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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to be able to recognize Mr. Sonny McDonald, esteemed elder, one of the greatest carvers that we’ve had in the North, and a friend and constituent from the mighty constituency of Thebacha.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Item 6, acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Of course it is possible. We could have that discussion.

Again, it’s too late for this ferry season to implement such an idea, but I’d like to ask the Minister if it’s possible for us to see the ferry operations for 2010-2011 taken into consideration so that we do bring our times in line with other ferry operations in the Northwest Territories similar to the ferry operation on the Liard River system, to coordinate it so that people know this is the time our ferries operate in the Northwest Territories. When we post it, people will know that they can have a reasonable time to travel and make their connections, and not put a barrier to the travelling public.

We have our ferry program to ease the barriers that are caused by our waterways and other obstacles that challenge us. Of course, there are certain times of year that address this. We have worked with other communities. We recently worked with the community of Wrigley on the Ndulee ferry to change time schedules. It was important for the community to have the ferry operating during daylight hours and it was also a safety issue for our workers, and we came to an agreement on that ferry program. We can certainly talk to the MLA and community members if there is a desire to see the ferry schedule changed.

We are working on trying to change our ferry investment for next year so that the ferry will continue to operate longer into the season, and try to get the ice road up and running while we have a channel allowing our ferry to run. That’s something we’re still working towards.

I believe that we also have to coordinate our efforts with the airport operations and the air carriers. I think that was the problem we ran into in Inuvik. The airlines did move their schedules back, especially First Air and Canadian North. A lot of people fly out on them and a lot of people depend on that connection. Because they changed their schedule halfway through the summer season, it had an effect on the ferry travelling public.

I’d like to ask the Minister if he could somehow work with his department, work with the air carriers and the different communities to ensure we are giving them enough time to get to their connections out of the important regional airports, whether it’s in the North or the South. I’d like to ask the Minister to also take that into consideration when he makes his decision.

There are a couple things, of course, that really challenge us. One is the weather. We don’t have control over that. The other issue, of course, is the carriers are allowed to decide what schedules they want. We can relay the concern that the Member is raising, but outside of that, there’s really little we can do to change flight schedules and things of that nature. However, if there are any concerns, we can certainly pass those on to the carriers.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One thing the Minister does have control over is the time schedule of the ferry operations. I’d like him to seriously consider moving the ferry operations to 8:00 a.m. so that people will have the opportunity to do their work during the day, travel to Inuvik, make their appointment, get back home or even make their appointments to fly into southern Canada. You do have the power, you do have the means; all I ask is that you start the ferry operations in the Inuvik region at 8:00 a.m. starting next season.

We will incorporate the Daylight Savings Time schedule for the ferries. We have already started working on other ferry services to change the hours so that they can take advantage of the daylight that we have, and that, of course, is becoming shorter every day. We also have to take into consideration that there are safety issues. We have to be mindful of ice buildup and we have to be able to have clear visibility at all times. Those things we’ll take into consideration, we’ll talk to the community leaders in the Member’s area and also have an opportunity to connect with the Member himself. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Premier as Minister of the Executive. The first question I have is: I want to start by saying that I appreciate that the Premier has appointed the internal working group to begin examining the issue of poverty towards developing a framework for action. The suite of territorial participants at the recent summit unanimously concluded that the first step in

attacking poverty must be development of a coordinated, cross-government and society approach. Has the Premier heard yet from this working group about these conclusions? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, I have not heard yet from the working group. Thank you.

Successful provincial anti-poverty strategies were developed under the guidance of representatives from across society, including people living in poverty, to guide the work. Recognizing that many of the dedicated groups doing this work off the sides of desks are already consumed with efforts on their respective mandates, will the Premier commit to providing initial funding for the steering committee to bring non-government organization poverty reps to the table with business and other partners as they develop the approaches required to move this initiative forward as per the conclusion of the workshop? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I’d have to look at the budget that we had set up for the work that’s being looked at. One of the other things is the fact we’re trying to be as inclusive as possible from around the whole Territory and have other people work with us as we move forward on the Anti-Poverty Strategy. I will have to look at the budget to see what is available. Thank you.

I think it was appreciated that members of the internal working group were there and they, clearly, participated in those unanimous conclusions. I’m sure the Premier is hearing from the working group about that.

Business is an essential partner at the table and they can contribute to the work and enjoy the rewards of both consumers and workers as noted. Will the Premier commit to assisting in the development of the steering committee towards bringing business to the table at the start of this work? Thank you.

We have started our discussion, following some questions by Members, around the makeup of that and are looking at including some of the business community as well as the Department of ITI. So we’ve started to have those discussions on bringing the business side in. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Your final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Premier for that. I’m sure the conclusions of the workshop, again, will help address that as well.

In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, there is much work ahead, far more than can be achieved by the 16th Assembly. The time remaining to us will enable us to make a good start and to give the future Assembly what it needs to carry this forward. In what ways will the Premier ensure that efforts will include working collaboratively with the broadest representation of outside advocates to develop the framework for a strategy and its priority recommendation for continued development by the 17th Assembly? Mahsi.

The process we have established, the work that is being done, we’ll have to look at that, look at the inclusion of the business sector as well, trying to bring in as many of the groups from around the Territory as we do this work, and, of course, coming back to Members as a follow-up as we continue on in this process.

As the Member stated, in preparation for doing our work and leading up to what the 17th Assembly may

be looking at or what they may implement, we will have to look at how we include this work in our transition work that’s going to happen. Thank you.