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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to refer to an e-mail tabled yesterday from Mr. Lovatt, who bravely provides a painful description of how he and his mother suffered a loss of his younger brother and struggled to call emergency services without knowing the proper numbers. My question is for the Minister of MACA. What does this Minister have to say in response to this young man’s call for the GNWT to play an important role in establishing 911 service here? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Well, Mr. Speaker, I received the same e-mail and I’m sorry for their loss. We’ve all lost, at one time or another, and a lot of them were accidents. Whether 911 would have helped is a different question.

Mr. Speaker, I’ve said on numerous occasions that 911 is a service that some communities have identified as one that they want, and they do have the means within the monies that we’ve forwarded to them to implement 911 services. Mr. Speaker, there are some communities that have decided that it’s not a priority at this particular moment and they are looking to enhance their ability to respond to emergencies before even considering 911, because what’s the point of having it if you can’t respond to it properly? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Indeed, I have heard those comments from the Minister. Of course, we have our neighbouring capital city of Whitehorse, which the territorial government set up 911 service just for the city of Whitehorse. I had a meeting with NorthwesTel here this week. I found out the cost of establishing a service in Yellowknife and indeed in all communities, but starting with Yellowknife and our larger communities, 70-some percent of our population is indeed affordable, with participation of this government and municipal governments, and then could be maintained thereafter by municipal governments. So does this Minister not consider that this call and this opportunity is something that this government should play a role in directly?

Everything is affordable with some input from the government and, again, it would be quite, is my understanding, an expensive undertaking for the company to provide service throughout the Northwest Territories and how long it would actually take. So, Mr. Speaker, I continue to go back to the fact that -- and I know Members are tired of hearing it – if it’s a priority for the communities, then they do have the funds to help bring this priority about. Thank you.

Indeed, I have heard these comments many times before from this Minister. We are trying to penetrate those comments and get him to consider new comments. The infrastructure deficit is something we have heard many, many times from this Cabinet. We seem willing to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into highways, building highways and maintaining them. Does the Minister not see the need to balance that with some much more modest contributions to some of the other needs that our citizens are pointing out are a priority, including Yellowknife, as the Whitehorse citizens did? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. You are kind of leaning towards asking the Minister for his

opinion on this, but I will allow the Minister to respond if he would like. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr Speaker, we have as part of the New Deal given money to every community in the Northwest Territories to deal with their infrastructure priorities, and if 911 is an infrastructure priority to the city of Yellowknife or the other six communities that want 911 implemented as a phased-in approach, they have that ability to bring that about. We’ve heard from two communities. I haven’t heard from the rest yet. I am hoping to get their input. I heard from two communities that have said that it’s not a priority with them right now. It may be in the future and when it is in the future, they also understand they are given the money to help bring this about. Thank you.

The time for question period has expired; however, I will allow the Member a final supplementary. Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I tried to find out what other provinces in Canada, what practices are followed there. I looked at all 10 provinces. I am able to confirm that one, two, three, four, five of them, the 911 service is provided by the provincial governments. Three I was not able to determine and two they leave to municipalities. So obviously the majority of jurisdictions are provincial 911 services. So again, Mr. Speaker, I am wondering why this Minister won’t consider what most of the country is doing and certainly our neighbours to the west. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would have to confirm those numbers, because my information might be a little different than the Member’s. Again, Mr. Speaker, this government made a conscientious decision to devolve a lot of responsibilities to the communities as something the communities wanted. So if they decided the implementation of 911 is a priority of theirs, then they would have the financial ability to do so. If we start funding infrastructure projects, then we’ve defeated the whole purpose of capital formula funding and then we may as well go back to the old corporate formula funding where we decide what’s best for the communities and I don’t think communities would want that. I would like to hear from all 33 communities to see if they would want to go back to the old corporate plan and then have to wait years for their particular piece of infrastructure. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 9, written questions. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

1. In the calendar year 2009, how often have

income support workers travelled to Tsiigehtchic to provide income support services?

2. How many clients did they see on these visits?

3. How much time, in hours, did they spend in the

community on each visit?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.

1. As originators of traditional knowledge, only

indigenous peoples, the original stewards of our land, can regulate, make priorities and set standards for traditional knowledge. How will the Government of the Northwest Territories ensure that indigenous peoples are part of research processes?

2. The government plans to make large

investments within the science agenda framework over the coming years. Have any organizations such as universities or institutes made financial commitments to do research in the NWT?

3. Can the Minister provide a list of research

projects already committed to over the next two years, their locations and brief explanations of their purposes?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

1. What are the true academic levels of students

graduating from high school in Sahtu communities, based on Alberta education standards?

2. What is being done to monitor Sahtu students’

levels of academic achievement, particularly in grades 9 through 12, so that there are no unfortunate surprises when a high school graduate attempts to access post-secondary education?

3. What is being done to communicate students’

levels of academic achievement to students, parents, teachers and the Sahtu Board of Education?

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Item 10, returns to written questions. Mr. Clerk.

Item 11, replies to opening address. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to use this occasion to do a special acknowledgement. Mr. Speaker, I have a special constituent of mine who is approaching his 95th birthday this Saturday, November 7th . The

person can be easily described as a northern

renaissance man of his time. He has been a fur trader, a trapper, a general contractor, a pilot and, recently, an author. The person I am referring to is our well-respected Mike Krutko, father of our Member, David Krutko.

---Applause

Mr. Speaker, Mike Krutko may appear as a senior in his well-weathered aged body, but I can certainly tell you very few people have ever reached his milestone with such energy and fire for life. Mr. Speaker, he is both interesting and charming and full of energy.

In closing, I certainly look forward to being here in this Assembly in five years to announce his 100th birthday, because I know he will easily make that milestone. But until then, Mr. Speaker, may I wish Mr. Krutko a great birthday. He certainly deserves it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Item 12, petitions. Item 13, reports of committees on the review of bills. Item 14, tabling of documents. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document titled Northerners Working Together: Fulfilling our Plan. Thank you.

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