Good afternoon, colleagues. Welcome back to the Chamber. Orders of the day. Item 2, Ministers’ statements. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.

Mr. Speaker, today I am pleased to announce a new Tobacco Cessation Initiative in support of our Territorial Tobacco Strategy.

The most recent youth survey has shown an encouraging trend downward in the number of young people who are starting to smoke. I believe our successful programs such as the “Don’t Be a Butthead” campaign and the school-based tobacco media program “Smoke Screening” are contributing to the decreasing numbers.

We are now about to put more supports in place for smokers who want to quit. Beginning on March 1, 2009, we will be launching the NWT Quitline, a toll-free service that will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This is in addition to our current Tele-Care Health Line. Translation services will be available in all NWT languages. The NWT Quitline will have funding support from Health Canada for 2009-10 in the amount of $44,000.

This initiative is also in line with federal plans for 2010, which call for a 1-800 number to be printed on all cigarette packs that would direct the caller to a cessation line in their own province or territory. When that initiative is up and running, we will be ready.

The NWT Quitline will be staffed by registered nurses or cessation counsellors who are specifically

trained to help people quit smoking. It will feature personalized call back options based on the client’s needs.

A caller can receive up to five calls from a counsellor to support their own quitting process at times that are convenient for them. Phone line counselling will also be supplemented by a mail-out of support materials.

The launch of this support line is an important step towards fulfilling our cessation goals identified in the Territorial Tobacco Strategy. We expect that this additional tool will help us to continue the downward trend in our population’s addiction to tobacco. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to advise my colleagues of the launch tomorrow of BizPaL in the Northwest Territories.

This on-line service will officially be available tomorrow in Hay River and Fort Smith. It will provide entrepreneurs and prospective business owners in these two communities with one-stop access to permit and licence information.

Information for all levels of government in the Northwest Territories and across Canada.

Individuals seeking to start or expand a business will need only to answer a series of questions on the type of business they want to operate. The BizPaL system will then provide the start-up information they require within seconds.

For each permit and licence identified, users will also be provided pertinent information such as fees, processing and renewal times, contacts and links to sites where they can learn more.

Future plans will see the addition of on-line application and payment capabilities to further increase efficiencies and reduce costs even more.

Mr. Speaker, our economy is reliant on the economic diversification that is provided by the small business sector. They are the backbone of our northern economy.

BizPaL will allow Northwest Territories residents to reduce paperwork and assist them in pursuing their dream of owning and operating a small business.

Hay River and Fort Smith are just the beginning of our initiative to provide this important tool to all businesses and communities in the Northwest Territories.

This work reflects our stated priority to support the development of small businesses and sustainable local economies. It is also providing a more client-focused, service-oriented approach to delivering government information to Northwest Territories residents. All of this information is easily and conveniently accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Mr. Speaker, this important initiative is the result of ongoing collaboration between the Government of the Northwest Territories Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment and the federal Department of Industry.

I look forward to expanding the Northwest Territories BizPaL network in coming months in support of Northwest Territories business in every one of our 33 communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

It is good to be back, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to provide Members with highlights of an important and historical event that took place earlier this week in Saskatoon. For the first time ever, Ministers of Education from across the country met as a group with the leaders of the national and regional aboriginal organizations to discuss aboriginal education. The summit hosted by the Council of Ministers of Education Canada provided an opportunity for a pan-Canadian dialogue among the participants on eliminating the achievement gap between aboriginal and non-aboriginal students.

I wish to thank Betty Villebrun, president, Northwest Territory Metis Nation and Bill Enge, president, North Slave Metis Alliance for joining me at this conference. The Dene Nation and the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation were not able to join us at this event but they have conveyed their strong interest

in this important topic. I also want to thank Mr. Robert Hawkins, Member for Yellowknife Centre, for joining me at the summit.

Aboriginal leaders from across the country spoke with great passion about the concerns and the challenges they face in their communities with respect to education. Some of the issues are more particular to situations related to education of students on reserves, for example. However, there were a number of common elements that the leaders identified in their presentations to the Ministers. These include the need to strengthen aboriginal language and culture in the schools, the need to include aboriginal history in school curriculum, the need for early childhood programs that help young people get a good start in life, and the need to provide supports to students who wish to pursue post-secondary studies.

The summit gave me an opportunity to reflect on a number of the programs and supports that we have in the Northwest Territories that support aboriginal education. We have early childhood programs that include aboriginal language nests to provide young people with an opportunity to learn their aboriginal language. We are working on curriculum for our schools to provide students with further opportunities to learn their culture and language and we are developing resource materials that support the languages. The history of our aboriginal people is also included in various curriculum including social studies and northern studies, with northern studies being a compulsory course to meet graduation requirements.

The Literacy Strategy that we recently released spans the lifespan and includes goals and objectives to improve literacy levels for all ages and also aims to support aboriginal language literacy. We have a Teacher Education Program that leads to a full degree and we also have an Aboriginal Language and Culture Instructor Program that prepares educators to teach aboriginal languages. The curricula for these programs have been reviewed and adapted to ensure aboriginal perspectives are included. We are also undertaking work to renew the Aboriginal Languages Strategy in which we will be working closely with our aboriginal language partners to enhance, revitalize and promote our nine official aboriginal languages. As Members are aware, we have also launched a new initiative to work with various partners in the Northwest Territories, including aboriginal governments, to identify initiatives that will help eliminate the education achievement gap between aboriginal and non-aboriginal students.

Mr. Speaker, the summit participants all agreed that improving aboriginal education achievement is a responsibility for everyone and that we can address

many challenges by working closely in partnership. Participants also agreed that improvement in education for aboriginal people is not only beneficial to aboriginal people but is beneficial to Canada as a whole. Aboriginal people are the youngest and fastest growing segment of the population. With an aging workforce in many parts of the country, it is clear that aboriginal students today will be a significant portion of Canada’s future workforce. Having a well-educated aboriginal workforce is of significant importance for Canada’s future economic and social well-being.

In business, they say success is based on location, location, location. For education, I believe that the focus of success is the student, the student, the student. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to talk about air transportation and how important these services are in our northern communities. Our true northern air carriers are Canadian North and First Air. These companies service communities outside of Yellowknife, the area of the Beaufort-Delta. We need to thank them for the commitment to providing this service into these smaller communities. They provide this service 12 months of the year during the busy seasons and the quiet times. Many Northerners do not have any alternative methods of transportation, so air services are essential services. It’s our only method of transportation for a trip south of the community. Most of us can’t drive down the highway or take a bus out of town like Yellowknife, Hay River and Fort Simpson.

Southern companies like Air Canada have shown us that they have no interest in providing service to the rest of the communities in the Northwest Territories or outside of Yellowknife. WestJet will start a seasonal service to Yellowknife in May of this year. That extra service will have a significant impact on northern carriers because of the way they will be impacting services to communities outside of Yellowknife.

The new carriers such as Air Canada and WestJet, Mr. Speaker, are cherry picking the marketplace by providing services on only some routes. They do

not consider the damage that they can cause and the viability of the services into the communities.

Northerners in Nunakput can spend $1,000 just to leave town on a flight south. We don’t need these flights to become more expensive and less frequent, Mr. Speaker.

I hope the Minister of Transportation understands his responsibility to protect and support our northern air carriers and smaller communities. I expect the Minister of Transportation has quality activities in place to support our true northern air carriers who provide services in the small communities. Mr. Speaker, I will have questions for the Minister at the appropriate time. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to speak today about some issues my constituents are having in their interactions with the Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission, in particular I would like to share some of the insights of an injured worker during his journey through the process after a permanent injury suffered over a year ago. It includes suggestions on how the WSCC could improve their service for the betterment of injured workers.

In 2006, the Workers’ Compensation Board was audited and a number of recommendations from the Auditor General indicated how they could improve delivery of services to injured workers. A key one was:”The board should present its policies to workers more clearly and comprehensively specifying what is covered and what is not and explaining its rules, procedures and, most importantly, its limitations.”

Although the board responded positively, two years later they are still failing to fully inform workers as to what their rights are as laid out by the Workers’ Compensation Act. Indeed, after many and repeated interactions with WSCC and then finally going through the act itself, my constituent discovered a number of rights he had not been informed of. He found that while the worker’s handbook does give basic information about filing a claim, it is by no means a comprehensive document. There is much room for improvement here.

Another source of problems is the recent change from a worker’s advocate to a worker’s advisor. Workers should have an advocate working for

them, not just someone to give them advice. As my constituent has discovered, disputing a claim can be difficult for someone who is out of work and has reduced capacity for physical labour. While the WSCC is armed with lawyers and doctors and authority, the injured person is provided with no such free access to these resources. While a hard working worker’s advisor can try to help, this position does not offer legal expertise. The ultimate purpose of the WSCC is to help injured workers and we need to ensure that the people they employ are there to do just that, not to make it difficult for workers to effectively assert their right to compensation.

It is only through repeated, costly, and often difficult and fruitless meetings with WSCC that my constituent eventually learned of the full range of options available to him. More free-flowing information and a helpful approach would go a long way to address this situation. Statistics clearly etch out a record of failure on appeals, so while oft referred to, appeals are seldom a real possibility for those who, through injury on the job, no longer have the financial resources to command the expertise that would match the deep pockets of government. I call on the Minister to make the changes required to address this situation.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to talk a bit about our health care system. Across Canada and including here in the North. For some 20 years now we’ve been telling ourselves to do more with less, except in health care, and northern health care is no exception. As Members know, health care costs are constantly on the rise. In a recent speech by Dr. Robert Ouellet, the current president of the Canadian Medical Association, he spoke of the need for “a strategic, considered, and focused plan for improving care for patients.”

The NWT health care system struggles to provide excellent and accessible service and still keep the health budget in check. Keeping our costs under control is no mean feat given our huge geographic obstacles and our small population, which is often widely spread and isolated.

There is a new model for the provision of health care under discussion which could revamp Canada’s health care system and improve services. To quote from CBC Radio, February 15th , in

describing this model they said, “Under this reform, all services carried out by this hospital, including

not only patient care, diagnostics, and all manner of procedures, but also teaching and research, were converted into revenue-generating activities.” How is that different from what we do now? Well, now the current practice is to fund our hospitals and health authorities on a global funding model. That means that authorities receive an annual budget allotment and funds are not tied to numbers of patients or quality of service measures. It doesn’t matter if the number of patients seen drops by 25 or 30 percent. The presumably unused funds are not clawed back.

Changing to patient focused funding is a fundamental shift in policy relative to the delivery of health care, but some change is necessary for our current good levels of service to survive and, where it’s needed, to get better. And we must seriously consider this model.

Funding hospitals and health centres for services delivered and paying doctors by salary instead of on a fee-for-service basis has been proven to work and to work successfully. Admittedly, there are problems with this model. There are expenses associated with the transition from one model to the next, and our smallest communities may not fit into this model, but we have to at least think about it.

I look forward to discussing this idea with the Department of Health and my colleagues on the Standing Committee on Social Programs.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the economic times we’re in, I think it’s more important than ever for this government to do whatever it can to stimulate our local economies in regard to capital planning and also allow for communities to have the ability to deal with high unemployment, especially when people are being laid off in the different sectors, such as mining and oil and gas. As a government, we do have to stimulate our communities and local economies.

Reviewing the capital planning from this government, the majority of the expenditures between now and 2012 will be spent primarily in the larger centres such as Yellowknife, Hay River, and Inuvik. We do have to work with our local communities to stimulate their economies in light of the capital expenditures mentioned by the government of some $700 million over the next number of years. The majority of that is being spent in three communities.

I think it’s important to realize that we have 33 communities in the Northwest Territories and we do have to find ways to stimulate those economies. The majority of the communities have work by way of seasonal employment. In most cases the work that is in our communities is based on the housing initiative that was put out where we got 500-some units on the ground. That was a good start. We now have $50 million for housing that I think we have to find a way to make the number one priority to implement those funds while realizing that we need to stimulate our economy in our smaller communities where there are already high unemployment rates and no other options like in larger regional centres. We have to do whatever we can to find ways to generate those programs.

I, for one, fully supported the previous government’s initiative to build community capacity by allowing communities to identify projects that they’d like to deliver through a formula which was base-plus funding so that communities were able to take on projects that they felt they didn’t have an opportunity to put forward such as the Main Street Chipseal Program, which was there to assist communities. This program was eliminated.

I will be asking the Premier questions on this matter later, on how we’re building capacity in our small communities.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to talk a little bit about the proposed tax increase identified by the Minister of Finance. I agree with the increases in the so-called sin taxes. If we’re going to be increasing taxes on anything, the best place to start is on luxury items as opposed to taxing essentials. The $11.20 increase on a carton of cigarettes starting on April 1st , 2009, is a good move. If the increase encourages people to reduce or quit smoking it will help reduce the cost of health care in the Northwest Territories, which is obviously good. For those individuals who don’t quit smoking it will result in increased revenues for the GNWT which can be used to help us continue to provide the high-quality health and other services currently delivered by the GNWT.

In principle, I also agree with the 10 percent average increase on alcohol for many of the same reasons. However, I do have one little concern. Specifically, how will this increase affect the hospitality industry? I’ve heard from a number of owners of licensed establishments -- bars,

restaurants, hotels, et cetera -- and they have indicated that according to the NWT Liquor Act they are already required to pay a 5 percent surcharge on the purchase of liquor and that they must purchase liquor from the warehouse. Now they have to pay the additional 10 percent tax as well. In this industry, the hospitality industry, where profit margins are already tight, this 10 percent could be the difference between success and failure.

The hospitality industry employs the larger number of people in the Northwest Territories. Alcohol sales are one of the areas where they can recognize profit, which allows the employers to hire and maintain staff who pay taxes in the Northwest Territories. Yes, I mean, of course they can increase their prices, which will offset some of their potential losses, but it may also result in a direct decrease in sales not just on alcohol but for food and non-alcoholic drinks as well, as fewer people choose to go out for food or drink. This could mean that businesses will have to reduce staff numbers in order to make ends meet.

In these tight economic times, I’m worried that this change, without some consultation with the industry, could backfire and result in more people on social assistance. Although I agree with the increased sin tax, I worry that not enough consideration was taken into account regarding the effects that the liquor increases may have on the economy. I’m worried that the hospitality industry was never consulted on the options that may support the 10 percent increase while at the same time offset some of the damages it may cost to the industry itself.

At the appropriate time I will have some questions for the Minister of Finance.

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

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Last year has been hard on many family budgets and businesses have been hit hard. This government has made efforts to offset the effects of economic crisis. At the community level in our smaller communities the recent economic turmoil has added to a more serious community issue. I’m talking about the overall well-being of the individuals and the community.

In my riding community wellness is a concern for many residents. They feel current systems and practices are not doing a lot to solve the root causes of the problems and issues. Sure, they

address and treat symptoms, but the problems are not going away.

The communities in my riding have a high aboriginal population, residents that speak the aboriginal language and residents that continue to lead traditional lifestyles. In these communities, there is a different perspective on the outside world. Life is simpler. Their needs are simpler. It is a different way of life. The culture is significantly different than life in the larger non-aboriginal communities.

Mr. Speaker, it is a big part of the reason why current mental health and addiction treatment programs have limited success. The current system focuses on treating the physical symptoms of an individual. Healing involves a mental, emotional and spiritual well-being and it means addressing all of these issues at the same time, not individually, not one by a psychologist, another by a physician, but all at the same time.

Mr. Speaker, the community is no different when it comes to healing. A classic case is of the powerful story of Alkali Lake Indian Band in British Columbia. Mr. Speaker, under the current system, there are no resources, no programs or any formal recognition of healing the community. I think we need to look at implementing something like this.

Mr. Speaker, I have spoken time and time again about the addiction and mental health problems that continue to plague Fort Resolution and Lutselk’e. I think it is time and long overdue for this government to look at other community alternatives. Community wellness is one such program we need to look at. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Water is one of the most critical and essential resources that we have. Here in the Northwest Territories we are fortunate to have some of my best quality of fresh water in the world. I also would like to say our government has an acceptable strategy to provide water reservoirs for our communities. Even with this abundant resource right at our doorstep and creation of large water infrastructure systems, people still have trouble accessing good quality drinking water. This is the case in Jean Marie River for residents have been dealing with discoloured, mineral-like tasting water for some time. They no longer drink the water that comes from the community reservoir. Instead they rely on bottled water at great expense and cost.

They ensure that trips for groceries to Fort Simpson include a good week’s supply of purchased water. This is necessary for them.

Mr. Speaker, the water has been tested over and over again. The people of Jean Marie River have been told that the water is good. It does meet the requirements of the NWT Public Health Act and the guidelines for Canadian drinking water quality, but, Mr. Speaker, they aren’t drinking the water because they don’t trust it. The bottom line is don’t tell people their water is good if they are not drinking it. I say work with the community towards quality water that they can use daily and that they can trust. The community is looking for some innovative short-term solutions until the problem can be resolved on a permanent basis. There are a number of ways people could have access to clean tap water, like filters on their taps or trucking in water from another source. At the same time the community needs the systems from the government to identify a strategy to address their drinking water and to resolve this issue for the long term.

Mr. Speaker, the 15th Legislative Assembly passed

a motion on the right to water. It stated, and I quote, “Water is integral to the ecological, social, cultural and economic fabric of the health of the Northwest Territories. Water is a renewable resource that, if managed wisely, will sustain the people and the ecosystems of the NWT far into the future.”

Mr. Speaker, that right extends to good quality drinking water for our residents. I urge the government to work with the community of Jean Marie River to take action to resolve this problem. Mahsi cho.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to speak about the Mackenzie Gas Project. I have spoken in support of this project in the past and I want to stand up here today again and reiterate my support for the project.

Mr. Speaker, I do respect the regulatory process that is at play and look forward to the report from the Joint Review Panel when it becomes available. Mr. Speaker, it may be taking too long for some, but the work needs to be completed. I believe the Mackenzie Gas Pipeline can and will be built in a manner which will minimize the impacts on the environment. It will bring much needed economic development and activity for our communities and the residents, especially in the Sahtu and Beaufort-Delta.

The Mackenzie Gas Project is not without competition, Mr. Speaker. There is much pressure on the new Obama administration in Washington to find billions of dollars in support of a new Alaskan pipeline. I applaud the efforts of the federal Environment Minister, Mr. Jim Prentice, and the federal government for realizing what is at risk. The stakes are very high, Mr. Speaker. The national economy and the economy here in the Northwest Territories could certainly use the investment this $16 billion mega-project would bring. I support Minister Bob McLeod and his Department of ITI in their efforts to support the Mackenzie Gas Project.

Anything I can do to lend support to this, I would be more than happy to do, Mr. Speaker. In the five and a half years I have been here, I have seen our government spend millions of dollars getting ready for the pipeline. In my estimation, in that time between the positions, the pipeline office and other expenses, it is close to $50 million. This is a substantial investment. However, our government seems to be the only one without an equity stake in the pipeline. The federal government has stepped up. The details of this are a bit sketchy, but where is our government in all of these discussions, Mr. Speaker?

The pipeline will be constructed down the very heart of our Territory. Mr. Speaker, it is about time we start discussing what the returns will be to the residents here in the Northwest Territories. Like the oil companies and like the federal government are going to get, our government needs to get an equity position in this pipeline. I will have some questions for the Minister at the appropriate time. Thank you.

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