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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my Member’s statement is on medical travel cancellations and the concerns that we are having in Nunakput. We all know how it feels when your flights are cancelled for whatever reason in the Northwest Territories. It happens a lot because of bad weather and mechanical problems. However, when medical travel is cancelled when the patient is in severe pain, it becomes a serious problem.

In February I asked questions in the House about how procedures and policies are used to evaluate whether the patient should be medevaced and I also expressed my concerns about the air carriers

cancelling scheduled flights which include medical travel passengers. The Minister responded indicating that the airline has the right to cancel the flight due to lack of passengers that day. Whether the air carrier has the right or not is not the issue. The issue is the residents in the small remote communities should not have to wait for the medical appointments while their flights are being cancelled time after time, especially if the patient is in severe pain. Every resident of the Territory needs to have access to adequate and timely medical care.

A constituent told me of a situation when they had to wait due to a cancellation, because of lack of passengers for several hours. Later a chartered flight did land in that community, but they had no room for additional passengers.

In my communities there is only one air carrier. This community has the influence to coordinate other contracts such as medevac, medical travel, food mail, and postal service. So the airlines do not have to cancel flights due to lack of passengers.

Someone in the medical field needs to review the patients who have their travel cancelled, to reconsider or coordinate other travel arrangements such as medevacs. Other patients have serious medical problems. Expecting patients to wait for a full flight and good weather does not work in the small communities when you have flights in every other day in some communities that I represent.

I will have questions for the Minister of Health at the appropriate time.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like most Members of this House, I’ve received calls and e-mails from constituents who are concerned about the selection process used by the GNWT in the hiring of summer students. In my two years here, I’ve heard many times about the importance of our people, our residents, our children to this Territory. If this government is serious about our commitment to Northwest Territories students and we really do want them to return to the NWT to work, that we really do value them as NWT born and bred, then the Department of Human Resources must develop a better process to ensure fairness and equal opportunity in the hiring of summer students.

The Minister will say that a selection process is in place and, yes, it is. But the results of that process are haphazard and inconsistent. Success for the student that would be landing a GNWT job often depends on who knows who or who their parents know. There is no one method used to hire our summer students. Deputy ministers are left to their

own devices when hiring students for their department.

This lack of a coordinated approach leads to the perception of favouritism, and often favouritism is actually the reality. I’m aware of at least three instances this year alone where the child of a deputy minister or a director has been hired for that department as a summer student, and the hiring occurred after other non-relative students had been told that there were no jobs available in that department. Such cherry picking cannot be tolerated.

I believe the first change in this hiring process must be to restrict the hiring of family members within a department for summer student employment. We should also consider paying our students less so that we can employ more of them.

The Department of Human Resources must take a more active and coordinating role where the hiring of summer students is concerned. The Human Resources staff are our experts in this area. They do hiring day in and day out; the various department staff do not. Why do we insist on an informal, unfair staffing model just because we’re hiring students?

This government contends that we want to be transparent and fair. At this point we are not and I call on the Minister of Human Resources to conduct a formal review of the summer student hiring process and effect some change for the better.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the recent concerns about the Alberta tar sands and the idea of using the Mackenzie River as a super highway, it seems to me that harm to the Mighty Mackenzie is going to happen. We have to take action. We cannot allow one of Mother Nature’s wonders to be hurt.

The Mackenzie River is 4,200 kilometres long. It touches many of the communities along the Mackenzie Valley. An elder once said the Mackenzie River is like the blood veins in our bodies; it gives us life. The Mackenzie is in our blood. Having just spent 10 days at my family’s camp at Old Fort Point, right on the Mackenzie just a short distance from Tulita, I’ve been asking myself what we can do to protect the river, this river of life, from harm.

Witnessing one of Mother Nature’s wonders is an awesome experience. For example, the spring breakup of the Mackenzie River, so powerful, so beautiful, and yet so frightening all at the same time.

The GNWT is developing a Water Strategy. We all know that as a small government it’s hard to stand up to the big governments like Alberta and Ottawa. It’s like David and Goliath. Yet we must take a stand for what is right and just.

There is one step that we can take right now that will help protect the Mackenzie River. We can get the Mackenzie River designated as a Canadian Heritage River. This would be one of the additional tools that could help protect the Mackenzie River and demonstrate this government’s commitment to good government environmental policies. I can’t imagine there would be any issues meeting the Canadian Heritage criteria for the Great Mackenzie River.

I’ll follow up with the Minister in regards to these questions.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise in the House to recognize the achievement of one of my young constituents of Yellowknife South, Kristin Chapman.

---Applause

Kristin recently travelled with her fellow NWT representatives to the Youth Bowling Canada National Championships in Toronto from May 2nd to

the 4th . Kristin brought home the Gold Medal as the

Bantam Girls 5-pin Singles National Champion.

---Applause

During the three-day event, Kristin bowled a total of 20 games, which works out to two games each against the 10 other provincial and territorial champions. She compiled a record of 14 wins and six losses, edging out the silver medalist from southern Ontario by one point. Kristin also took home a plaque for high single during the event with a 232 total in a match against British Columbia. That was a pretty impressive weekend’s work for a nine-year-old.

To put her achievement into perspective, there are currently over 23,000 bowlers registered across Canada in Youth Bowling Canada programs. The Northwest Territories has two such programs: one in Hay River and one in Yellowknife. Provincial and territorial champions travel each year to the national championships to compete in three divisions: Bantam, Junior, and Senior.

While many of the larger jurisdictions have had much success at this event, the Northwest Territories traditionally goes in as underdogs. Kristin also had the distinction of being the only

Bantam girl who was a two-handed bowler. As such, many of her competitors appear to have underestimated her and she set out to prove them wrong.

The third time was the charm for Kristin as she finished last and second last in the first two times she attended the nationals, so she understandably had modest expectations. However, the experience allowed her to remain calm and avoid the nerves that overtook many of her competitors. Going into the final day she had a very slim lead over second place Alberta and third place Southern Ontario, both of whom she had to play to earn the gold.

Kristin’s greatest strength was that she was able to raise her game when it really counted. She went into the late stages against both Southern Ontario and Alberta and won both matches with clutched final frames to secure the wins. This young lady has nerves of steel.

She was also recognized by the other competitors and parents alike for her happy, smiling demeanour and sportsmanship…

Mr. McLeod, your time for Member’s statement has expired.

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

---Unanimous consent granted.

Kristin has made the Northwest Territories proud with both her wonderful achievement and her great sportsmanship. Congratulations, Kristin.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Kristin Chapman, Youth Bowling National Champion, and her parents, Blair and Yolande Chapman.

Also I’d like to recognize Jenny Bruce and Carol Beck, both board members of Northwest Territories Tourism Association, and Gerry LePrieur, executive director, Northwest Territories Tourism Association.

And Andy Hutchinson, executive director, Northern Frontier Visitors Association.

Finally, I’d like to recognize Wilma Degrew, my new constituency assistant.

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

I’d like to recognize Carol Beck, a constituent that’s with us today, as well as everybody else in the gallery.

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

I’d like to recognize Jenny Bruce in the gallery, as well as Gerry LePrieur. As we all know, Gerry is a well-known volunteer for auctioneering. He does the Celebrity Auction, the Rotary Bike Auction, and the Ducks Unlimited Auction, as well as many others. Just one last point; a lot of people say that he contributes quite generously on this thing and he doesn’t get enough credit for his community contribution for auctioneering in our city.

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

Today I’d like to recognize my son Mitchell Jacobson, who is visiting me down from Tuk. Welcome.

I’d also like to recognize Carol Beck, as well.

Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Member for Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.

I’d like to recognize a couple of young ladies here with us today from my Department of Justice: Rebecca Petrie, community justice intern, and also Dawn Anderson, who is seconded as manager of community justice program and projects. Thanks for coming.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. If we’ve missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to the House. Hope you’re enjoying the proceedings. It’s always nice to have an audience in here. Item 6, acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned in my Member’s statement, I do think the Premier’s visit to Hay River went some ways toward explaining this government’s position and what we’re trying to achieve by examining the ATCO proposal that came to our Premier’s desk.

However, the wheels of government turn slowly and there’s been several reviews related to electricity going on. There’s been the rates review that the folks have taken out to the communities on the road. Also, there’s the NTPC review itself, and then, of course, the review of the ATCO proposal. So although we did have that communication that’s almost two months ago now, and I would just like

to, for the benefit of the NTPC employees in Hay River and across the Northwest Territories, get an update as to where we are at on the review of the ATCO proposal.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.