the groundwork. We are looking initially particularly in Yellowknife where they have done a lot of work already and trying to make sure that we can assist, if possible, as they look at all the mine shafts and the potential to capture some of that heat. As well, over in Nahendeh and around Simpson, in that area, Liard, it seemed to be a high potential for geothermal as well. If the Member’s constituent is interested, we have staff that are listening to this, if I can get the name later from the Member I’ll make sure we have a follow-up with this individual as well.

My constituent is assembling the equipment and the necessary infrastructure that he needs to begin these installations. I believe that Hay River is also a community that would be a good candidate for geothermal. Is there a public building in Hay River

owned by the GNWT that we could do a test pilot project on? Let me suggest the courthouse.

We are going to be investing a significant amount of money on biomass in Hay River over the next year or so. She has posed the question that she’s kindly answered for me. We’ll see where that fits. I don’t know what kind of process or cost is entailed. I know the federal government is putting together a, has a Green Fund of a billion dollars that is project based, application based. We’re waiting to see what the criteria is, to see if we could possibly access some of that money as well. I will just restate the commitment that the staff will track down the name. I’ll get the name from the Member and we’ll follow up to see what’s possible.

I’ll be happy to provide that name and I would like to ask the Minister if he or officials in his department would be willing to meet with my constituent to discuss this. I think that between some small contribution by the territorial government and a rather large contribution by the federal government we could do a prototype. The issue is that in order to do the prototype it has to be a publicly owned building. It cannot be a privately owned building. So that’s why we need some buildings that would be candidates to give this a try. Would the Minister agree to have his officials or himself meet directly with my constituent to see if a building could be identified?

We’re looking at a number of innovative technologies. For example, an air-to-air heat exchanger that appears to be working well and has great potential applicability in the Northwest Territories, especially maybe in the southern part. I will confirm once again that I’ll have officials follow up with the Member’s constituent to get a better sense of what is being proposed, potential costs, look at something in writing so that we can do a proper kind of assessment and see what kind of support may be possible.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I clearly outlined that we have a serious problem in the Sahtu in regard to our runway length in Fort Good Hope and Deline. We’ve been working closely with the Department of Transportation to see how we can address this. There has been much correspondence with the department and the communities of Deline and Fort Good Hope and their major partner in the airline,

North-Wright Aviation. I would ask the Minister if he would continue working with the communities of Fort Good Hope and Deline to find solutions that would address the runway extension that we’re asking for in Fort Good Hope and Deline.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m assuming when he says solutions, he’s talking about new investment in the runways to extend them. That’s the challenge at this point. There are a couple of things that we haven’t formally been able to analyze that is the actual cost and how we would find the resources to invest in the capital portion of extending the runway. We also need to clarify what it would entail in terms of additional resources or additional operations and maintenance dollars for a runway that exceeds 4,000 feet. That is something that we’re compiling right now and we’d be glad to share it with communities.

The Minister is correct in terms of the things that need to get done to ensure that these runways in the Sahtu, specifically Fort Good Hope and Deline, receive the additional, if they could get the additional 500 feet of extension on their runways. I would ask the Minister in terms of working with the Sahtu beneficiaries own airlines in regard to looking at this issue here. Would the Minister address this problem by giving some serious consideration to include the extension in the 2010-2011 capital plan?

I don’t think we’re at a point where we have enough information and we’re convinced that we’re going to get support from our colleagues to include the dollars for an extension in those two communities. The challenges, the new federal regulations that require demonstrated ability to start or take off from a certain length runway and to stop, there are two types of aircraft that are really needing to have certification. That means they have to be able to demonstrate that in a test flight. That’s the twin otter and Beech 99. We’ve gone as far as to contact a couple companies that can provide that information. We’re waiting to hear back. Providing that the response is positive, we may be able to continue with the current operation levels, the current flights that go into these communities with the aircraft that service them. That’s our hope that will resolve the issue.

The people in the Sahtu certainly want to continue flying around in Twin Otters and Beach 99s and small aircraft all their lives. What we’re asking is working with the Minister here in terms of they have done their homework, they have contacted the various airlines in terms of

the required aircraft that could meet or exceed the safety standards. The best fit right now for the people in the Sahtu is the Beach 1900. I guess I would ask the Minister and the colleagues here, when you look at the need here in the Sahtu, the people...I have to fly in those small aircraft around the region. Same with my people. We can look at it. We have a good fit here. I guess I’m looking at where in the government we can work in terms of saying we can get the extra 500 feet in Fort Good Hope and Colville Lake so we can meet the safety standards of the people in the Sahtu region where there’s the most need. So I ask the Minister here in terms of looking at the extension here, if he could pull out all the stops and see how we can get the 500 feet of runway in terms of making this a go in the Sahtu. My people need the extension.

The Member’s constituents need the extension to buy a certain type of aircraft. There are other communities that need airports. I have to be able to balance the investment. At this point we’re advising the company that’s requesting it to look at a different type of aircraft that can fly larger planes into the area that have certification that demonstrate they can start and stop on that length of runway. We just extended two runways in the Member’s riding. There is a Fairchild Metroliner. There is a Dornier 228. There is a Dash-8. All of these planes can land. We have to have more discussion. We would have to be convinced that there is a way we can resource it.

Mr. Speaker, we committed several times already to meet with the community representatives as they come to the Native Conference. There are other people that will be involved. For example, the federal government will sit at these discussions. We can explore it and have more discussions in detail. I am expecting we should have some of our findings as to what it would cost to build and operate. It is going to be a very big challenge, I think, to commit to the Member today, without any of the backup information, to say yes or to anything additional in the area of capital. We need a very strong business case. I don’t have that yet. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister is correct. We, at this time, don’t have a strong business case for the government. Mr. Speaker, the runways that we are asking for in Fort Good Hope and Colville Lake are going to provide safety for our people in Fort Good Hope and Deline. We are not on an all-weather road like some of the communities, so we have to look at our priorities. There are some communities that do need it. Some communities in my region certainly have an increase in aircraft, the oil and gas activity and the

mining. Mr. Speaker, yes, we did look at the Dash-8 in the community. It will cost $10 million for the community to build a hangar. It is 37 passengers. I don’t see a Dash-8 going into Gameti, Wekweeti or any other communities around here to look at a scheduled service for small aircraft. I think we have to be somewhat realistic and look at the needs of the Sahtu that have been so long ignored or forgotten in terms of bringing up our standards here.

A thousand feet of runway that we have in Fort Good Hope and in Tulita are appreciated but we are looking at seeing if we can get 500 extra feet on Good Hope and Deline to bring in a Beech 99 that could help the community. If we could do that, Mr. Speaker, I think we can go a long way with the Minister. Again, I would ask the Minister to keep an open mind when we come together on some discussions. There is money out there. Would the Minister again inform his staff that we have for those communities, with the people in Deline, Fort Good Hope and North-Wright Aviation to look at solutions for the runways?

Mr. Speaker, we are not preventing the Member’s constituents from buying any type of aircraft. That is up to them. They can buy any kind of aircraft they want. They would still need to build a hangar. The hangar is not the issue in this case. Mr. Speaker, it is unfair for the Member to say we are neglecting his constituents. We are just in the process of extending two runways in his riding. We just redid the Norman Wells Airport. We are proposing a $13 million airport relocation in his riding. Mr. Speaker, the issue of runway is something that we need to address. We need more information. I will continue to work with the Member on it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions today for the Minister of Health and Social Services. It gets to a health hazard alert that was issued on the Canadian Food and Inspection Agency’s website yesterday that included a retail outlet here, the Yellowknife Direct Charge Co-op in Yellowknife, on range fed ground beef.

Mr. Speaker, when I was alerted of this warning this morning -- and there are other Members as well that were alerted to the warning -- the first thing that crossed my mind is not just my family but many other families in Yellowknife have consumed ground beef from the Co-op over the past five

weeks. Mr. Speaker, we sent some questions to the Minister and the Minister subsequently issued a public health advisory. But in the interim, Mr. Speaker, I did phone the Yellowknife Direct Charge Co-op just to get the facts on what range fed lean ground beef was. It is a different product altogether than ground beef. I was surprised when we see this public health advisory on an E. coli warning issued by the office of the chief medical health officer that states to the public, do not consume ground beef products purchased at the Yellowknife Co-op between February 8th and March 10th inclusive as

these products may contain E. coli. Mr. Speaker, this is not entirely true. I would like to ask the Minister of Health if they contacted the Yellowknife Direct Charge Co-op prior to issuing this public health advisory. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the Member for the question. Mr. Speaker, I want to just confirm with the House and advise the public that all necessary steps have been taken since this public advisory or the warning came out from CFIA. All of the products were removed from the store. There is no sign that any of those products have ended up in any other stores. There have not been any cases of E. coli related incidents. The public health officer is talking to the public through the media to answer questions and get as much information as possible out there.

Mr. Speaker, in terms of the Member’s specific question, the CFIA website is fixed to range fed ground beef but the public health officer has included all ground beef products sold between February 8th and March 10th . The reason why the

public health officer has done that is because the grinding process at the Co-op dealt with not only this product but other products as well. There is a small but possible possibility of cross-contamination during the grinding process. In order to be absolutely safe and to make sure that our consumers do not have any chance of consuming this product, we are asking the public to take back or throw out any ground product bought from the Co-op between February 8th to March 10th . Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I guess better safe than sorry is always the best course of action, considering E. coli is not a bacteria that one wants to be messing with. It killed seven people in Walkerton and made sick another 2,500 people in Walkerton. It is not something you take lightly. Again, airing on the side of caution is a good thing.

In a news story that just recently got published on the CBC News site, that Yellowknife Direct Charge

Co-op says that, on this free range beef, they will take it back and people can get a refund of the product. But if the public health or chief medical officer in the Northwest Territories is suggesting that there could be some cross-contamination of all beef products from the Yellowknife Co-op between those dates, how is the retailer going to be giving refunds as the Minister had discussions with the retailer about giving refunds to consumers that have bought this product over that period of time, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

I think it is important to note that the public should take all caution and to look in their freezer to make sure that there are no products of those dates from that location. There is a very low chance of E. coli contamination, especially if the meat is cooked thoroughly, but we just want the public to be cautious. I think the public health officer is the first and foremost responsibility, as is for me as a Minister and this government. I am advised that the warning right now is to have the public look at the products that they have to see if those were purchased in those dates. The public health officer is advising that they throw those products out or they could go back to the Co-op and see if they could have the money refunded. It is not an unusual practice to go broad in some of these recalls. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to get some clarification on a portion of my first question. That was whether or not the chief medical officer or her office or the Minister and the Department of Health and Social Services had gotten in touch with the retailer and made the retailer aware of the press release that they were going to issue, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

I could confirm that the public health officer as well as the environmental health officer had been in close contact with the Yellowknife Direct Charge Co-op. There has been close cooperation. It is the environmental health officer who has identified the possibility of cross-contamination during the grinding process. It is on that advice that the public health officer decided to include all ground beef products. I could assure the Member that the health officials are working closely with the Co-op to make sure that we serve the interests of the public. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was speaking to the general manager at the Co-op just prior to coming to the House today. That was at about 1:15 or 1:20. At that moment in time, he hadn’t heard from anybody from the Department of Health and Social Services. When exactly did the office of the chief medical officer get in touch with

the retailer and include the retailer in this process and the subsequent issuing of this public health advisory, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

I could undertake to get the Member that exact information, but the information I have is that the environmental health officers have worked with the Co-op to change their practice so this situation will not occur. On that basis, Mr. Speaker, that is the information I have now. Any further information that the Member or the House may require, I would be happy to get back to the Members. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up to the statement made by the Deputy Premier earlier today when he talked about the government’s response and actions relative to the McCrank report and regulatory reform. The Minister stated that we have developed a comprehensive approach to regulatory improvement. I am really pleased to hear that we have looked into this and that we have developed a comprehensive approach. I have been asking for some time to get an answer on where we stand relative to the McCrank report. I would like to ask the Minister, now that we do have this approach and it is somewhat consolidated and it has been developed, where is this plan going in terms of going forward? What are the details or how we are going to get that out there? What is the Minister expecting that we are going to do as we go forward? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Deputy Premier, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the things, as we indicated, is we are trying to build a table to make sure that we get all of the appropriate Northerners and the federal government are on the table to look at next steps. In terms of the work that we have put out there and I have referenced today in my Minister’s statement, the intent is to put that document on the web in its entirety, as well as we are going to be sending out packages to the aboriginal governments and we are going to be starting the process of discussion and looking for feedback on what we think should be the next steps in the recommendations that we are putting forward. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister for that response. I note that the Minister mentioned groups in his response and that the document is going to

go on the website. That is great, but they are going to be contacting various and sundry groups. I think that is great as well. How can any interested individuals in the public or any groups that are not contacted by the government provide their comments or their perspectives on this process and on the document that is going to be there? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, there will be ability through e-mail or written submissions to send in feedback and suggestions. We will look at them all, and all will be sort of added to the mix and considered as we move forward.

I would like to point out that the issue is not so much the report or response to the McCrank report. That is just the latest federal effort to try to look at improvements. For us it is the broader issue of making sure that we have a system that is effective, integrated, properly resourced and running the way it was intended the way it was contemplated and designed 10 years ago. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister. I totally agree with his assessment that, yes, we do want to actually get something up and running, and running efficiently, that was set in place many years ago. We have been waiting for a long time for that. In terms of the compilation of the comments that come back and the consultation that is going to take place, when might we expect to see some sort of a final report which encompasses all the comments which have come in? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we would be glad to provide an update to the committee and Members when we next gather at the end of May. I have also indicated that we are prepared and interested to sit down when we have more time to look at further discussion on the specifics and the recommendations themselves and the different areas of focus to have time for detailed review and discussion. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. Yes, I think Members have taken him up on his offer to discuss the document in detail. I think there are going to be some interesting, philosophical debates on many of those parts of the report. I would like to ask the Minister whether or not once there has been a report done and all the comments have been compiled, is there an intention on the part of the government to forward this to the federal government and basically tell them how we think we should go forward? Thank you.

Our approach is that we are partners in this process with the federal government. We expect the federal government to recognize us as such. We have been in discussions and correspondence with Minister Strahl. We are going to continue to correspond with him. We are going to be sharing the information that we are bringing forward with his officials and the department. We want to make sure and the reason we are moving the way we are is because there is a need for us as the Government of the Northwest Territories, the public government in the Territory, to have our position out there in anticipation of Indian Affairs possibly putting out a position on their own without fully engaging all their partners and other stakeholders. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of MACA and in follow up to my Member’s statement from earlier today. I have heard some really positive remarks on the Volunteer Summit that was held last week and I am optimistic that the feedback that was provided by the participants was clearly heard by the government. I am curious. When will some of the detailed feedback on the summit be provided to both the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure and the Standing Committee on Social Programs, as mandates of the different voluntary sector organizations cross both of the mandates of both of these committees? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Volunteer Summit this weekend was very successful. I had an opportunity to go there on Friday when it opened up. There was a lot of enthusiasm in there about discussing the options for volunteers across the NWT. The draft summary is being put together right now. That will be distributed to a lot of the participants in the summit to capture all of their feedback and make sure that we captured all of their input into it. Once that is done, we will provide copies of the final report and final draft to Members and the public. Thank you.

I was wondering if I can just get a bit of a timeline on that. I am curious how long it is going to take before we can see some of those results. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the timeline will depend on how quickly the participants get back to us with their feedback. Once that is done, we will put something together. We are looking, hopefully, at four to six weeks at this particular point. Thank you.

I would like to thank the Minister for his response. Now that the feedback and input has been sort of received from the sector during the meeting itself, how do the two departments plan to move forward and incorporate these recommendations into the day-to-day business and partnerships with these organizations? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, that is one of the reasons that, once we get the feedback from them, it will open up options as to how we can conduct business better with them. We are looking at having all of the positive feedback come back from the participants and we can use this in going the next step, how we can engage them on a more regular basis instead of waiting once every few years to have a summit of this sort. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today, I talked about my concern about not feeling as if we are fully in the loop of the work being developed over in that program review office. This concern is shared by a number of Members over on this side of the House. My questions will be directed to the Minister responsible for refocusing government. Mr. Speaker, what the issue really comes down to is while the program review office is out doing their work, long before all of the scope of the work is defined and they have galvanized their opinions on what should be done, or change whether it is a policy or program should be adjusted or dropped, when will Members be able to go through this line by line and be included in on this program review and have our opinions validated and certainly considered through this process? Thank you.