Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents titled Public Accounts of the Northwest Territories Interim Report for the Year Ended March 31, 2009, and Interactivity Transfers Exceeding $250,000 for the period ending April 1, 2009, to August 31, 2009. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document titled Government of the Northwest Territories Contracts over $5,000 Report for the Fiscal Year Ending March 31, 2009. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister of the NWT Power Corporation, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following two documents titled Northwest Territories Hydro Corporation 2008-2009 Annual Report and the Northwest Territories Power Corporation 2008-2009 Annual Report. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table an e-mail from Mr. Matt Lovatt dated November 2, 2009, to Members of the Legislative Assembly that portrays the extremely dire circumstances in which a 911 service could be critical, with a personal appeal to act on implementation. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Item 15, notices of motion. Item 16, notices of motion for first reading of bills. Item 17, motions. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

WHEREAS distracted driving affects more than just drivers and passengers on our roads;

AND WHEREAS the 2008 “NWT Traffic Collision Facts Report” shows a 17 percent increase in collisions, and identifies that 16 percent of those collisions result from ‘loss of control’;

AND WHEREAS cell phone service is available in seven of our communities to approximately 75 percent of NWT residents;

AND WHEREAS cell phone use is increasing across the Territory;

AND WHEREAS drivers using cell phones and hand-held devices are four times more likely to be involved in a collision;

AND WHEREAS the Canadian Automobile Association reports that the number one cause of motor vehicle accidents is cell phone use while driving;

AND WHEREAS five provinces have banned or will be banning hand-held device use while driving;

NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, that this Legislative Assembly strongly recommends that the NWT Motor Vehicle Act be amended to ban the use of hand-held devices while driving;

AND FURTHER; that the Department of Transportation initiate a comprehensive public awareness campaign to inform the public about the risks of driving while distracted.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The motion is on the floor. The motion is in order. To the motion. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I bring this motion forward because I believe it is a very serious matter of public safety and I believe it’s a situation that needs to be corrected. Distracted driving is said to be an unreported traffic safety problem and I believe that statement as well.

I made a statement two weeks ago and I said that distracting driving can be many things: eating, drinking, changing a CD, using portable video games or DVD players, fiddling with radio dials, talking to a passenger, experiencing emotional distress, minding children, personal grooming, looking at billboards, looking at people or even at other vehicles on the road and, last but not least, using cell phones to talk, text or e-mail.

This behaviour causes risks to users of our roads. Those users aren’t just motorists, they are pedestrians, they are cyclists, they are snowmobilers. The Minister of Transportation said just today in his statement, being distracted, for instance, by eating, reading, texting or anything else that takes your attention off the road while driving, reduces and sometimes removes the ability to react to sudden and unexpected conditions or obstacles. I totally agree.

All across the country, Mr. Speaker, all across the world, there is clear evidence that using a cell phone or other hand-held device while driving

contributes to risky driving behaviour and thus an increasing incidence of motor vehicle accidents.

It’s acknowledged by an increasing number of companies in Canada that employees should not drive while using cell phones. In the North, there are two that I am aware of for sure; both Finning Canada and NWT Transportation Company Limited have that policy and I commend them for it. Their employees must pull over if they have to use their phone.

Those companies recognize the threat that distracted driving poses to their employees and to the public in general and to their equipment. They don’t want to pay for repairs to their equipment, for sure.

A few statistics: It’s four times more likely that a person who is on a cell phone while driving or a distracted driver will have an accident. Data shows that eight out of ten collisions are caused by distracted drivers. The Canadian Automobile Association says the number one cause of motor vehicle accidents is cell phone use while driving. Drivers using cell phones have reaction times the same as if they were intoxicated. In a study at Western Washington University -- this is an interesting one -- researchers planted a polka dot dressed clown with a big red nose riding a unicycle in a campus square. Then they measured those people who noticed the clown and who didn’t. These are people walking, not people driving. Twenty-five percent of the people talking on their cell phone while walking saw the unicycling clown compared to 50 percent of the people who were walking alone, in pairs or even those listening to portable music players. So you can’t even walk and use a cell phone and see what’s going on around you, so why would we drive?

A recent news release from the GNWT Department of Transportation says we need to make safe travel choices. The safest travel choice is to turn off your cell phone when you get behind the wheel of a vehicle. Unfortunately, people need to be coerced to make that right choice. This ban of hand-held devices and the accompanying public awareness campaign will help to make our residents make those right choices.

I regret that people have to be forced. I don’t like to force people into doing things, but if this ban will help to improve public safety, if this ban will ensure one less death or one less injury, then I accept that the law is necessary.

Five provinces in Canada have banned cell phone use while driving and four other provinces are looking at a ban in the very near future. More than 50 countries worldwide in other jurisdictions around the world have restricted cell phone use while driving.

I have heard concerns from Members that this ban will create problems, particularly among RCMP and those who drive truck and need a two-way radio that they depend on for their employment activities. I have to disagree. Northerners are not the only people who need radios for their work. Newfoundland and Labrador have had a ban on cell phones while driving since 2003, that’s six years, Mr. Speaker. No doubt they have a solution for this anticipated problem; anticipated to us, not to them. I am sure their legislation includes exemptions of some sort for RCMP and truckers.

There is no need for us to reinvent the wheel here. We can use what works in other jurisdictions. People say we shouldn’t do this because we are a northern population. We live in the North. We are different. We have small populations. We have little cell phone service in our small communities and on our highways. I believe this should not be a reason for this government to take action. If it is a public safety issue, we need to recognize it is a public safety issue for all of our Territory.

The Yukon recently considered two motions on the subject of banning cell phone use while driving and, interestingly enough, one motion from each side of their party-divided House. So it wasn’t just one side or the other. They are a northern jurisdiction. They have the same situation in many respects that the NWT does. They are looking at a ban to take effect possibly January of 2010.

People are asking what the affect is. I don’t think there is any effect except that it will provide for the safety of our residents. That is residents whether they are driving, whether they are not driving, and it includes pedestrians. I liken it to drunk driving. When drunk driving was first considered to be an inappropriate behaviour, it started slowly. There was a major awareness campaign. Legislation then came into place. It has taken a really long time, but drunk driving is now not acceptable and we have to do the same thing for distracted drivers and I believe starting with hand-held devices is a good way to go.

In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, banning hand-held devices is prudent and proactive as an action. Again, there is a commercial where an old man -- I think it is Wilford Brimley -- sits there eating cereal and he is in a cereal commercial. He used to say it is the right thing to do. I believe that phrase also applies to this particular recommendation.

Banning hand-held devices will protect our NWT residents from harm. To quote the Minister of Transportation again from his statement today, our children deserve that protection. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. To the motion. The seconder of the motion, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First, I would like to acknowledge the hard and passionate work provided by my colleague Ms. Bisaro. She shares many of my concerns on this particular issue and she has raised them quite eloquently today. Mr. Speaker, the problem about following a very eloquent speaker is they tend to take all the good stuff. It is very tough following them without trying to repeat exactly what they said.

Mr. Speaker, some of the highlights that I would like to point out, that she didn’t touch on, is the fact that this is one of the most reasonable things we can do to help continue to protect people on our roads. This is one of the most reasonable things we can do to help protect pedestrians, by having drivers not use cell phones. Mr. Speaker, I spoke to Darius Elias last week and I complimented him on his initiative from an opposition point of view, somewhat familiar to us here some days, on trying to raise an issue that, when you are trying to convince government on an idea and many of us have come to this House and we always said, well, we propose ideas and try to treat them as why should we do them as opposed to why we shouldn’t do them. This has been somewhat of that type of steep climb up that giant hill. There have been many detractors to this. I have to admit -- I will be quite honest -- I was one who some time ago felt that one’s personal rights should weigh ahead of what one thinks the public duty should be considered as an issue of action.

Mr. Speaker, I think it is time we start putting our perspectives in order and realize, as said earlier, five jurisdictions have already considered this and when speaking to Darius Elias, he emphasized they didn’t want the Yukon to fall behind what is considered a national safety issue. I think he is quite right. The Yukon doesn’t want to seem to be last. The sad thing is I am watching them drive by us on this issue. It is almost a shame, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, there have been many things cited before that could be considered distractions to driving. We have all heard that drinking your hot coffee could be a distraction. Anybody who is a parent knows what it is like to have screaming kids in the back seats, and realize that is a distraction to driving. What I said at the very start of my statement really was this is about reasonable things government can do.

As highlighted by Ms. Bisaro, there have been changes over the years to driving, what is considered no longer acceptable. Mr. Speaker, there was a time when even seatbelts weren’t considered acceptable and people exercised their liberties by saying there is no way the government is going to tell me what to do in my car. But, Mr. Speaker, it didn’t take long for people to start to realize the benefits certainly outweigh the negatives.

Mr. Speaker, this is not an unreasonable road for us to travel down and to be looking forward to putting safety first. Mr. Speaker, as I pointed out about distracted driving, it could be anything. But again I am stressing this is something simple we can do.

A few years ago in a campaign in Alberta, Ralph Klein was on the road waving and saying, “Vote for Ralph Klein,” and one right after the other they were having accidents. If I recall clearly, there were about three of them within a small 10 to 15-minute span. It just goes to show how easy people can be distracted. Can we stop people from waving on the side of the road? That is not reasonable. Can we stop maybe screaming kids in the car? That is not necessarily reasonable, although it would be preferred if you were a parent, I can tell you that. This is a reasonable step that this government can do with its eye on the ball continually to say what is important.

Mr. Speaker, since raising this issue from my perspective over 18 months ago, I have endeavoured to even change my behaviour even though the law does not require it today. Mr. Speaker, quite often what I do is I will turn the phone right off completely so I am not tempted by that distraction. If I am to stand here in this House to say how important this safety issue is, I certainly have to lead by example. Mr. Speaker, if I forget to turn off my phone and it rings -- and it sits right next to me -- I pull over and I take the call if I so choose to. But the option really is there. What is really stopping us? Our roads aren’t that busy. Are our lives too busy that we have to take a moment to pull over if that call is that important to us? I don’t think so. What we describe as a major inconvenience today I think will be sort of something we laugh about down the road.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I am just going to emphasize that it is not…We have to look beyond what we think is important to us and look towards what we believe is best for everyone. I think that is why many of us are here, to want to make sure that we are providing the best direction that we can provide. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate everyone’s time.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. To the motion. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is a very noble cause that my colleagues have raised in terms of moving a motion asking to create a law to ban cell phone use while driving. For myself, Mr. Speaker, I’m never in favour of more laws if we don’t need it. I believe, when it comes to the safety of our constituents, our people of the Northwest Territories, that safety awareness, safety training can create a safety culture, Mr. Speaker. Safety does not mean creating more laws. Laws are about

penalizing our people with fines and even imprisonment. When we go to that extent, I don’t think it benefits anybody at all.

I think it is far better to concentrate on improving our Drive Alive campaign. It is much cheaper. You involve more people than to create disharmony amongst our people. If anything, Mr. Speaker, I would even urge our government, our employees, our departments to be leaders by instituting the no cell use with all our employees. I think that is a start.

Also our Drive Alive campaign is relatively young, Mr. Speaker. I believe we can improve on that. We can expand on that and include it as part of our licensing program as well, Mr. Speaker, or even when you get your licence reissued. So I am in favour of an educational campaign. I am in favour of a safety awareness campaign. I am in favour of creating a safety culture in the Northwest Territories. But I am not in favour of creating more laws. That is why I am not going to be supporting this motion, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko. To the motion.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe this motion is a broad stroke approach of dealing with the problem. I think that, by amending and banning the use of hand-held devices, I think your interpretation of hand-held devices could be something from shortwave radios where a lot of our people in our communities who don’t have cell phone service have the radio system already in their vehicles. We have service providers regardless if it’s the truck drivers’ association or basically providers from the construction companies or people that depend on communications on our road systems to have communications transit where, basically, when you’re moving and someone wants to get a hold of you, you’re able to respond by way of radio communication. I think that simply focusing on one then applies it to everyone else and I think that we have to realize that when you talk about banning all hand-held devices, this motion is unacceptable to all communities.

The other thing on cell phone services, well, let’s get cell phone services in all 33 communities, then let us make that decision. I think when we get to that point, then we can bring in legislation where we’re on the same playing field. But when you’re putting in fine print that this includes all hand-held devices, which means communication devices in the vehicles regardless if it’s shortwave radios in a private vehicles or radios that basically are used by way of the contractors and truckers on the highways, that this has to be clearly stipulated.

Mr. Speaker, I think it’s critical, following up with my colleague Mr. Menicoche, that it’s public awareness and making public education a priority of this

government and making people aware that there are ways of communicating without putting yourself at risk. I think it’s a learning trend that we have to get people into and it’s got to be a mindset that people have to realize. I think by making these types of changes, we might mean well by doing something, but exactly what are the consequences to other service providers in the Northwest Territories, regardless if it’s people that basically provide construction services on our highway systems, individuals who basically may have a shortwave radio in their vehicles where they pick it up, someone calls you, you’re responding. Is that also going to be banned in this motion? I believe that’s what it says.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I will not be supporting this motion.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. To the motion. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is essentially a safety issue. We’re talking about avoiding injuries and, worse, property damage and so on. There is overwhelming data now supporting the need for this sort of action. Although it was initially suppressed by industry, and apparently long enough to really get things entrenched, the information is now overwhelming in volume and absolutely clear. In fact, the experience in Yellowknife and other areas of cell phone use reflect that.

I had a number of constituents and residents contact me and they were all in support of this. One mentioned an experience where she walked around the airport loop here in Yellowknife and had started to tally up, and I think she had over 30 cases of seeing individuals drive by on cell phones and she said she had at least a couple of close calls where she had to really step quickly out of the way.

Canadian jurisdictions are moving again en masse to adopt this sort of legislation and it’s happening internationally as well, applying these sorts of restrictions for the benefit of all.

Our accident rates in the Northwest Territories have recently shown a sudden and sharp increase and distraction has been mentioned as one of the causes of that. Mr. Speaker, do we need a law that penalizes or, indeed, jails someone for causing known harm or death because they are engrossed in a phone conversation? Perhaps. But more importantly is the prevention that such a law would bring. Prevention, to me, will always be my preferred alternative option when we have it.

Mr. Speaker, we are creating a recommendation here, not a law. This is step one in a long process and can deal with all kinds of details in the process. So in summary, Mr. Speaker, I will be supporting this motion. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. To the motion. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve recently got in touch with the Town of Norman Wells and I asked them about this question. I wanted to hear from the Town of Norman Wells, because it’s the only community in the Sahtu that has cell phone service there. So I’ve spoken to the senior administrative officer and this issue hasn’t become an issue for the community. We did talk about the safety issue in the town of Norman Wells and I also know that Imperial Oil employees have their own rules on using cell phones. Like any other organization, I’ve heard that they’re not allowed to use them while they’re driving and if they are going to use them, they have to pull over to the side of the road and use them. He said it is a safety issue; however, it’s more geared towards the southern part where there’s lots of traffic and there is cell phone service in that area. However, he said he doesn’t think that it should be used in the town of Norman Wells. So I thank my constituent for that. Basically what he’s saying is that this issue is for larger communities and at this time no one in my communities are pressing me to vote for this motion here.

Using cell phones in the Sahtu while driving is not an issue in the small NWT communities such as the Sahtu communities. Our issue is having a highway in the communities and getting cell phone services. Cell phones, again, don’t work because we don’t have them, except in the town of Norman Wells. Other issues such as the high cost of living or education and youth are much more important in my riding.

Mr. Speaker, in the Sahtu there are other ways to deal with the issues that do result…rather than making our lives more complicated. As I said, organizations can draft up their own rules and regulations for their employees. NWT communities can enact their own bylaws if they want to prohibit this type of activity. We’re seeing this type of issue, Mr. Speaker, in terms of some of the gun registration. That is a very important one where larger urban centres are telling us how to deal with this issue in our small communities. There’s animal rights, there’s helmets, there’s requiring helmets for our snowmobiles and ATVs in our smaller communities, so we are standing up and voicing our concern on these issues here; simple activities in our lives which are completely different from the cities. Sometimes we get caught up in the red tape and the rules which may make sense for the larger centres but don’t make sense at all in our smaller communities. We don’t want to become like Yellowknife or Edmonton. We want to work on the advantages of living the modern way; however, we want to have cell phones before we even start banning them in our vehicles.

So, Mr. Speaker, if Yellowknife wants to have cell phones or hand-held devices prohibited in their city, then we certainly in the Sahtu would consider supporting this initiative here. Safety, as I heard, is an important issue. We have a great program in this government called Drive Alive. Let’s use this tool here to educate all NWT drivers about this program here and really educate our people in terms of the real meaning behind Drive Alive.

So, Mr. Speaker, I think I want to close my comments here in terms of reminding people of both hands on the wheels and eyes on the road. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the discussion that’s going on in the House here. There is some debate on for and against rules or laws and legislation in the area of distractive driving and some Members have made it very clear that this is an issue that requires attention.

We all know there are many ways that attention can be taken away from focusing on the road ahead of you and that even a second of distraction can lead to loss of control of your vehicle or even worse. I guess the discussion and concern here is do we need more awareness on that issue or do we need more rules. Mr. Speaker, of course, we have rules in every aspect of our society. We have rules in this Chamber, for example, banning us from using cell phones during session. Sometimes that’s ignored. The question is then, Mr. Speaker, what is the attention that this issue requires to ensure that we’ve done everything in our power to ensure that our residents are safe. We need to look at some of the steps that we’ve already undertaken.

Of course, there’s a number of examples I can point to. First of all, within the ranks of the government, our employees are prohibited from using cell phones while driving on government business. We have the Drive Alive program, which has information on the department website on distracted driving, which provides effective strategies to improve driver safety when travelling. We also have the program Drive Alive that has incorporated distracted driving into some of its other campaigns, such as the bison awareness campaign. This raises the awareness of how distractions such as text messaging and other things can cause a collision. And we’ll continue to incorporate distracted driving messages into many of our campaigns that we will embark on in the future. We’re also in the process of undertaking a review of the Motor Vehicles Act and distracted driving was one of the issues that we intended to incorporate into that review.

Mr. Speaker, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I do not support creating legislation for the sake of

creating legislation. I need to see the proof. I support legislation if there’s a proven need for it. When we pass legislation we must, first of all, be satisfied that it addresses a need and, second of all, it’s capable of being enforced in our communities.

So there are a number of issues that we have to look at here when we talk about distracted driving. Some were raised as examples here today and there’s others that we can point to. Do we include mobile phones, for example? What does that mean in terms of our staff and who do we exempt, the RCMP and fire departments? Are there others? We have to look at all these things that are in front of us.

Mr. Speaker, a number of Members have pointed out what’s happening in other jurisdictions, and some jurisdictions have been raised as examples that are in the process of addressing their needs by legislation or already have embarked on that. There are other jurisdictions that have looked at the issue, that are not convinced that this is the way to go and they’re not convinced that legislation is the best alternative. I understand Alberta now has decided to move away from a legislative approach. They’re not convinced that legislation and regulation are the best way to go to achieve changes in driver behaviour, and that’s their decision.

I’ve already committed to a number of questions raised in this House to study the issue and to work with the RCMP, as well as consult with the communities across the Territories. When that process is complete, the decision will be made whether or not changes to the Motor Vehicles Act will be introduced. If changes are going to be introduced, of course we need to make choices on whether they will deal with the issue of distracted driving in general or do we look at only cell phones and other hand-held devices, text messaging specifically. Do we look at applying it across the board? Do we focus only on the communities that are requesting it, and there is, of course, already legislation in place that allows for that. I expect we’ll be in a position to make some of these decisions by the next legislative session.

Mr. Speaker, my priority, of course, is to continue on public information and awareness and I believe that it’s important that, whenever possible, people make changes in their driving behaviour, because they have been persuaded to do so. For that reason, I’ve asked our Drive Alive program to have a greater focus on distracted driving and we will be looking at using some additional resources to initiate that and make the changes proposed for this program.

Mr. Speaker, this is a recommendation to government and my colleagues, the Members of Cabinet, will be abstaining. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. To the motion. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.