We need to keep working towards lowering these costs and I will be working towards this on behalf of my communities. There are other issues that I will continue to work on, but these are the priority areas that I have raised for my constituents and where I will be focused. Mahsi cho.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over the last four years I have had the great pleasure to walk 222 miles on the CANOL Trail in the proposed Doi T’oh Territorial Park, considered by some of the outdoor magazines to be one of the world’s toughest hikes in the world. With 14 young leaders in the Sahtu, the proposed Doi T’oh Territorial Park came as a dream from the Sahtu people during the Sahtu Dene and Metis Land Claim negotiations in 1993.

The people of the Sahtu, specifically Tulita and Norman Wells, fought hard to have both the federal and territorial governments to agree to this piece of our land as a territorial park. There are significant opportunities for hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, sport hunting, and guided tours. Investment in the proposed Doi T’oh Territorial Park can help promote the Sahtu and Northwest Territories as the place to visit and live. Unfortunately this investment has been deferred due to environmental remediation of contaminated sites in the area and negotiations for a land transfer agreement of the park from the federal government.

With such delays, things are getting out of control, Mr. Speaker. This past summer our future park was invaded by a group of land rovers from British Columbia. They tore up and down the trail for hundreds of miles in the Doi T’oh Canyon post park. They can do this legally, because we do not have a park yet, a park which the people of the Sahtu have wanted for a long, long time, a park where motorized vehicle traffic would be controlled. We have to get this park in place before it’s too late.

We’re trying to figure out how to clean up our land from the last invasion by four-wheel drives during World War II. The people of the Sahtu submitted a

CANOL Heritage Trail Management Plan during the last Assembly. We urged the Government of the Northwest Territories to move quickly on this matter. Our park needs to have an implementation plan within the life of this government here. The CANOL Trail and Doi T’oh Territorial Park offer great opportunity for the Sahtu and the people of the Northwest Territories. The Sahtu Dene and Metis fought in their land claim agreements for this and also the Government of the Northwest Territories agreed to establish a world-class wilderness park in the Sahtu for the Sahtu people of the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, we want a park and we want to have protection on our land. So we say, Mr. Government, help us protect our land and give us our park. Thank you.

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

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we open up this fall sitting of the Legislative Assembly, I’d like to welcome Members back as well.

Mr. Speaker, now that we’ve adjusted our capital planning process, this fall sitting of the Legislative Assembly takes on a much higher profile than in the past, as capital expenditures will be debated and approved by Members during our three weeks here. This October also marks the halfway point for Members of the 16th Legislative Assembly, and

seeing as we’ll be discussing capital projects and infrastructure planning, I thought it would be wise to start this session with a statement about infrastructure.

Mr. Speaker, the government has delivered specifically on two key infrastructure projects in my riding of Kam Lake: the City of Yellowknife bypass road and the $28 million renovation to Ecole St. Joseph School. Also within the city are projects like the Territorial Dementia Facility, the new data centre currently being constructed on Byrne Road, the Department of Transportation combined services building at the airport in Yellowknife and the K’alemi Dene School which recently had their grand opening in Ndilo.

As you can see, Mr. Speaker, much has been accomplished in a short period of time and I want to thank the government for their efforts in advancing these projects.

Mr. Speaker, as a government we are projected to spend upwards of $500 million, half a billion dollars on infrastructure during the four years we are here. This is unprecedented spending in a time when our people, our economy and our future need it the most.

We still have the two years left to go, Mr. Speaker, and I want to go on record today as saying we need to develop a comprehensive, coordinated approach to trying to get federal investment for infrastructure in our Territory. We need to work with aboriginal governments, industry and our neighbours in the Yukon and in Nunavut to further our collective interests. All this in an effort so that we can continue to heavily invest in infrastructure to improve the quality of life for residents here in the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, it is abundantly clear we cannot do this alone. We need substantial investment in hydro development, alternative energy and transportation. We need the federal government. We need to have a game plan on what our asks are of the federal government and how it is that we pursue the federal government. In my estimation, we’ve been doing only a satisfactory job, but I believe, given some time and some resources, that we can, and should, be doing more in Ottawa on all fronts, Mr. Speaker, with a comprehensive and a coordinated plan. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Building on achievements as noted earlier by Premier Roland, I would like to highlight some of the gains we have made in energy efficiency building standards during the life of this Assembly so far.

First, each new GNWT building must now achieve an efficiency 25 percent above the standards of the Model National Energy Building Code, thus providing a big benefit for the North and one that yields continual energy and financial savings and greenhouse gas reductions.

NWT Housing Corporation’s 86 home renovations underway this fiscal year will meet the high energy efficiency standards of EnerGuide for Housing 80. Using these standards for the renovations results in a 25 to 30 percent reduction in annual energy cost for each home, for annual savings of over $200,000.

Similarly, the City of Yellowknife introduced mandatory standards for new home construction and recently added this requirement, EGH 80, for residential renovations.

GNWT added additional efficiencies with the growing use of biomass heating systems, enjoying

good payback times and energy cost cuts by hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. Many of these projects have been wood pellet boilers in schools with the added benefits of having our young folk become familiar with such an approach.

Mr. Speaker, I think we can be proud of these achievements. They are substantial and they were not difficult to achieve once political will was clearly established.

Mr. Speaker, this is solid progress, but there is much more to be done. While the territorial government and larger communities with similarly high standards enjoy the benefits of increased local employment, reduced energy costs and decreases in greenhouse gas production associated with those standards, we are not insisting that our smaller communities adopt the same standards, thus ensuring they enjoy the same efficiencies and benefits.

Mr. Speaker, my colleagues asked for other larger projects that will get us the industry we need. Let’s convert our systems across the North to renewable energy and enjoy all of those job opportunities, environmental benefits and social structure support that such an undertaking will bring.

Mr. Speaker, I will be asking the Minister of MACA, Municipal and Community Affairs, about this during oral questions. Mahsi.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I wish to talk about what great strides and service to our public can happen when government works together in partnership with good corporate citizens and other levels of government. I raised the particular issue almost a year ago to the day, Mr. Speaker, when many Yellowknife Centre constituents had concerns with the lack of availability of public washrooms and how it relates to the homeless problems in our city. With limited options and very few resources, a solution has been found and certainly found none too soon, with winter knocking on our doorstep.

As many of us all know far too well, during the day homeless people often go throughout the streets exposed to many of the dark elements such as drugs, alcohol, and certainly the elements of nature. However, since raising this issue, a number of groups have decided to work together, and I’m very happy to say, with great results in their efforts. Mr. Speaker, as such, I wish to highlight with great appreciation of these partners. Firstly, BHP Billiton under the leadership of interim President Richard

Morland, the City of Yellowknife with the wisdom of our Mayor Gordon Van Tighem, and most certainly Sandy Lee, Minister of the Department of Health and Social Services.

---Applause

These partners have all come together to the table with real solutions to support the development of a day shelter for the homeless in the downtown of Yellowknife. Their partnership agreements cover the next three years. Each organization will contribute financially to the operation of this shelter. BHP is giving $50,000 annually, the City of Yellowknife is giving $25,000, the Department of Health and Social Services is providing $125,000 annually.

So, in my humble view, Mr. Speaker, today marks a very special moment in the success of this government. It certainly demonstrates that this government is listening to the concerns of the community brought forward by its Members in their voice in this Assembly.

Mr. Speaker, as some may know well, the day shelter will provide counselling services and will be a safe place for homeless individuals to go during the day for food and washrooms. It will not only make our streets more appealing and safer for visitors and residents alike, but perhaps this will be the helping hand that assists those in the direction of getting back on the path of success from that destructive lifestyle, and in time I certainly hope that this will become a model for other communities throughout the North.

Mr. Speaker, as we all know, the day shelter is expected to open shortly and it certainly is being received very well in my riding. Mr. Speaker, government can’t do anything, but once again I want to express my sincere thanks to BHP, the City of Yellowknife and the Department of Health and Social Services for doing something on this issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery

Colleagues, I’d like to draw your attention to the gallery, to the presence of a former Member of the Yukon Legislative Assembly and former Commissioner of the Yukon Territory, Mr. Ken McKinnon.

Mr. McKinnon is here to attend a conference on infrastructure and he’s here as a guest speaker at that conference.

I would also like to acknowledge the presence of a gentleman that’s known to many of us, former Clerk of this Assembly, Mr. David Hamilton.

The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s a pleasure, as well, to welcome Mr. Hamilton back to this forum. In his new role I’ll introduce him and recognize him as a board member for the National Energy Board of Canada. Along with him is Ms. Sheila Leggett, vice-chair of the National Energy Board as well.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a constituent of the Great Slave riding and also the president of the Union of Northern Workers, Mr. Todd Parsons.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am happy to see Mr. Hamilton there, who I haven’t seen in a while and also I’d like to just welcome everybody and recognize a few people. First is Paddy Meade, the new deputy minister of Health and Social Services.

I have also a constituent, Mr. Ken Woodley, who is with the UNW.

I would like to recognize Arlene Hache, known for all the work she does in the community. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not sure whether or not Ms. MacIntosh is still up there, but I’d like to recognize a constituent, Ms. Doris MacIntosh, mother of Teale MacIntosh, who gave us such a wonderful rendition of O Canada earlier today.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Lucy Fabien, a constituent from Fort Resolution.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize my constituent Ms. Arlene Hache, and she doesn’t need any introduction here. Thank you.