Good afternoon, colleagues. Welcome back to the Chamber. Orders of the day. Item 2, Ministers’ statements. The honourable Minister for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, graduation numbers from across the Northwest Territories continue to rise, and while we don’t yet have the graduation rates confirmed for 2008, I am pleased to say that the graduation numbers are up again. This is worth celebrating, but there is still work to do in supporting our Northern students to achieve their full potential and succeed in education.

Data gathered by ECE over the last 10 years shows a steady increase in graduation rates for all NWT students. In 1998, 39 percent of NWT students graduated compared to 57 percent in 2007. In 1998, 20 percent of aboriginal students graduated compared to 65 percent of non aboriginal students. Ten years later in 2007, 44 percent of aboriginal students graduated compared with 70 percent of non-aboriginal students. The gap has narrowed slightly but we must continue to further improve these results. Although the NWT has the highest graduation rates for aboriginal students in Canada, we have more work to do.

The Department of Education, Culture and Employment has begun work on an Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative to find the root causes and solutions to eliminating this gap in student success.

We already know some of the barriers to student success in the NWT. Our students are absent from school an average of one day a week, more than 30 days a year. A student who misses two days of school a month, or 20 days a year starting in Grade 1 will have missed the equivalent of a full year of schooling by grade 10. A student in that situation would not be working at a grade level that he or she could be working at and would be reducing their choices and options that can affect their future. We all need to work together to find ways to get our students to class so they can maximize their potential.

Mr. Speaker, literacy is also an issue in the NWT. Our students need opportunities to focus on their literacy skills, not only in the classroom, but also at home and in their communities. The recently released NWT Literacy Strategy focuses on literacy development in early childhood, and in youth. The work of the Literacy Strategy will be well aligned with this initiative.

The Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative is coming at the right time. The Dene, the Inuvialuit, and the Metis all have a strong commitment to improving the educational success of Northerners. The Council of Ministers of Education Canada will be meeting with national and regional aboriginal leaders later this month to find solutions to the same achievement gap at a national level.

Creating good schools and an environment that values learning and rewards hard work cannot be the sole responsibility of educators. It requires the cooperative efforts of the entire community. The Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative seeks to bring our communities together to build a better future for our northern students. As we move forward with this initiative, I look forward to sharing more of what we learn and how we are able to make positive changes. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Michael Miltenberger will be absent from the House today to attend the Ministers of the Environment meeting in Whitehorse. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Item 3, Members’ statements. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to talk today about the residents of Tuktoyaktuk who are being burdened with the high cost of living. They are not able to benefit from some of the initiatives the government has taken to help our other communities. Recently, petroleum products division adjusted their fuel prices downwards to ensure that residents in smaller communities would see lower prices, just as residents from many larger communities are seeing lower costs at the gas pumps. However, a private contractor provides the fuel services in Tuk and he was resupplied by barges, Mr. Speaker, this past summer when the fuel prices were at the highest cost, at the highest prices.

Gas costs in Tuk are $1.69 at the pump for a litre of gasoline. Home heating fuel is at $1.44 a litre. In Inuvik, people are now paying $1.27 a litre and their

gas truck is being resupplied by private contractor and is resupplied by trucks down the Dempster Highway.

The Minister can be pleased with himself that he reduced fuel costs in some of the communities. Another Minister can be pleased because he’s predicting there will be a new energy source for closer communities in the future. That’s all great, but right now the residents in Tuk are being hammered by very high costs; high power bills, high gas bills, high food bills. They don’t see the government doing very much to help.

I have heard that there is a Strategic Initiative Committee on the cost of living which is chaired by Minister Lee. Perhaps the Minister should take some time to live in Tuk for awhile and maybe she could get some ideas on the community’s high costs of fuel. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my Member’s statement today is about the condition of the highway from the Alberta/NWT border to Hay River. The Minister, when I told him I was going to do a statement on this, asked me not to mention the outhouses. It would be hard to mention them because I don’t think there are any on that particular stretch of highway.

---Laughter

Much to my disappointment.

Anyway, Mr. Speaker, from the border to Hay River, you can tell when you cross the border from Alberta into the NWT. I don’t know if the roads are constructed differently, if they are made out of different materials, but there is a marked difference and I have heard that this is also the case if you are passing from Alberta into Saskatchewan. But, Mr. Speaker, I am not an MLA in Saskatchewan so I’m not going to worry about their problems.

When you come across into the Territories, the speed limit drops from 100 down to 90. That is one measure that we took to address the conditions. The shoulders disappear. They aren’t even sharp shoulders. There are just no shoulders. And, Mr. Speaker, no more roadside turnouts either.

Probably most obvious is the condition of the road itself during the winter. Just this past week again,

the daughter of a constituent coming home for the weekend from Grande Prairie got to around the falls and hit an unexpected patch of ice. I saw the vehicle, Mr. Speaker, and it is obvious that it bounced from snowbank to snowbank like a pinball and the damage was extensive on the front and on the back and, by the grace of God, the occupants of the vehicle were not injured.

Mr. Speaker, I am not saying that accidents don’t occur south of our border, but in the winter there is almost always this marked difference in the condition of the road when you hit that border. I am not sure of all the reasons, but we must do things differently in terms of our road maintenance.

I will have questions for the Minister about this during question period today. Do we have different plow trucks than they have in Alberta? Do we not apply certain products to our road that they apply in Alberta? I don’t know what they put on the roads; salt, calcium.

Mr. Speaker, the bottom line is that we cannot control the weather, but I think we must do everything in our power to try to make our roads safe for the travelling public, and later in question period I will have questions for the Minister of Transportation on how we can enhance this. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to follow up on some questions asked by my colleague from Yellowknife Centre during Committee of the Whole last week. Specifically questions on the lack of health professional legislation in the Northwest Territories.

Currently the number of health providers working within the NWT are not required to have an NWT licence. In some cases, such as chiropractors, massage therapists, and naturopathic doctors, there is no legislation or regulations that ensure that individuals providing these services are adequately trained to meet certain safety requirements before they can legally provide their brand of services in the Northwest Territories.

Last year I asked the Minister of Health and Social Services a number of questions on this topic. At that time, I was informed by the Minister that the department was investigating the feasibility of umbrella legislation that would accommodate various health professions rather than stand-alone legislation for each profession. That makes sense

to me. Other jurisdictions with similar challenges as the NWT currently have this type of umbrella legislation. The Yukon is one example.

Implementing umbrella legislation in the NWT should be pursued. Unfortunately we have an extensive list of legislative initiatives to pursue within the GNWT and the Minister indicated that although it’s on the list of legislation to be pursued and researched, this particular legislation is not high on the priority list and we won’t likely see it come forward during the life of the 16th Legislative

Assembly.

I understand workload and setting priorities, however, we also have to acknowledge that things change. In December 2008, the Ministers of Labour across Canada signed an enhanced Labour Mobility Agreement that would be implemented on April 1st , 2009. In January 2009 the Premiers

ratified the changes. The revised labour mobility chapter of the Agreement on Internal Trade provides that any worker certified for an occupation by regulatory authority in one province or territory is to be recognized as qualified for that occupation by all other provinces and territories where that occupation is regulated. Without legislation regulating these professions, the enhanced mobility provided by this new enhanced labour mobility could make the NWT a less attractive place for these professionals to work as they can have their credentials recognized almost everywhere else in the country except the Northwest Territories.

To me the changes to the enhanced Labour Mobility Agreement are a reason for the Minister of Health and Social Services to reconsider the department’s legislative priorities and move forward with umbrella legislation for health professionals. We can’t afford to lose these professionals.

At the appropriate time I will have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to talk about the traditional economy in the Sahtu region. Trapping is alive and well in the Sahtu region. The Sahtu region is quickly becoming recognized as the top region in the Northwest Territories for total value of fur being harvested. Thirty-eight percent of the total value of furs in the Northwest Territories comes from the Sahtu. The top producing community in the Sahtu is Colville Lake, followed by Fort Good Hope, Deline, Tulita, and Norman Wells. The total amount of Sahtu fur being harvested for 2008 and 2009 is estimated to

contribute up to half a million dollars to the local economy in the Sahtu region. Some trappers in Colville Lake will be earning over $40,000 this winter and trappers as young as age 12 have earned income from harvesting fur this year.

The trappers in the region are the Kochon family in Colville Lake, followed by the Jackson and Pierrot family in Fort Good Hope. The top young trapper in the region lives in Colville Lake, but youth from all over the Sahtu have shown increased interest in trapping this year.

The Sahtu is home to the prize Anderson River marten, which is used across the world for making high-priced garments, including major fashion centres in the Far East, Russia, the Middle East, and Europe. Trappers in the Sahtu consistently get the top price for marten at the fur auctions.

ITI and ENR staff have noticed that a large increase of the youth that have gone trapping are due to the ITI Take a Kid Trapping program, which involves 51 students from Tulita, Deline, Fort Good Hope, and Norman Wells. The number of part-time and full-time trappers in the Sahtu are about 225, 20 percent being elders, 14 percent being youth under the age of 18, and 10 percent being female.

The top fur being harvested is marten, followed by fox, wolves, beavers, and wolverine. For example, Take a Kid Trapping program has been very successful in communities like Colville Lake where there’s approximately 28 kids from Grade 2 to Grade 12 who are working in this program. Students who own their own traplines, students who are raising money to take trips to Europe. If the Sahtu region continues to do as well as they are this year, they are expected to break the record of harvest produced in terms of dollars.

I’d like to say that the Sahtu region and other regions like that, we certainly support people going on the land and that trapping is alive and well in the Northwest Territories, especially in the Sahtu.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I`d like to speak today about the Deh Cho Bridge project. For the second year in a row, this government has failed to mention anything about the Deh Cho Bridge in the Finance Minister’s annual budget address. Like last year, I again find that this is a peculiar omission.

The Deh Cho Bridge project is the largest single piece of public infrastructure to ever be built in the

Northwest Territories. At $165 million this is a project that one would think the GNWT would be proud of.

According to the government, this $165 million bridge is going to reduce the cost of living. If it is true, why would the government leave that out of the budget address when the cost of living is the single biggest issue facing our residents?

With tolls being applied on all truck traffic, I still don’t know or understand how this could ever be possible. Everything that is transported across that bridge will cost more when it lands in the North Slave communities and any other community that these goods are flown into.

The bridge is being built and because of decisions of the last government, we are going to have to, beginning in 2010-2011, take our $1.8 million we currently use for ferry operations and ice crossing construction and maintenance, plus an additional $2 million on top of that because of the price increasing to $165 million, for a total of $3.8 million indexed every year for the next 35 years. This doesn’t include the cost of administration and collection of tolls, which is going to cost this government another $700,000 to $800,000 per year. With the recent economic downturn, the amount of truck traffic crossing this bridge may not meet the original financial projections, which would leave the GNWT having to pay even more for the bridge on an annual basis.

Questions and rumours abound on the bridge project. Is it going to be constructed on time and on budget? What about all the rumours of lawsuits, people not getting paid, and cost overruns? Where exactly is the GNWT exposed financially in all of these areas?

The deal itself was signed off on a Friday afternoon three days prior to the last election. A year ago, the Premier made a commitment in this House to do a post-mortem on how and why this decision was made. I have not forgotten about this commitment and I look forward to the Premier tabling this post-mortem in this House at the appropriate time.

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

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]

This weekend in Lutselk’e, the community is very saddened with the passing of Mr. Laurence Catholique. He was only 52 years old, a very well-

respected man, who passed away well before his time.

Mr. Catholique was considered to be one of the spiritual leaders of the community. Laurence lived a very healthy life. He was a non-smoker, non-drinker, and he was a big help to many community members. He will be very dearly missed by the people of Lutselk’e, especially his father, Pierre, his brothers, Herman, Joseph, Henry, his sister, Mary Jane, and her family.

Just one month ago, I had an opportunity to spend a couple hours with Laurence and his father, Pierre, as they were driving around town and he was helping his father get some groceries together before he put him on the plane. As I dropped him off, I was thinking that for a 52-year-old man with such tremendous ambition it was hard to imagine anybody who looked so good for 52 and seemed to live such a healthy lifestyle. It’s very sad. I’m very sad myself to hear of the passing of Mr. Laurence Catholique.

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

Today I want to draw attention to several long-standing concerns about the Stanton Territorial Hospital. First, Mr. Speaker, Stanton is a gem of our health care system and the quality of health care is not the issue. But as many people know very well, Stanton has had problems with cleanliness and poor housekeeping ever since it was privatized. New CEOs and new public administrators have been appointed and they have all come and gone over the years but the problem still remains. The present contractor is not able to find qualified employees and retain qualified employees to a consistent level to deal with this problem. As a result, the cleanliness of the hospital is left to deteriorate. Sometimes the contractor has been put on notice, but with a lack of results. Sometimes it has led to short-term effects with positive results.

However, that kind of performance is not acceptable at a hospital, Mr. Speaker. The public expectation out there is that a hospital is expected to be one of the cleanest places on the earth. But, Mr. Speaker, is that 100 percent realistic? I’m not here to say. But, Mr. Speaker, patients at our hospital expect the rooms to be clean and safe. The bottom line is they don’t need to be put in additional danger because of dirty floors and washrooms and they certainly don’t need to have a family member

show up to clean those bathrooms and empty those trash cans.

Perhaps Stanton needs to move back to an in-house service. Perhaps Stanton needs to terminate the current contract and find someone who understands these needs. Either way, Stanton needs to find a permanent solution, not a temporary one. I hope the Minister can tell me what they are doing to ensure that the health of our citizens is not being jeopardized.

Secondly, Mr. Speaker, I want to point out the absence of effective security provisions at Stanton. There have been numerous incidents over the years where disturbed and sometimes violent people have caused significant problems and jeopardized the health and safety of our patients while they are getting much needed health care. Most recently, an inmate managed to get into a patient’s room while he was looking for a washroom. I can’t imagine how vulnerable and trapped this lady felt; a senior with nowhere to run.

Mr. Speaker, it is difficult to imagine that this inmate was in her room disturbing her while she was there. The stress on her and her family was significant. Mr. Speaker, I hope that each and every one of these security incidents is carefully reviewed by the senior management team at the hospital and they certainly find actionable ways to deal with this so it is not repeated. Mr. Speaker, I’d rather be complaining about the lack of services here today and the lack of response today than hopefully someday that we never have to talk about how we could let this happen. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

People in Nahendeh have been hearing a lot of fiddle music this winter. Today I would like to tell you about how learning to play the fiddle has provided recreation to our communities and it has helped our youth develop confidence from their achievements and leadership skills in helping others. I am referring to the achievements of the Kole Crook Fiddle Association that has got hundreds of youth interested in developing a passion for music and fiddling. This has come about through the efforts of volunteers, parents, teachers, students and board members. It was made possible by grants provided by the Municipal and Community Affairs, the NWT Art Society and the Dehcho Board of Education.

A fiddle has four strings and the Kole Crook Fiddle Association has a string of four programs. One

program is teaching tours. Two expert fiddlers have been touring this fall and winter and sharing their skills in 12 communities. There were six students in Kakisa, 38 in Fort Liard. In all there were 168 students involved. Some of these fiddlers studied during school hours and also at sessions with adults and in the evenings and on weekends. There were classes for both beginners and advanced students.

In November in Fort Simpson, the fiddle teachers were weathered in and students were lucky enough to have lessons every day for a week. On Friday they entertained at an assembly and on Saturday there was a fiddle jam and dance at the Bompas gym.

The second program is the annual fiddle jamboree. It was held in Fort Simpson last month. Six instructors taught 95 fiddle students who came from Wrigley, Fort Providence, Jean Marie River, Yellowknife, Hay River and Behchoko. Two nimble fingered students, Mr. Wesley Hardisty and Miss Elissa Hazenberg, who is paging for us this week, Mr. Speaker, participated as teacher aids.

Starting on Friday, January 9th , it was a week of

classes, fiddle repair, jigging and a Saturday night fiddle jam and dance. There is also a highly anticipated fiddle summer camp that has been offered since 2003.

The fourth is training for trainers to help our fiddlers become teachers.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement. Thank you.

---Unanimous consent granted.

Thank you, colleagues. It seems that the Kole Crook Fiddle Association has struck a chord with our people. Success like this comes from people working together, teachers in our schools, volunteers helping with the events, parents encouraging their children, the fiddlers themselves and the hard-working board of association. I am proud that the government is funding this worthwhile program and equally proud of our parents and volunteers. Mahsi cho.

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

Mr. Speaker, it is no secret that we humans are wreaking havoc on our environment, yet we persist in ignoring the effect that our actions are creating and continue with behaviour that only

hastens the demise of our world. Last Friday, I had the opportunity to attend the meeting of NWT and Alberta government Ministers and officials. I was reminded of the lack of commitment to the environment that exists in our society. Simply observing the refreshments provided for the meeting highlighted this for me. How? Disposable coffee cups and bottles of water.

There are small acts of conservation that this government can take in regards to the environment which will demonstrate our commitment to help Mother Nature. If we use my example of what we can do, well this can be done.

At any government sponsored event, whether it is a meeting, a conference, a ceremony, we should demand certain environmental and recycling protocols of the caterer or the organizers. The provision of coffee and tea must be accompanied by recyclable mugs or cups. Water supplies must be non-bottled and accompanied by recyclable mugs or cups. If the supplier of the refreshments cannot agree to these conditions, then I am sure that there will be another business happy to take over the provision of that service. This approach should extend to all offices of this government, Mr. Speaker.

We need a policy regarding the use of bottled water, a policy which covers all departments and all offices in all communities. We are fortunate to live in a jurisdiction which has some of the best water in the world available to us locally just outside our door, in most cases. There is no excuse and no need for bottled water anywhere in the NWT. I have been here more than 35 years, Mr. Speaker, and I have yet to experience any ill effects from drinking river, lake or tap water. How many other jurisdictions in the world can make that same claim about their water? Not many.

The use of bottled water is an unnecessary expense both financially and environmentally. GNWT departments must be directed to refrain from providing bottled water in their offices, at their meetings, at their conferences. A policy banning bottled water would be a small step towards environmental savings. Let’s get started. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Mr. Speaker, I had the opportunity to speak to two elderly ladies in Fort McPherson who are pensioners. Mr. Speaker, they are struggling to maintain their homes and also the

ability to maintain a lifestyle. Mr. Speaker, they have a fixed income in regards to a pension which is around $1,000 a month. But yet, Mr. Speaker, they are not receiving any help from the Government of the Northwest Territories when it comes to seniors’ fuel subsidies and also helping them maintain their homes.

Mr. Speaker, one elder told me about the challenges she’s had since she has moved into her home which was built by the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation in 1996. This elder has gone through four stoves, three fridges, washers and dryers, and yet, Mr. Speaker, she has to pay out of her own pocket. She also has to use her residential school payment to buy these utilities, again, finding out that they also came to electrical shortage failures in her home. Mr. Speaker, that is not safe. The Housing Corporation where this individual has gone time and time again for assistance that were not there to help.

Mr. Speaker, the other elder who spoke to me about how she is struggling just to maintain a lifestyle. Every month her power bill is around $390. She has to get her own fuel because she’s not eligible for the fuel subsidy. It costs about $1,000 a month, not counting your other utility costs like water, sewer and also maintaining the home. Mr. Speaker, the frustration of this elder, you can see it on her face when she speaks of elders who are living in social housing paying $20 a month and they don’t have to take care of those operational costs. Yet, there is no assistance there for elders who are living in their own homes.

Mr. Speaker, this government has to do more to assist elders who want to maintain an independent lifestyle, who want to maintain their homes and, more importantly, maintain their dignity. Mr. Speaker, these are not the only elders I’ve heard from. There are other elders throughout the Northwest Territories and Mackenzie Delta who are struggling to make ends meet in regard to living on a fixed income as a pensioner.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

Mr. Speaker, the elders want nothing less than what elders receive in social housing. They want to be able to maintain a roof over their heads and be treated no differently than elders in the same age in our communities.

Mr. Speaker, my understanding is the income support review was going to take place which will look at what the cost to this government is for an elder to live in public housing, which is around $20,000 a year to maintain that unit, and basically

I’ll offer a similar arrangement for elders living in their own homes. With that, Mr. Speaker, I will be asking the Minister responsible for income support questions on this matter. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Nahendeh constituents who are residing in Yellowknife but they call Fort Simpson their home. She may correct me on this but I believe she is the president of the Kole Crook Fiddle Association I spoke about in my Member’s statement, Ms. Gerda Hazenberg and her daughter, Elissa. Welcome.

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

Mr. Speaker, again on this, this is the second day it gives me great pleasure to recognize my oldest son McKinley Hawkins. He’s up in the office this week with me and at his insistence he had to come down and watch session in real live action. He was watching it on TV yesterday but he said he had to come down. If I may bear for a moment, Mr. Speaker, I was trying to decide why he was sitting on that side of the House and I thought, well, maybe he wanted to sit on the side of the House that had the money or maybe did he want to sit on the side of the House that he could see the pretty faces. I’m going with the second one. The handsome faces.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Welcome to everyone in the House today. Hope you’re enjoying the proceedings. Item 6, acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Mr. Speaker, I’ve got some questions today for the Premier and it gets back to my Member’s statement in regard to the Deh Cho Bridge project. Much has been made about the decision to go forward with the Deh Cho Bridge project. It was signed off on a Friday afternoon, 72 hours before the last general election here in the Northwest Territories. During some questioning to

the Premier back in November of 2007, shortly after the election, the Premier, at that time, in a response to a question that I had for him, made a commitment and I’ll quote: “I have committed to look at the process that was used and come back and sit down with Members and look at where we go from here.”

The first question I’ve got for the Premier is what work has been done on reviewing the process that allowed the concession agreement to be signed off by the last government and when will we get that information? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member has on quite a number of times referred to the project of the last government, what the last government did. I have, as the Member has pointed out, committed to the process, had the staff look at what was involved, and I’m getting the latest on that as to when we’d be prepared to sit down with committee on that. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, these questions were 15 months ago and the government has still not come back with a P3 policy that would allow projects like this to happen. Again, I’d like to ask the Premier, what is the current status of the Deh Cho Bridge project and this is happening with today’s government? What is the current status of the Deh Cho Bridge project? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I’d have to refer that to the Minister of Transportation as he’d have the details on that. Thank you.

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

Mr. Speaker, the latest information on the Deh Cho Bridge project is that four of the piers on the southern side of the river were poured over the past several months. They are now working on the pier beds that are supposed to be put up before the ice moves this year. They are behind schedule. We’re expecting them to play catch-up and have the pier beds mounted as the schedule calls for prior to pulling out the temporary bridge, which is scheduled to come out in March/April. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the question to the Minister of Transportation. Are there currently any outstanding lawsuits, cost overruns or other costs that will accrue to the Government of the Northwest Territories pertaining to the Deh Cho Bridge project? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I don’t believe there are any cost claims or cost overruns that have come to the Government of the Northwest Territories per se. I would have to confirm, but I believe there are a number of claims being filed within the different companies, the subcontractors and the contractors. However, the territorial government itself has not received any. Thank you.

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

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the Minister, is the Government of the Northwest Territories named in any of these claims that are currently at play and do we risk any financial exposure in those claims? Thank you.

I’ll pass that question on to the Minister. He can answer it if he chooses. It’s questionable if there are any claims or at what stage they’re at. Mr. McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, the Member is asking my opinion whether liability is an issue right now with us. I don’t know if I can answer that. I would have to say, and repeat my answer to the previous question, that the claims have not been filed as to the Government of the Northwest Territories. There are claims within the different companies. The project is at 80 percent completion and on schedule for this year. There is a mechanism that the companies are trying to work out any of the issues that are arising amongst themselves. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the Minister of Transportation if we are devoting enough resources to the maintenance for equipment and product to maintain all the highways in the Northwest Territories, but most specifically today I’m thinking of the portion of highway that goes from the border to Hay River. Are we adequately resourcing the Department of Transportation to maintain that highway in good condition? Thank you.

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

Mr. Speaker, we have dedicated a significant amount of resources over the last few years. In fact, we’ve gone to a seven-

day work week from a five-day work week so that we could have more maintenance cycles performed on our highways. We have also been really doing a lot of work in terms of upgrading our roads. Our roads are still, a lot of them are at the age where they have to be reconstructed; they’re at the midlife portion of where they need to be redone. There are also roads in our system that are not quite up to the standard that’s accepted across Canada, so we’re still working towards widening our roads and working on the shoulders and guardrails and things of that nature. Our roads are adequate. We feel they’re safe. The costs to operate our roads in the maintenance cycles are significantly higher than the south. On the Dempster, for example, it would cost us around $17,000 per kilometre to maintain a road whereas in Alberta it’s probably anywhere from $1,000 to $1,500.

There’s been a lot of discussion about federal money available for upgrades of transportation infrastructure. I’d like to know from the Minister what is contemplated in the short term and also the long term with respect to the stretch of highway I’m referring to.

I believe in the last decade we spent around $46 million on Highway No. 1. Over the next four years we’re going to be looking at spending just under $10 million. I think it’s around $8.8 million for that section of highway.

To the Minister’s knowledge, is there anything different in terms of product that they use on the roads in Alberta that we don’t use on our roads in the Northwest Territories that would perhaps explain the marked difference? Quite often on the Alberta side the highway is dry. Then you get onto the NWT side and it’s icy. I know sometimes there is a weather change at the border too. Sometimes when you’re travelling north you do notice that at the 60th parallel

for some reason there’s a weather change. Is there a product that we don’t use that they use?

In general we follow the same operating practices as Alberta. I believe the weather is the significant factor in having a different condition of road. We certainly have invested more dollars and I think our maintenance schedules are probably more than what Alberta does, but I certainly can commit to the Member that we’ll check with Alberta to see what they do. I believe our staff have already had several meetings with them. But if they do anything different than what we do, we can certainly bring that forward for consideration.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen. Thank you. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about trapping in the Sahtu region. Not every student from the Sahtu wants to be a heavy equipment operator or an office manager or a doctor. A lot of the students here have indicated that trapping is a way of life for them and that will continue to be a way of life for them. I’d like to ask the Minister of ITI, in terms of the successful Take a Kid Trapping program, is this something that will be a long-standing commitment from this government to increase the funding or have the funding be more stabilized in terms of supporting these 51 students this year who have enrolled in this program?

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Take a Kid Trapping program is one of our more successful programs. The primary idea was to give the youth in the Territories a choice so they could continue to practice a way of life and make some money while they’re doing it. We foresee that with the success that we’ve had that it will continue for some time.

The Take a Kid Trapping program is also included in the education curriculum in the Northwest Territories in terms of credits earned for different, I guess, credits in terms of their continuing education with the amount of programs that are done throughout the year. This program, is it a part of the curriculum of the Northwest Territories?

This Take a Kid Trapping program and taking students out on the land has been incorporated into the curriculum of schools in the Northwest Territories. It is a credited program. We work very closely with the teachers. It has been very successful and very well received by the students.

I spoke to a person in Tulita and this person took two young people out to a trapping program. This older person mentioned that these two young students did not want to come back into the community. They loved it out on the land. The training program, however, because of the funding, was cut short and they had to come back into the community. In terms of the Take a Kid Trapping program, is the Minister going to see if part of the funding could be increased in terms of having a longer success in the programs in the Northwest Territories?

The program has been in place for some time. There have been over 4,000

students who have gone through the program. As we go through the years, the sources of funding change from time to time. We’ve been successful in accessing a number of different funding programs. With the continued extension of the SINED program we’re also looking at continuing to use the Conservation Trust Fund. Along with the education programs and partner departments from MACA and ECE we’ve been able to keep the program going.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the list of institutes that are helping with the Take a Kid Trapping program will the Minister with this department consider looking at establishing a Northwest Territories trapping institute for this type of program? I think this type of program is readily needed in our communities and this program, I think, will be one that will be a shining hallmark for all trapping institutes across Canada and the world. So this is something that’s very important.

We do look at it from time to time, but most recently we approached it on a national level. We work very closely with the Fur Institute of Canada that deals with all the provinces and territories. That seems to work quite well. We always look at ways to improve on how we deal with trapping, so that’s certainly something we’ll continue to look at.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. During my Member’s statement I talked about the issue of cleanliness and security at Stanton Hospital. It’s been about two months since I raised this issue with the Minister and certainly since my constituent has e-mailed both me and the Minister on this concern. I’d like to know what the Minister has done to date to fix these two problems so we cannot just use it as a temporary solution but on a going forward basis that these problems have been addressed.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for bringing this issue up. I do want to correct one aspect of what the Member said. I’m in possession of the e-mail that the

constituent sent him and me and there’s no indication there that an inmate who was staying at the hospital entered this room. The information he and I both have is that the patient was made aware that there was a gentleman across the hall who is an inmate and there were two guards outside of that door. The patient was advised if that inmate somehow entered the room -- and he never did -- that they should be notified as soon as possible.

With respect to what actions have been taken, I have responded to the constituent, and copied to the Member that all of the concerns that this constituent has brought up have been brought up to the management. In the interim there have been very close and intense discussions between the Stanton authority and Sodexho that their work at the hospital is not acceptable, that they had to improve. There is a close monitoring process in place. The management from Alberta has to come every two weeks, not every two months. Their work is closely monitored.

I’ll deal with the two issues separately. Of course the cleanliness issue, I’m glad to hear that Sodexho is now sending someone on a regular basis. Have they been finally put on final notice that if they don’t follow the program that they’ll be gone specifically due to the cleanliness of this establishment?

Sodexho provides services for the laundry and cleanliness for housekeeping as well as the kitchen services. They were, yes, advised that their services had to improve markedly or that the authority would consider all options including considering other contractors. My information is that since they have had that discussion in October the services have improved somewhat.

As far as the security details, I’ll speak to the Minister privately as to the integrate details of it, but ultimately what provisions are in place when we have safety concerns with potential inmates? We have a designated area where inmates are able to receive the treatment they require at the hospital. Therefore, they’re separated from regular patients at the same time. Do we have those types of provisions or designations in that hospital that can accommodate that?

There is no separate unit for inmates. That would not be feasible because we don’t have the capacity at the hospital. The rules are that inmates who are in the hospital have to be guarded by two guards. In that specific situation there were two guards outside the door.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services and follow up on my Member’s statement from earlier today.

The licensing requirements for nurses, physicians, pharmacists, midwives, and all those other type of related professions are already highly harmonized between NWT and provincial requirements across Canada. As such, changes to the Enhanced Labour Mobility Agreement won’t have a negative impact on these professions. However, that’s not true for all of the professions. Has the Department of Health and Social Services investigated the impact of the Enhanced Labour Mobility Agreement on unregulated health professions in the Northwest Territories?

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.

Yes, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. The department has reviewed the implications of that Labour Mobility Agreement and our analysis doesn’t suggest that agreement will have any impact on the unregulated professions in the territories or regulated professions in the NWT. It just allows better mobility of the people between jurisdictions and allows each jurisdiction to recognize the licensed professions from other jurisdictions, which is already done anyway. This just makes it more formal and easier.

I agree with the regulated professions that it’s actually going to expedite things and make things easier, but I’m still not convinced that for unregulated professionals it is going to make that easier. For instance, if you have a chiropractor in the South who wants to come and practice in the Northwest Territories and he’s licensed through a southern institution or southern licensing body to come here where there is no licensing, it’s going to be less appealing because his criteria or his qualifications and licence won’t necessarily be recognized.

I’m curious, for instance, just as another example, in the Northwest Territories we have midwives. I mean, nurse practitioners. To be a nurse practitioner in the Northwest Territories you can go through an Aurora College program which you can get into with a diploma. In the South you pretty much have to have a master’s degree to get an NP designation. How is something like that going to work on the way out? For nurse practitioners who want to look south for employment and nurse practitioners who want to look north for

employment, how does the lack of consistency between the mobility agreement affect our nurse practitioners?

The Department of Health and Social Services regulates about 13 health related professions in the Territories by way of 12 legislations. The NWT is a very small jurisdiction. So even when we have enabling legislation what they usually do is we recognize the licenses or whatever certification the other provinces recognize in our territories. That is the case for doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, or any other legislation. So if we work to have a legislation for, say, massage therapists, the changes are what we would do is facilitate recognition of those professions as they are recognized in other professions. So most of our enabling legislation is facilitating what is already recognized. So any chiropractor recognized in another province would be recognized here in the same way.

I hear what the Minister is saying. However, in talking with a bunch of the professionals in unregulated professions they still have some concerns about this mobility as a result of this Labour Mobility Agreement. In light of the ratification of the enhanced Labour Mobility Agreement, would the Minister of Health and Social Services commit to reconsider their legislative priorities and move forward with umbrella legislation for unregulated health professionals in the Northwest Territories? This legislation would add comfort and would ensure that the currently unregulated health professionals interested in coming to the Northwest Territories can have their credentials recognized in the NWT and similar for those individuals leaving to all jurisdictions in Canada.

With or without the Labour Mobility Agreement and its implications to us, I think I am aware and have met with the massage therapists who would like to have their profession regulated in the territories. Their numbers are very tiny. As I mentioned to the Member earlier and in the House, we are looking to see how we could either regulate that profession or do it by way of alone or under umbrella legislation. There is about 50 pieces of legislation working its way through our government system. Eight of them are health and social services items and one of the eight is the massage therapy profession.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister responsible for income support, the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

In my statement I made reference to two situations where two elderly ladies found themselves as widows trying to maintain their own homes and lifestyle. They are not getting any assistance from this government by way of income support or fuel subsidy. With regard to one case, with the cost of power in our communities, their monthly power bill is $390 per month. Yet they’re just barely making it with $1,000 a month pension they receive.

I’d like to ask the Minister what we are doing to increase the thresholds to ensure elders have fuel in their homes to heat them during the winter months and not disallow them access to these programs. Are we re-profiling the programs to make them more accessible for elders? Elders who live in public housing pay $20 a month.

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Certainly we do provide various subsidy programs to the people of the Northwest Territories. Specifically for the seniors, there is a seniors' fuel subsidy that we offer and we’ve also made some changes, amendments to our program where we’ve increased income threshold to $10,000 additional as of April 1st , 2008. So every now and then we

meet with the elders and identify what the Member is alluding to here today. It’s one of those areas that we listen to and make changes as needed. We have done that to one program where the income threshold has been changed. Certainly we continue to work with the communities we have and the seniors to look after them.

It’s one thing to increase the income threshold by $10,000, but what you’re doing is putting people in a different class of fuel that they receive. I believe it’s 400 litres that they receive. If you increase their income by $10,000 they receive 400 litres to get them through the whole winter. That’s not even one-tenth of a tank. I think it’s important to realize that we have to have a system that really improves the lives of seniors in our communities and really makes a difference in their lifestyle so they don’t have to move out of their homes and go into social housing.

I’d like to ask the Minister if he will seriously take a look at different communities in the Northwest Territories, the real cost of living, and ensure that

the programs we’re delivering really make a difference in those communities.

Certainly right now the current stage is there is different zoning. Individuals, the seniors living in Paulatuk or in Aklavik versus the southern part of the Northwest Territories, there’s a different category. Seniors who live in the High Arctic, like the Beaufort-Delta as an example, will definitely get more increase in their income threshold. There are different zones. We have made changes there. We continue, like I said, to make these changes as needed, based on what we hear from the seniors and the MLAs. We do continue to look at those and I will continue to look into these subsidy programs that we have. If there are any changes to be made, we’ll certainly seriously consider it.

I think also this government, I know it was recognized previously, has to take a close look at how we do the assessments on these seniors. What these seniors are stuck with is that they have family members living with them who may work in the summer months during the construction season, but because they are using the household income they are disqualified from seniors programs. Yet the only time they receive a fuel subsidy is in the winter months.

I’d like to ask the Minister if he would look at the possibility of classifying these programs as seasonal programs for those winter months and calculate it on those winter months when that fuel is being used to heat the home. Between October and April or whatever. I’d like to ask the Minister if he would consider looking at something like that so the seniors are not penalized because some activity has taken place in their homes during the summer months.

Certainly penalizing our elders and our seniors is not one of our mandates. We are there for them. We’d like to provide more subsidies as we can. Certainly there are reviews being undertaken on how to deal with the subsidies for seniors. We realize there are family members living with their grandmothers or grandparents and some, unfortunately, are taking advantage of the system. Some are working at the mines and are not claiming their household income. That does have an impact on the seniors from that perspective. At the same time, I’ve instructed my department to find out how we can work around the system where we don’t penalize the elders or seniors. Looking after those individuals who could be making $90,000 or $100,000 a year; let’s focus on them. Certainly Members have asked if we look at this overall review on the seniors’ perspective and we are doing that right now.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like I stated, using this elder’s income, her pension alone is about $1,000 a month. It works out to about $12,000 a year. This senior cannot get any support from this government because she made $12,000 from her pension. That is discrimination on the basis of a senior who is trying to maintain a home, yet someone living in social housing is costing this government $20,000 a year. There has to be a fairer process with regard to the seniors in our communities, especially in our high-cost communities where they have a $390-a-month bill. I’d like to ask the Minister if he can do something specially for those communities that are isolated where we have high-cost communities to find a way that we’re not totally putting our seniors out in the cold because they made $12,000 in their pensions and are not getting any help from this government. What can the Minister do about that?

The pensioner, whether it be the $12,000 or other figures that may be out there, there are certain household income thresholds that we have to deal with. But if it’s correct, that $12,000, then the senior should qualify for subsidy unless there is other household income within the home. It’s on a case-by-case basis, but certainly I did commit already that we are looking at reviewing our subsidy program specifically for seniors. I will be coming back to the standing committee to give them an update of any changes that will be undertaken.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My questions are addressed to the Premier in the absence of the Minister of ENR today. I spoke in my Member’s statement about what we can do as a government for the environment. I’d like to ask the Premier what currently exists for the GNWT in regard to limiting the use of disposable products in our buildings and in our activities.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We do have a number of programs that are run during an office spaces posting; notices about recycling, reuse. The message is being sent out there by ENR. As for actual policies about what the Member raised in her Member’s statement, I’d have

to go back to the Minister and get that information and have that provided to the Member.

I thank the Premier for advising that he’ll get back to me. I talked in my statement about getting started and I’d like to know whether or not we can get started. Is the Premier willing to look at putting a policy in place which would stem the tide of non-disposable items?

We’d be prepared to look at the suggestion that the Member has made and get back to her and Members to see what possibilities there are that we could look at and may put in place.

We could look at it. I thank you for that sort of semi-commitment, I think.

---Interjection

Perhaps, maybe. Yes. I’d like to ask the Premier whether or not he can be a little more forceful in his commitment. Actions speak louder than words, in my belief, and if we’re going to indicate that we are at all interested in saving our environment, I think this government ought to lead the way. So what is the Minister willing to commit to to preserve the impacts on our environment relative to disposable bottles and mugs and cups?

What I will commit to is looking at what we have in place as well as how we can expand that program to include and get that information back to the Members working through the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you for that more forceful commitment to the Premier. I guess my next question would be when I can expect a reply.

I know there is a program we’re working on called Greening the Government and I’ll have to again go back to the Minister responsible for the area and have him provide timelines as well.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister responsible for the NWT Power Corporation some questions on the rate riders and the current drop in fuel prices. I know that in previous questions the Minister had indicated that they’re not going to be doing anything for three years before they reassess the general

rate application. But the fact remains that the opportunity is now, the point of power is in the moment to reduce the rate riders or do a reverse rate rider. I’d like to ask the Minister if they can look at doing a reverse rider and take this opportunity to pass those cost savings on to our customers.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a number of fuel riders in our communities that have diesel generation. Those, again, are for fuel that was consumed in previous years. That is the change. Once they hit the revenue that they were targeted for, those riders would drop off. They don’t have to wait for three years in those particular instances. They are set out in place through the PUB and a certain revenue number has to be achieved. At that point it would drop off. I could get more detail for the Member on that. Thank you.

I was just curious that as soon as the fuel prices went up, they had no problem increasing the rates, Mr. Speaker. Now that the fuel prices have come down, they are kind of wobbling on giving the rebate back to the customer. I would like to ask again, will the Minister consider some kind of reverse rider that will benefit the consumers of our NWT Power Corporation? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, let’s get the facts out there so that Members and the public know what we are speaking about. The fuel price and rate riders that went up were fuel that was consumed in the previous years. It was not because of last year’s resupply on its own. The rate riders, you have to prove your cost and go through that system with the Public Utilities Board. The number of rate riders has been put in place. Once the revenue number has been achieved, they will drop off. I will get that list for Members so that they have all the information. Thank you.

The great increases in people’s individual power bills doesn’t concur with the facts as brought to us. The next general rate application is in three years. Is there a way or mechanism in our Public Utilities Board or else through the Power Corporation to look at decreasing the rates as a result of the benefit of lower fuel costs this winter? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the Power Corporation does provide the power generation and distribution. We receive our fuel at the same time as petroleum products division delivers in many of our communities and we pay for the product when it is delivered. So we had to pay the higher price in many of our communities and live with that. That is

part of the reason that the rate rider went forward on that basis. Thank you.

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