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

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, I would like to speak to a concern that several Members have raised quite well here in the House and it’s the concern for the lack of support for the Canada 55-plus Games that will be held next year in Brockville, Ontario, in 2010.

Mr. Speaker, the issue is this: our government has had a history of supporting this program in the past for $50,000 each and every second year. Mr. Speaker, the issue here is this year the government, out of the blue, has decided not to support this program. Mr. Speaker, it seems to be a bit of a shame when we have a $1.3 billion budget and there is nowhere in any cupboard of government finances we could find that type of money. Not looking in the little jars of MACA, not looking in the big pots in Transportation, not looking in the little slush over in Health? There is nowhere anywhere we can find a collective way of finding a little bit of money?

I think the point posed by Member Bisaro the other day of why couldn’t multi departments work together to help support our seniors was a great approach of saying this.

Mr. Speaker, we have seen many times supplementary appropriations come forward and ask for specific amounts of money for specific projects that are very important. I think supporting the seniors of the Northwest Territories is very important, Mr. Speaker. I would encourage the Government House Leader as well as Finance Minister, Mr. Michael Miltenberger, to consider this. He controls the purse strings of that supplementary appropriation if he ever needed to dip into it to support some important initiative. I would be very surprised if anyone from this House questioned it in a way of it being thought of as irresponsible. If anything, we would probably champion the government in thinking seniors are important. It is about time you show it.

Mr. Speaker, the seniors are looking for $50,000 to help their organization of the games to help book hotels, help coordinate jackets, and it really goes to the fundamentals of helping our seniors. They help the youth out there so they can participate in multi-sport games. When has anyone ever heard that not engaging our seniors and getting them out there is the right approach? Mr. Speaker, if anything, there are a ton of studies out there that say make sure you support them and keep them active and get their minds moving.

Mr. Speaker, later today I will have questions to the Minister of Finance, who should be taking a lead role. As well, we should be encouraging all Members of this House and anyone reading transcripts should be encouraging the people out

there to e-mail the Minister of Finance to support this program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don’t often get this opportunity, but I would like to acknowledge two of the Pages that are serving in the House today, two fine upstanding young men from Fort Smith: Mr. Kyle Payne and Mr. Randall Maidl. I thank them for their work that they have done and they have been good ambassadors for the community of Fort Smith. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery.

I would like to welcome folks in the gallery today. Welcome to the Chamber. I hope you are enjoying the proceedings.

Item 6, acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today in my Member’s statement I spoke of the reconstruction of Highway No. 6. I have questions for the Minister of Transportation. Mr. Speaker, how much money is being spent on Highway No. 6 for the reconstruction over which period? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, the total investment for Highway No. 6 is $6.9 million over three years and will be focusing on key areas of that portion of road that needs upgrading and reconstruction. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, what should they -- Fort Resolution and people coming into the community on a highway -- see at the end of the reconstruction of Highway No. 6? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the intention of reconstruction of Highway No. 6 is to improve the road base in preparation of having a final chipseal service on the road, and at the end of

the project we should expect to have a safer road and certainly a smoother ride for all the travelling public and a very improved link in our transportation system. Thank you.

Beyond the three years that is currently in the infrastructure plan, is there a further timeline for reconstruction activities of Highway No. 6? Is there something planned beyond three years? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the current plan is to have the road reconstructed and chipsealed from, I believe, kilometre 68 to the community. It will, as the Member indicates, require further investment.

Our goal as a department is to do the whole road over the long term. Right now we have not identified the resources to complete the last part of the project, but that is our intention, is to find the resources and bring it forward as part of our capital planning and when the time is appropriate to do so. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.

Mr. Speaker, I don’t want to have the Minister do any speculation, but with the assumption that money will be found to complete Highway No. 6, how long does it normally take to complete the reconstruction of approximately 65 kilometres of highway 100 percent to a chipseal state? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the Member is asking a very difficult question because it really depends on the level of reconstruction and availability of materials and how far the design program has gone. In a lot of cases that we found, very much is dependent on how much resources we can secure for the completion of the road. So there are a number of factors that we have to consider, but the biggest one is being able to attract the dollars that are required to do the final part of this road and that is what we are working on right now. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Environment and Natural Resources Minister about the environmental regulatory reform issues that I raised in the previous session. The point was that we could improve the regulatory processes by ensuring that board appointments are not allowed to lapse. The Minister replied to my request for information on which of our appointed seats were vacant and his information shows we have been diligent. I then asked what efforts are being made to see that our

federal and First Nations partners are keeping their appointments up to date. Part of my previous question, as well, dealt with putting measures in place to begin confirming new appointments in expectation of their coming vacancy. Can the Minister tell me what measures are now in place to ensure that there are timely appointments made? I will leave it at that for now, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The issue of board appointments ties clearly into the issue of regulatory reform and the challenge… There are two pieces, the challenge of making sure our appointments are up to date and then through the existing process, and we have a system in place to track that and we use lead time to consult the appropriate parties. But the bigger issue is the consistent demand we have made and are continuing to make to the federal government, that simple regulatory reform can start immediately by giving the Northwest Territories government the authority to make the board appointments for the positions that they are eligible to do so. That would avoid all the issues of quorum. It would give northern control over a very fundamental issue and would help speed up the efficiency of the regulatory process. That is the message we have been taking to the federal government. Thank you.

I appreciate that response from the Minister. I do agree with him. What progress is being made? What is the response that we are hearing back on that? I know that has been something we have been raising even probably in the previous Assemblies. I know it is getting additional attention here. What is the status? What is our progress? What can be done to expedite that? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories has followed up in writing on the McCrank report. A number of weeks ago we were in Ottawa. We met with Minister Strahl to talk about the issue of regulatory reform. We talked about the board appointments, a clear definition of mandates, clearing up policy overlap. Where there are grey areas, we avoid things like the Giant Mine. We met again in Calgary a week or so ago. We raised the same issue very well and passionately by myself, by Minister McLeod, by other northern folks that were there. It is a political issue. The federal government could make the decision tomorrow. They are not yet ready to act on regulatory reform. For us the plan is clear. That is the plan we laid out for them. Thank you.

Again, I appreciate those comments and the update. Mr. Speaker, I feel strongly that this is the same issue. The other

aspect of regulatory reform was the appropriate level of funding provided to our regulatory agencies. It was acknowledged that that was insufficient. What progress is being made on that front? Thank you.