This is a Cabinet initiative. The Refocusing Government committee on which the Member sits is going to be tasked, our job is to bring it together to come up with our best recommendation, at which point Cabinet, P and P, will be reviewing where we stand, how we move forward. Board reform was seen as a priority of this Assembly. How do we sort that out and move forward on the 10 years’ work? In April we will regroup and see where we go from there. We’ll all collectively be involved over the last number of months. This has been a joint committee where we’ve had two Regular Members on it. We’re going to continue that work until April, over the next seven weeks, and then that information will be put on the table and we’ll look at that.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d just like to follow up on my Member’s statement where Trout Lake is a growing community. They are having more and more children. I’m pleased to see that the children are staying in the community. Is the Department of Education, Culture and Employment aware of an identified need to expand the school in Trout Lake?

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, certainly, I think we need to look at the school itself, the capacity that is full capacity or not. According to our records that we have in place, we do have 12 students enrolled on September 30, 2008. The school has a capacity of 33 students. So we do have quite a number of students that could still enter the school. At the

same time, Mr. Speaker, I did commit to the Member that I will be visiting Nahendeh. Part of that will be a touring of the schools in that particular region. I am looking forward to looking at this school as well. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Absolutely, I will be looking forwarding to touring the Nahendeh riding with the Minister. However, the case remains that it is still a one-room school. Even with 12 students, there are lots of distractions. That is a key message the community has sent to me.

Before, in anticipation of that meeting, perhaps, Mr. Speaker, the Minister can commit to send officials to talk with the community of Trout Lake to discuss their needs. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, certainly we can send our…We deal with the regions, whether they be superintendents or DEAs or DECs. We do have staffing in the region. Within our departmental staff here, I will work closely with them and identify challenges at the community level. With respect to the one-room school that the Member is referring to, we certainly need to look at that and if we can move forward on how we can identify spaces in that area. Mahsi.

I would just like to ask the Minister as well, is he aware that there is a 15 or 20-year capital infrastructure refit schedule for the Trout Lake school? Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, certainly, we do have 15 or 20-year plans for the schools in the Northwest Territories. Trout Lake will be one of the schools that fall under that as well. We need to look at the school where it is at. The school was built in 1993, so I guess he can say it is a fairly new school as well. We need to look at the overall structure of the building inside the space capacity and look at the 15-year plan as well. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just identified that, to make sure it is in the capital budget. I don’t want to be missing the capital budget planning process, Mr. Speaker. Just to ensure that the Minister is aware and he will at least consider this as part of the capital planning process when it begins. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, before we get through the capital planning process, we need to identify the needs of the school and also the community. There needs to be an educational plan, as well, dealing with the capacity issue. I am more than willing to sit down with the Member and also the school board to deal with this particular

matter. We will be doing that once we tour the Nahendeh. We will have our staff go there as well. Mahsi.

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

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I agree with the Member; there has been some publicity given to this issue in the last while. At the moment they are considering amendments to the Dog Act to bring it in line. The Dog Act is old. It is from 1950 when dogs were a way of life here. That is being considered at the moment. We are hoping to get a public discussion paper out there to ask for opinions and what the public wants to see in this particular act or if this is an act that works for the Territories. Thank you.

Thanks for the comments from the Minister. That is a start; a fairly modest start, I would say, compared to what the public is clearly asking for already. A number of people here would remember the incident with the starvation of horses just outside of Yellowknife. Obviously an Animal Rights Act is needed here. The Dog Act refers to the necessity for proof of intended neglect which, of course, is an oxymoron. Neglect infers that there was no intent to start with. The possibility of enforcement is impossible. Will at least the amendment propose to actually put some teeth in the enforcement aspect of that act? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the intent of getting us out there and having public discussions so we can see what is needed in the act to give it some teeth because, as I have said before, this is the act from the 1950s when dogs were a way of life and the way of travel for the Northwest Territories. That is the kind of input that we would welcome, is to get some good positive feedback as to what would give this act more teeth, as the Member refers to. Thank you.

Actually, this is a half-cooked idea just tweaking the Dog Act. We need an animal rights act. Will the Minister commit to expanding that to the appropriate level of concern that is an animal rights act? I am assuming that the Minister is not comfortable with the Northwest Territories being firmly lodged in the bottom tier in the national rating on this issue. At the same time, perhaps the Minister could comment on whether he is comfortable with that or will try and do something about it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, no, I am not comfortable at being in the bottom tier. Nobody likes to be at the bottom tier. We are hoping to move our way up there. As I said before, in the history in the Northwest Territories, animals were used a little differently than they were down south, but it doesn’t excuse anything. I will let the Member know that Justice is working with MACA at seeing how we can expand this particular issue. Again, we are looking for a lot of positive feedback from the public, because we already have people communicating with us, their desire to see stronger animal welfare legislation. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As my colleague says, “Doggone! We have to get our act together here.” And emphasis on the act. I appreciate the comments from the Minister and my last comment is, when can we expect that to come forward? I know there is lots of interest in seeing that come forward soon. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we are hoping to have the work started on it very soon. I couldn’t give the Member a particular timeline, but I will confer with Justice and my department. As soon as I can come up with a timeline, I will communicate that with the Member. Thank you.

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