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

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to ask and answer some questions in my statement on youth of Tu Nedhe. What are the youth doing? Mr. Speaker, the youth are not doing much, depending on the age they are, as there is only so much to do and in the other school there is even less to do. What do the youth have? Mr. Speaker, as you know, both Lutselk’e and Fort Resolution are small communities so the youth do not have the same opportunities as their counterparts in the larger centres. What do the youth need? Mr. Speaker, the youth need more. They need more in sports, recreation and youth facilities. They need more programming. They need more opportunities no matter what age they are.

What will it take to provide youth needs? Mr. Speaker, the youth know what they want and need and the community has certain resource people that can help facilitate opportunities. What the youth need is more support from this government and the communities need more resources to deliver what’s needed.

What are the alternatives for youth? Mr. Speaker, if the youth cannot get what they need, what are the alternatives? It is a well-known fact that when youth have nothing constructive to do or to participate in, it is only a matter of time before undesirable activities start to happen and the youth start to get into trouble and before too long a long cycle of trouble begins.

What is the cost of doing nothing? Mr. Speaker, we cannot afford to sit by and do nothing. Heavy youth social programs have devastated the community of Lutselk’e and youth crime continues to be a real problem in Fort Resolution. Mr. Speaker, we cannot afford to do nothing.

What is the benefit of providing youth with what they need? Mr. Speaker, if our communities are able to provide their youth with what they need, the benefits are tremendous. Mr. Speaker, with effective community-based youth programming, our youth can become positive role models themselves and they can become responsible members of their home community and go on to become healthy, productive citizens of the North.

Mr. Speaker, all too often youth issues are displaced by other seemingly important issues of the day. This must stop. The youth are our most important resource. It is time to focus on what...

Mr. Beaulieu, your time for your Member’s statement has expired.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Fort McPherson Indian Band is working with a log builder to develop a proposal to use their own wood products, use their own labour workforce and use the materials around them to construct log homes for their residents. Mr. Speaker, long before 2x4s and plywood was used to build our homes, people built their own homes using logs, from our grandparents to our parents. Yet, Mr. Speaker, for some reason we do not continue that practice and we are losing a very important skill that our grandparents used to have by building their own homes, having the ability to build their own cabins and also have the tools by way of using the resources around them.

Mr. Speaker, by using our own Northwest Territories wood products we can not only save on the transportation of goods and services and dependence on the South, but, more importantly, develop one of our economies that has been overlooked for years.

Mr. Speaker, as a government we have to think outside the box and, more importantly, outside the House. Mr. Speaker, this government has spent millions of dollars on stick-built houses in the Northwest Territories, but yet we’re still meeting the different challenges from mould to dealing with frost to dealing with structural challenges. Yet, Mr. Speaker, log homes that were built in the past are still standing in most of our communities and they continue to showcase the workmanship of the people that built them in the past. Yet, Mr. Speaker, we as a government have to take a step back, look at what was done in the past, restore the workforce that was used, give the people the skills and the opportunities to show that the craftsmanship that they have is as their grandparents had.

Mr. Speaker, I think as a government, you have $50 million coming forward from the feds, this is one of the initiatives that you should seriously consider by using the made-in-the-North attitude by using our wood products, using our skilled labour and, more importantly, using the materials that are really made in the North. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Albert Bohnet is 92 years old. Febula Bohnet is 82. February 24th is a

very important day for them. Today they’ve been married 64 years.

---Applause

Mr. Speaker, as I look around this Chamber, that’s far longer than any of us have been on God’s green earth. I think it’s a testimonial to their lifelong commitment to each other. I’d like to recognize that in this House and I would also like to ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating and recognizing this very special day. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Item 6, acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, during the presentation of the NWT Housing Corporation

budget I had indicated that we were looking for new avenues to deliver housing in the communities. We recognize right now that our Housing Choices Program does not have all the designs and the different modes of building and doing construction in our communities that suit some of the smaller communities and we’d be exploring new avenues. Many of the aboriginal leaders in the Territories have contacted us about log house construction and we are working towards the design, and we’d be very much interested in talking to the people from Mr. Krutko’s riding about the concept of what he’s proposing. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, also in my statement I made reference to the potential industry happening in the Northwest Territories by developing our wood products. I think it’s important that under our manufacturing directive that we expand it to allow for Northwest Territories wood products to be made than simply have a product trucked up from the south, put a stamp on it and say it was made in the North by slapping a few nails into it. I’d like to ask the Minister, would he consider looking at the possibility of prefab houses using wood products in the Northwest Territories?

Mr. Speaker, the idea of prefab units has been around for some time. We’re very much interested in that concept. It’s not something that most communities are readily accepting. The communities feel that construction in the communities that the houses are going to go to is a mode of economic stimulus, so we have to be very careful how we move forward. I am very keen on looking to see if there’s a way we can set up maybe a pilot project to do small units; small units that can be maybe used for emergencies. I’d be, once again, interested to hear the Member’s comments on that. Thank you.

I wasn’t having deja vu talking about NOVEL housing, I was talking about log housing, being used to use logs in the Northwest Territories, to basically build prefab houses. They build them in the Yukon. If you’re able to drive to Whitehorse, if you have a chance, you can see how these units are built in the industrial area. They’re basically constructed in Whitehorse and moved into a community. Basically by simply how you design and build the unit, it just comes apart and you move it to another location, put it back together and it’s ready to go. I’d like to ask the Minister if he’d seriously consider investigating that with his colleagues from the Yukon to see how they’re doing it over there and if we can implement a similar program in the Northwest Territories.

Our preference, of course, is to see if we can look at how to find a relatively cheaper way to put houses on the ground in the communities. When I mean mobile units or

modular built, I’m also talking about stick-built units; something that could be put together in a lot of cases where we can’t find carpenters or contractors to go in some of the small communities. We’re really struggling to find a way to get a house on the ground in the community. I’m looking at both stick-built and log units. Right now we weren’t looking at anywhere outside of the NWT. We were quite curious to see what our own designs would bring and our own staff would bring forward in terms of programs and see what the other communities are proposing. We have a number of communities that want to come forward and have discussions on initiatives they think will work. We have a lot of work ahead of us and our first step would be to bring something in front of the standing committee. I think we’re going to be sometime in early March that we’ll be bringing something forward for discussion.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In regard to the training that is required, I know there are certain people in my riding who have been certified in log building. I believe they went all the way to Ontario to get the certification. I think it’s important that we do have the dollars available not only to train people but to get them certified in log building in the Northwest Territories. I’d like to ask the Minister to seriously consider looking at the possibility of having certification for log builders in the Northwest Territories and if they could provide training dollars to get people trained and certified in the Northwest Territories.

Before embarking on a log house program we’d have to look at a number of things. We certainly would have to go back and look at why some other programs we had, such as this SHAG program and others that involved log building, went wrong. I certainly would expect that capacity was an issue. To have training dollars put forward, I’d have to have that discussion with my colleague from Education, Culture and Employment. I’d certainly like to explore this further and I think there is a lot of merit to logging and it’s certainly an area that can provide employment in the communities. I will commit to following that up.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of ITI. We’ve had discussions in this House previously about business services here in the Northwest Territories and the role and mandate of the BDIC. I again

stand up here today. We’re in really tough economic circumstances. I think businesses and entrepreneurs are looking to the Government of the Northwest Territories to see what we will do, if anything, to help ease especially the credit crunch that many small businesses are going to face. The first question I would have for the Minister is what exactly the Government of the Northwest Territories is doing to ease the credit crunch for small businesses here in the Northwest Territories during these tough economic times.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m a bit surprised at the Member’s line of questioning. As he knows, the Business Development and Investment Corporation is an independent board that is set up through legislation of this Assembly. As such, I correspond by writing letters to them and meeting periodically with the chair and the president. The last time I met with the board I asked the BDIC to provide some suggestions for how we could work with businesses to lessen the impact of the downturn. They have since done so and I expect to be able to come forward at some point with those suggestions.

In my Member’s statement earlier I spoke of the relevancy of the BDIC and how it is that they’re lacking focus or direction. That direction has to come from Cabinet and the Minister. I’d like to ask the Minister why we even have a BDIC if ITI continues to be the delivery mechanism for their programs. That doesn’t make any sense to me.