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

Mr. Speaker, the Northwest Territories tourism industry has great potential to help us realize the 16th Legislative Assembly’s

goals of creating a diversified economy that provides all communities and regions with opportunities and choices.

With the right idea, proper support and an ample amount of elbow grease, tourism businesses can be successful in every one of our 33 communities.

To support the growth of this important industry, Tourism 2010 was approved five years ago. The plan has served us well and we must now look at how we will build on tourism opportunities in the next five years and beyond.

The Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment is consulting with tourism stakeholders and the public on what a new strategy would look like. We have held open houses across the Territory, from the Beaufort-Delta to the South Slave, to hear what people have to say about where the Government of the Northwest Territories should be investing its tourism dollars in the future.

Mr. Speaker, based on the lessons we have learned in the last five years and the needs of the stakeholders, this new plan must reflect the current realities of the tourism industry.

The first reality is that there is a growing demand for authentic cultural experiences. This suggests we should provide support to develop our aboriginal tourism sector. Later today I will be tabling Industry, Tourism and Investment’s response to the consultation work done last year that examined

expanding aboriginal tourism in the Northwest Territories.

Secondly, our strategy must take into account that tourism is highly sensitive to global events. The recent recession is just one example of an event that has affected tourism in the Northwest Territories. In order to quickly adapt to these external forces, our tourism industry must be diversified. Any new tourism strategy we develop must be geared towards assisting our tourism industry to offer a variety of products and visitor experiences.

Finally, a new strategy must recognize that in order for our tourism industry to grow, it must maintain its reputation for excellence in the marketplace. We are committed to working with the Northwest Territories Tourism to identify options to enhance consumer confidence and provide our operations with increased opportunities to deliver an excellent tourism product.

This reputation depends on offering quality products that match the demands of travelers, and a skilled labour force that offers excellence in service. The new strategy will have an increased emphasis on providing training to our operators so they can enhance their business performance and skills.

Mr. Speaker, we have a wonderful Territory, full of unique, authentic experiences for visitors to discover. We have dedicated operators that provide world-class products and services for the people who come north to discover them.

Through the Government of the Northwest Territories’ efforts to promote the tourism industry, including the development of a strategy that will succeed Tourism 2010, we continue to work towards diversifying our economy and supporting the development of sustainable local economies through community-based industries like tourism. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to provide Members and the public an update on the current status of the future Mackenzie Valley Highway to Tuktoyaktuk. Since I last updated this Assembly on the future highway, we have made great progress.

With the funding agreement between the Government of the Northwest Territories and the federal government announced this past January, we have been hard at work securing agreement with aboriginal groups along the proposed alignment. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to note that we have now successfully signed MOUs with the Town of Inuvik, the Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk, the Gwich’in Tribal Council, the Tulita Land Corporations and the Tulita Dene Band, the Kahsho Gotine District of the Sahtu and the Pehdzeh Ki First Nation for the Dehcho First Nations. These MOUs enable us to work with local aboriginal and community groups to complete project description reports (PDR) for the section of the highway from Wrigley to the coast. We hope to have the PDR work for the portion from Wrigley to the Dempster completed within the next two years.

While we make progress on these project description reports, Mr. Speaker, we are still making improvements to the winter road that will be used as part of the all-weather highway. One considerable accomplishment this year was the completion of the 300-metre Blackwater Bridge. This bridge will extend the winter road season and is one of the larger bridges that would be required for an all-weather highway.

At the same time, Mr. Speaker, this summer, in partnership with the Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk, we completed the construction of a gravel access road from Tuk to source 177. This road has been built on the eventual alignment for an all-weather highway and will in the end become the northern-most section of the future highway. While this access road was under construction, a PDR for the section of the highway from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk was also completed. This PDR has been submitted to the Environmental Impact Review Board for their consideration.

Mr. Speaker, the all-weather Mackenzie Valley Highway has been a dream of our residents for many years. The important progress we have made in the last years has brought us closer to realizing this dream than ever before. The partnerships that are being built today with Canada and aboriginal groups to undertake the engineering and environmental work are the partnerships that will get this highway built. Mr. Speaker, to keep building on these important partnerships, at the end of this session I will be travelling to Ottawa to meet with Ministers Strahl and Aglukkaq to discuss

infrastructure needs, including the Mackenzie Valley Highway.

Mr. Speaker, as this project moves forward I will continue to update this Assembly on new developments. Like many of you here, I hope to one day soon drive from Wrigley through the Mackenzie Valley and north along the Arctic Coast to Tuktoyaktuk. Mahsi cho.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.

Mr. Speaker, investment in HealthNet tools such as the interoperable Electronic Health Record (or iEHR), the Diagnostic Imaging/Picture Archiving Communication System (or DI/PACS), and Telehealth are critical to delivery of health care services for residents of the Northwest Territories.

These tools are resulting in better access and outcomes across the Northwest Territories. In the words of a local clinician, “This is transforming how we deliver care.” In the words of one patient, “For 10 seconds, everything went terribly wrong. Then for the next four days, everything went very right. The hospital in Inuvik...X-rayed my leg and using the new DI/PACS system, sent images to the orthopaedic surgeon in Yellowknife. I got to see the technology and how health professionals use it in real-time. They decided the break was bad enough to airlift me by medevac to Yellowknife. At Stanton Territorial Hospital I received first-class care. Excellent people, excellent facilities and excellent technologies.”

Mr. Speaker, patients are receiving access to services in communities we could not reach before and this is resulting in safer, earlier, better patient care and resulting in more positive health outcomes. For example, we recently brought computed radiography to 13 communities, including Deline, Fort Good Hope, Fort Liard, Fort Providence, Fort Resolution, Fort Simpson, Wha Ti, Tulita, Lutselk’e, Norman Wells, Paulatuk, Behchoko and Gameti. We will continue to roll out to Aklavik, Ulukhaktok, Sachs Harbour, Tuktoyaktuk and Fort McPherson over the next two months. This allows community health centres to send digital diagnostic images to specialists in minutes for faster and, in some cases, lifesaving consultation. Prior to this it took up to two weeks to physically mail X-ray film and get paper results back from a radiologist at another site. Alternatively, the patient had to travel away from home and family at a high cost.

Patients benefit from improved service delivery through these investments. Recently, this was seen

in Deline with the speed of results during the TB outbreak. TB results were available in two days, where in the past we would have waited two weeks and the outbreak would have continued to grow.

Investments in eHealth are essential to delivery of health care now and for the future. We know that our current system is growing at a faster pace than we can support. HealthNet tools enable greater efficiencies and innovation to support patient safety and delivery of care.

These investments are making a real difference to our people. A snowmobile accident patient in Inuvik got lifesaving treatment for their injuries as a result of Telehealth intervention. To date, we have successfully brought service delivery through Telehealth to 34 health centres and eight schools.

In another case, the DI/PACS system in Hay River allowed a physician to get a specialist at Stanton to urgently review an ultrasound image within minutes. The patient remained in the community and received immediate treatment from the specialist. Without DI/PACS, the patient would have been medevaced. Worse, upon getting to the specialist, it would have been discovered that the trip was unnecessary and the treatment could have been done in the home community.

Mr. Speaker, eHealth is about access to care. Our iEHR rollout continues to be successful, with approximately 200 clinical users across the NWT. Lab information is available on-line, instead of the past paper records. There are currently over half a million results and diagnostic reports available instantaneously, enabling better care.

Mr. Speaker, I know that Members share my excitement over the possibilities of eHealth. These are not just “nice to have” tools. They are essential for access and service delivery for residents we could not reach before. Patients are getting better care by connecting to a virtual team of providers that would normally be hundreds of thousands of miles away. Mr. Speaker, these tools are saving lives. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Item 3, Members’ statements. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to speak today on the value of civil society and the voluntary sector. One of the definitive characteristics of civil society is social capital, which refers to the values and networks that enable coordination and cooperation. This contrasts with economic capital, such as money and tools, and

human capital, which are trained individuals. Government and market are not enough to make a civilization. There also must be a healthy, robust civil centre; a space in which the bonds of community can flourish.

There are two key elements in civil society. One is the need for inclusive participation to enhance civil society and the primacy of the grassroots as the locus of long-term social change. Civil society is the people, and the people know what needs to be done.

The voluntary sector is essential to the democratic process. It is all about citizen participation and engagement in the community betterment, by advancing human well-being and the health of our land.

I would like to mention just a number of the non-government organizations, volunteer organizations that I’m aware of in thinking about this for just a few minutes:

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Centre for Northern Families

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YWCA

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Native Women’s Association

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Hepatitis C/HIV Society

•

Alternatives

North

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The

Salvation

Army

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SideDoor Youth Centre

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Ecology

North

•

Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society

•

NWT Recreation and Parks Association

•

Pembina

Institute

We could all go on and on. These are a fundamental part of the backbone of our society. I’d like to express appreciation for the thousands of hours of volunteer and often very poorly compensated efforts through individuals, families and non-government organizations.

This includes the domestic economy, which is a huge economy that dwarfs the market economy but is so difficult to measure that it’s almost never reported on or recognized. This is when we care for our own elderly, our own people that are having challenges.

A big tip of the hat to all those people out there working on behalf of us and our society.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to speak today about the proposed realignment of

Highway No. 4, more commonly known as the Ingraham Trail. A portion of that road passes through Giant Mine and needs to be moved to accommodate the remediation process.

The Department of Transportation came up with three corridor options and shopped them around to the public. That was back in 2007. A newspaper article notes an official saying the work is scheduled to begin next summer. That would have been the summer of 2008, two years ago.

Public comments on the corridors are noted on the DOT website. I believe the department was keen on doing more public consultation, but we haven’t seen or heard anything. It’s been exactly three years this month. I’m sure the folks working on the Giant Mine remediation project would like to see some movement on this and so would the people of Yellowknife.

The three realignment options naturally have their pros and cons. One corridor bypasses most of the mine infrastructure and would cost the most; another attempts to use the best ground possible along the current infrastructure, costing less than the previous option; and the third plan makes minimal changes to the road and so costs the least, but requires existing buildings to be removed; notably buildings belonging to the NWT Mining Heritage Society. Whichever option is selected, it will be incumbent upon the department to select a route that will be the safest and best fit for the Giant Mine remediation process, as well as beneficial for the city of Yellowknife.

Much like the city of Yellowknife bypass road, the right route could open up access to new land for development for the city of Yellowknife. This could benefit our residents, our businesses and our tourism industry. I would hope that the Department of Transportation is actively working this file, but since three years have lapsed, I have to wonder what is exactly happening.

While the cost should be a factor, we must also consider that the federal government will be paying the majority of the cost of this road realignment. We have to look at maximizing benefits to our residents. Later I will have questions for the Minister of Transportation.

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The community of Wrigley, or Pehdzeh Ki, is a strong community and has a long history of being independent and taking care of the community and their land. Currently there are many different barriers that are in their way as they look for

opportunities to improve and increase their sustainability and develop their human resource capacity. It is critical that our government work with them as they strive for more and more independence.

I do want to provide an example of how the community is moving forward for the benefit of the community. This summer and fall, a mining company called Devonian Metals worked with the community as they completed a small drilling program outside their community. Through a mutual agreement, they were able to leverage many benefits for their community. There were employment opportunities, support for the band business, Pehdzeh Ki Contracting, and a contribution to the community for a youth cultural and traditional camp. The youth camp was the pride of the community and they created a vibrant community video as a result of this. They also had time to reflect on their future, Mr. Speaker. To continue building on their foundation, they have identified some needs such as training by Aurora College delivered locally, as well as the need to work with the GNWT for as many contracts as they can support.

I applaud their efforts and ask our government to continue working with Pehdzeh Ki as they build a strong and vibrant community. Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m pleased to rise today and talk about a project of great importance to the members of my riding, and that is the northern section of the Mackenzie Valley Highway from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk.

Mr. Speaker, we endorsed this highway as a priority of the 16th Legislative Assembly and I’d like to

congratulate the department for making significant progress. This summer, in partnership with the Hamlet of Tuk, a 22-kilometre access road to source 177 was completed. Mr. Speaker, the road has already provided considerable benefits to the community and it will become the most northern section of the Mackenzie Valley Highway. The project description report for the proposed highway between Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk was completed this past summer, in partnership between the Hamlet of Tuk and the Town of Inuvik with assistance from the Department of Transportation and the funding from our federal government through CanNor.

Mr. Speaker, I understand the project description report is now being submitted to the Environmental Impact Review Board and is currently under

consideration. This news has been met with great excitement in my riding and I think all across the Territory.

I look forward to continue working with the Assembly to move this project forward and to secure construction funding from the federal government in the near future. It looks like we’ll be having a cup of tea and bannock with Cece McCauley.

Mr. Speaker, I will have questions for the Minister at the appropriate time. Thank you.

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

Mr. Speaker, health care services in northern communities is an essential service. Mr. Speaker, when you don’t have the service, you definitely realize how important it really is for communities such as Tsiigehtchic that don’t have a permanent nurse, or ensuring that we have care providers in regard to community wellness positions, or a simple thing such as home care workers.

Mr. Speaker, a lot of times we talk about the programs and services here in the larger centres, not realizing for most of our small communities they can only dream of having those types of services.

Mr. Speaker, I think, as the Government of the Northwest Territories, we really have to see exactly where our health care dollars are going, and more importantly, are we meeting the essential service requirements of Northerners, but more importantly, of our small communities.

Mr. Speaker, everybody talks about the high cost of medical travel, but, Mr. Speaker, the reality is that’s an important component of health care service being provided to our communities. In most cases that’s the only way out of a lot of our communities and also the ability to go to the larger centres, regardless if it’s here in Yellowknife or southern Canada.

Mr. Speaker, I think it’s time that we realistically put what we mean by essential service and those things that basically are overprescribed for simply a luxury item. Mr. Speaker, I think it’s important that we do ensure that our capital investment in the health care dollar is spent where it really is needed. I think, Mr. Speaker, like I opened up with my statement, essential service is when people have a similar service in all the communities in the Northwest Territories so that we don’t have have and have-not communities when it comes to health care.

Again, Mr. Speaker, it is frustrating that I stand up here time and time again talking about a nurse for Tsiigehtchic or ensuring that we have the medical means of transferring people out of our communities, such as medevacs.

Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time, I will be asking the Minister of Health questions in regards to a central service in our communities, but more importantly, for those communities that don’t have these services. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier this summer the consolidated health and social services clinic opened here in Yellowknife. It is a great facility, Mr. Speaker. I have had an opportunity to tour the facility. I have had an opportunity to get into the background where all the clinic rooms are and we got to talk to the professionals who are going to be using those facilities, having a flow of people through and the types of services that are going to be provided on both sides, both the clinical side and the diagnostic side. Personally, I feel that there is a great opportunity here to help streamline the provision of health and social services here in Yellowknife.

I would like to take this opportunity to applaud the Minister, the board, Yellowknife Health and Social Services Board and all the staff of Yellowknife Health and Social Services who made this consolidated clinic a reality. However, with all new programs or all new facilities, there is always going to be that period of time where we are going to experience some growing pains. The consolidated clinic is no exception. I have had constituents come to me since the opening, who have identified some concerns they have had. One constituent identified that the doors into the main clinic, as an example, didn’t have one of the automatic buttons to allow wheelchair access, which I believe has already been dealt with. Other individuals have identified some frustrations on the diagnostic side, sitting in the waiting room and not have any staff to sort of direct them as to when they are going on. There has also been some frustration with the telephone system.

Later today I will be asking the Minister of Health and Social Services what kind of program they have put in place to deal with these concerns. The constituents and residents of Yellowknife are the ones utilizing the clinic. They are going to be the ones who are going to be able to best tell us where some of these deficiencies lie and help us solve these problems. I am going to be asking the

Minister what system is in place for getting that information to the authorities so that they can address them and what type of transition plan do we have in place to help us get past some of these growing pains so this consolidated clinic we put in can do what it was truly intended to do. I will be asking some questions on that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to talk about the supplementary health benefits. I want the Members to imagine some of the basic health care coverage that we take for granted, that we continue to leave others out, unresolved, because we have not moved far during the three years that we have done this work.

Imagine that there are 2,300 Northerners who are not covered by any program to assist them with their costs for prescription drugs, eyeglasses and dental care today. Imagine that some of these people are at least able to afford coverage through a private insurance program. Imagine that other Northerners have good coverage from their employer and they are also able to top up their coverage, so they pay little or nothing for their supplementary health benefit costs.

During the summer, Mr. Speaker, I participated in discussions with my colleagues about the proposed changes to this program. I listened with interest to the announcements that were made last week when I had to be in Tulita. I also want to see a program that was fair and provided to those who need the most.

Like all Members, I am very concerned about covering the working poor, especially those without coverage. I want the Minister of Health to implement the next changes as she mentioned in her statement yesterday, so that this government can start helping those families in need. We agreed that any Supplementary Health Benefits Program managed by the Department of Health and Social Services should be the same benefits plan for the Treaty Indians under the Non-Insured Health Benefits. The Metis Health Benefits Program already follows most of these rules. I think the changes will treat everyone more fairly. Let’s get that underway now, Mr. Speaker, we cannot wait until April. I urge the Minister and this government to get on with completing the work needed and implement the changes.

I ask the Minister and the Members to imagine some of the good things that could happen if changes were made. Imagine that families in the

Northwest Territories who are low income and do not have an employer’s program or partial coverage for their prescription drugs, eyeglasses, dental work for themselves and their children, could become eligible for health and social services programs. Let’s proceed to making these changes so people could have good health coverage. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to talk about the importance of developing and implementing a strategy which could actively target and attract small and medium-sized business to locate their businesses to the NWT. What we need is good policy that helps grow the North. I believe a strong strategy that targets growth of business investment needs to have two components. The first is to determine what kinds of businesses are likely to be able to operate and expand in the NWT. Obviously, not every industry and business is best suited to our present northern climate. As well, a focus should be considered as to how we can seek opportunities throughout our North by seeding them. In short, to ensure we have fair balance throughout our economy.

Mr. Speaker, by way of an example, a taskforce could be working to attract call centres or some kind of knowledge-base business such as a research institution. It could be based anywhere in the North. With a plan like this we could be bringing new investment to our North, as well as hiring Northerners for good jobs.

Mr. Speaker, as well, another example, perhaps we could be attracting some kind of business closely related to mining, since mining activity is such a significant part of our NWT economy, as well as history. Therefore, maybe that would be the preferred area to target. To kick this discussion off, we could have a public panel discussion, where various business leaders can contribute their ideas about what kind of businesses might consider the move north. Mr. Speaker, we need to know what kind of businesses can dovetail with our existing climate that can be plugged in and start contributing right away to our economy. As well, we could invite one of the dragons off Dragon’s Den to look at our economy and our business climate, to ask ourselves how the government could work hard to develop business in a way that works for business.

Mr. Speaker, to be clear, this is not about new loans or grants. This is about people knocking on doors of businesses, saying the carpet is rolled out, we want you to invest and expand in our North. Mr.

Speaker, we need to start with a taskforce that has people, tools and resources, which will aggressively reach out into business and find ways to connect them to the North and invest in the North. We don’t need a simple glossy brochure where we simply rely on a 1-800 telephone number. We need real people out there to answer those calls and pursue these opportunities.

Mr. Speaker, I know ITI has a Population Growth Strategy, but this is way more than that. Mr. Speaker, we need to find ways to attract business so they will invest capital in our North. Mr. Speaker, finally, what a change this would be to have Northerners reach out and assist businesses to relocate their industries here, rather than waiting by the phone and receiving nothing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, the Local Government Administrators of the Northwest Territories, or LGANT, held their 2010 LGANT AGM and Professional Development Conference last week here in Yellowknife. Mr. Speaker, the mission of LGANT is to strive for and promote excellence and professionalism in the field of local government administration through education and career development programs and to create awareness of a community officer’s role in the community.

Through their Words for Excellence Program, Susan Christie, the SAO of the Hamlet of Fort Providence, has been awarded the Outstanding Local Government Administrator of the Northwest Territories.

---Applause

This award acknowledges a member of LGANT who provides an exceptional level of professionalism, leadership and innovation in their job by providing community service at a tireless level and exemplifying the ethics and responsibility desired by communities across the Northwest Territories.

Susan was nominated by Evelyn Krutko and Joyce McLeod, council members of the Hamlet of Fort Providence.

Susan was born in Fort Providence and is an executive member of the Fort Providence Metis Council. She’s received all her education in the North, and specifically her finance officer certification through the School of Community Government.

Her tenure began with the hamlet over 21 years ago. Through these years, Susan worked in finance, for many years assuming greater responsibilities as she built her knowledge and skills. She participated in several training opportunities, working her way into the position she currently holds as senior administrative officer. She’s recognized for her leadership in developing local HR capacity through training and support of community members. Her nominators state, “Susan has successfully guided the council through many changes and challenges in municipal program delivery. She is the ultimate professional, ensuring that matters are taken care of in a timely manner.”

Susan is considered a role model as an SAO within her community, by her peers and her employers. I would like to congratulate Susan Christie on being the first recipient of this prestigious award. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize an elder from the Deline First Nation in the Sahtu region and also a member that worked with me very closely in the Sahtu region. I’d also like to recognize Chief Eddie Sangris from the Ndilo/Dettah First Nations

The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

It gives me great pleasure to recognize my dad, Mike Krutko, along with his friend Ed Jeske in the gallery today.

The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

It gives me great pleasure to recognize, as well, Mr. Ed Jeske and Mr. Krutko’s father.

The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

I’d like to recognize Chief Eddie Sangris from the Yellowknives Dene. Also my constituent Mr. Mike Krutko and Mr. Jeske, as well.

The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

I’d like to recognize Chief Eddie Sangris of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation and a constituent of Weledeh. I’d also like to recognize my elders, who are getting fewer, Mr. Ed Jeske and, of course, Mike Krutko.

Welcome to all our guests in the gallery today. I hope you’re enjoying the proceedings.

Item 6, acknowledgements. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to acknowledge the exceptional achievement of one of Weledeh riding’s world-class athletes: speed skater Michael Gilday.

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Michael Gilday produced a solid performance for Canada during the first World Cup races of the season held October 22nd to 24th in Montreal,

Quebec. Michael took home the silver medal in the 1,000 metre event and the gold in the men’s 5,000 metre relay. Just this past weekend he received his first individual gold medal win in the 1,500 metre event in Korea. Michael has now medalled four times in World Cup competition.

Mr. Gilday’s sights are set on gold at the 2014 Olympics. I invite all Members to join with me in saluting his achievements and wishing him great success in future competitions.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve got questions today for the Minister of Transportation and getting back to my Member’s statement where I was talking about the realignment of Highway No. 4, the Ingraham Trail, due to the remediation work ongoing at Giant Mine. It was three years ago that the department came forward with some possible options on the realignment of that road. We don’t have to look too far to see the potential that is out there, when roads are constructed, to allow for opportunities, business opportunities. If you look at the Yellowknives Dene, we could provide opportunities for the Yellowknives Dene and the City of Yellowknife by properly addressing this realignment.

I’d like to ask the Minister what has happened. The road was supposed to be constructed, the realignment was supposed to be conducted in the summer of 2008. I’m just wondering, it’s two years

later and we haven’t heard anything. Maybe an update on where that project’s at.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is correct; the consideration for realignment was introduced, I think, in 2007 and we’ve been working towards moving that forward. Of course, we can only move as fast as the process will allow us. Our plans now are to move forward over these next couple of months to do further consultation. We still plan to have the construction of realignment commencing the fall of 2011. We’d like to see the traffic starting to flow sometime in 2012. There is still some discussion that needs to take place and the timing and opportunity has to be worked out with the Giant Mine remediation team.

The realignment was to take place as a result of the freezing in situ of the arsenic trioxide storage vaults underground at Giant Mine. To my knowledge, that is going to happen here sooner rather than later. The switch might actually be turned on on one of those storage vaults being frozen in place. I’m just wondering if the Minister can explain what the roadblocks are in getting the realignment done. Is it DOT? Is it the federal government? Where is the snag in trying to get this addressed?

I don’t believe there’s a snag in the process. This is part of due course. We are working towards reducing the options to one that will be accepted by all parties. There is, right now, a variance of opinion, of course, on the three routes. The Member has stated his arguments for his preference, however, the responses that we’re getting are fairly even. We’re getting about 30 percent on every option in front of us. There are more meetings that need to be conducted and we need to start doing the engineering and work on the route that’s going to be selected and start construction in due course, which is next fall.

If there’s varying degrees of interest in each of those three options, I’d like the Minister to explain to me how a decision is going to be arrived at, which of those corridors is chosen for the realignment and what process the department has for coming back to Members of the House with that decision. It’s been three years since consultation was conducted on that. I’m just wondering if we’re talking about a new round of consultation on the realignment or not.

I’m sure I don’t have to explain the process to consult with the Members in this House. The Member is quite aware of that. We have been consulting and talking to stakeholders and different groups over the last number of years. We plan to continue doing that and do further

discussion. We’d like to narrow down the options to one and start engineering and environmental reviews that need to be determined in some of the outcomes. That’s going to be done in short order. I just have to ask the Member to be a little bit patient, I guess. He’s anxious to get going, but the work is moving forward and we still plan to continue that.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve got lots of patience; I’ve been waiting three years for this to happen. Maybe the Minister could give us a firm timeline on when a decision is going to be reached on what that realignment is going to be so people can line up the opportunities, if there are any opportunities that come out of it. I’m talking about the City of Yellowknife and the Yellowknives Dene, for example.

We have been talking with the Yellowknives Dene since 2007 and I’ve indicated to the Member that the schedule is for the construction to start in 2011 and open to traffic in 2012, with the final surface completion in 2013.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask my questions to the Minister of ENR with regard to the buffalo issue in Fort Liard. During my constituency visit last month it was raised again and residents are continually raising the issue of damages to their vehicles, their property, et cetera. Part of the buffalo management plan was to have more resources available for the community to manage the bison and buffalo issue there. What is currently being done to assist the community of Fort Liard with their buffalo issue?

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I agree with the Member that this is an ongoing issue. I have raised the matter with the deputy and his officials. We’re looking at some options. There’s going to be contact with the community to see the depth and degree of the community concerns. One of the options I mentioned possibly to the Member is if there is a bunch or number of incorrigible buffalo, as there are on Highway No. 3, for example, when the hunting season starts, the buffalo are not to be seen after the first couple of shots or the first couple of bison are brought down. We’re prepared to consider something of that nature in the Fort Liard area as well.

It sounds like one possible solution. It would be like culling the herd, I guess. In terms of numbers, how many buffalo are around Fort Liard?

I don’t have the exact number before me, but clearly too many.

---Laughter

We’re prepared to work with the Member and the community to resolve this issue.

Certainly there is one too many. The Minister is talking about going to the community and providing some options. When would he be doing that? Hopefully sooner rather than later.

Given the length of time left in the life of this government, I will assure the Member that it will be sooner rather than later.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Definitely before Christmas would be a good time to get to the community and provide these options and how it’s worked in other jurisdictions such as Highway No. 3.

One other option, as I was watching the news, is that there is a revitalization of buffalo herds in Saskatchewan. I’d just ask the Minister if he and his department could check that out. I believe they were looking for some buffalo. Residents of Fort Liard are really frustrated enough that they’re saying to get rid of these buffalo, move them out of here. They’re not local to here.

I will confirm with the Member the time. We’ll try to work with the before-Christmas date suggested by the Member. The Member has mentioned the possibility of a buffalo drive to Saskatchewan. Once again, we want to check with the community to see the degree of their concern and is that the best option. We’re not going to rule anything out at this point.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask my questions to the Minister of Health and Social Services. I spoke earlier in my Member’s statement that 2,300 people in the Northwest Territories are without health care coverage today. I want to ask the Minister if she’s, in her government, working on any type of information implementation plan so that they can get health coverage as soon as possible.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I stated in my statement yesterday, we will be working hard on a number of fronts as per recommendations of the Supp Health Joint Working Group. That includes encouraging employers to provide employment insurance or employers insurance, encouraging our residents to get private insurance where it’s possible, and to look at some savings through use of generic drugs. The department will be pursuing all those three options, and we will be doing some cost-benefit analysis and looking at ways to see how we can help those who are not without health care coverage or health benefits coverage but are currently without minimal dental or vision care.

I want to ask the Minister about some families and children who are in the working poor who are today, as we speak right now today, in the last couple years do not have basic health care coverage. Again, I hear from the Minister that they’re working hard in this government to see what kind of coverage they can implement, but as each day that we sit here and talk, these families have to deal with this type of issue that they’re not covered like the rest of us are. I want to ask the Minister, can she and her government implement a plan as soon as possible to help those poor families in the Northwest Territories. The number 2,300 rings a bell. Can the Minister tell me when?

I do appreciate the Member’s strong advocacy for the protection and provision of services to the working poor. He’s been a strong advocate throughout this supp health benefits review process and in the last Assembly as well.

Mr. Speaker, we need to work this in a package. We need to address all of these things at the same time, because the Member knows already that our Supp Health Program is already over-expended and we need to find some savings and find ways to help those who are without minimal dental and vision care at the moment. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I know that there are some things within the Health department that we certainly can do without in terms of putting some coverage to these people. There are children, there are families in the Northwest Territories, as we speak today, that do not have the basic health coverage that we in this room enjoy in terms of our own coverages. That’s the one I want to ask the Minister. What will it take for her to, by the end of this month or next month, say, yes, we will have coverage for those families who are the working poor, children, who do not have coverage?

Mr. Speaker, I grew up poor. I know what it’s like. That’s who I’m advocating for. What can the

Minister do to help us get coverage for these low-income families?

What we need from the Member and this House is continued strong support for the government to implement the recommendations that were made by the Joint Working Group. We’re going to need some really strong fortitude to implement the third-party use and encouraging people to get third-party insurance where they can afford to. We need to find some equity and parity between NIHB programs and Supp Health Programs. We are going to need to be strong to implement some of the changes to the pharmaceutical strategy so that we would encourage the use of generic drugs. All those things will require strong support from this House. We are moving as expeditiously as possible. We want to make some progress by March/April. That’s a very aggressive timeline. We need to do a lot of work on that, and I look forward to continued support from the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Your final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister in terms of what is preventing her from implementing the use of the non-insured health benefits rules right away for the various supplementary health benefits programs that we have made suggestions to. What’s preventing her from making these changes right away?

The work is underway, so nothing is stopping us from moving forward on this. I made a commitment as per the advice from the Standing Committee on Priorities and Planning. I believe we have strong support from the Members on the other side to move forward in finding solutions on the recommendations made on the report. We are committed to working out the plan and implementing it. I will be working closely with standing committee on that. We need to lay out the plan and we are working on that. We are following an aggressive strategy and schedule. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister responsible for Health and Social Services. I talked earlier about the consolidated clinic here in Yellowknife and, once again, I think it’s a great facility and there are great programs that are being offered out of there. But as with new programs, there are some growing pains. I know the Minister has probably heard a lot of these concerns that are brought up by the public. I know

that I’ve taken a couple to the Minister and they have been addressed.

What I’m interested in now is in order to ensure that this facility continues to be the excellent facility that we hope it is, we need to have some sort of mechanism that will allow individuals who are utilizing those services to get their comments and concerns straight to the authority, right to the individuals who are front line, who can start making some of those changes to improve the efficiency. I’m curious whether the Minister has directed the authority to put in some sort of mechanism where information can flow to the right people. Or is it more of an open process where they contact their MLAs and we take it to the Minister? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, I’d like to thank the Member for the positive statements he made with regard to this important project. It is an important initiative for our health and social services system, because the Yellowknife primary clinic services not just Yellowknife residents but residents from surrounding communities.

I agree with the Member that the facility is going through, and has gone through, some growing pains, and I agree with him that we need to be able to give that feedback. What I’m going to suggest to the Member is, I’m going to ask the authority and the management there to have a suggestion box, suggestions on the website, and get all of the feedback that people have been giving us and giving the Members about some of the things we can do better there, and I will report back to the Member on what changes they could implement to improve that. Thank you.

I’d like to thank the Minister for that. One of the issues that has come to my attention, and I know it’s come to some of the other Members, has been the telephone system at the clinic itself. There appears to be a lot of frustration. Some people phone and they get busy signals or they get put on hold for extended periods of time. Now, I know that we have some staff issues and we’re trying to staff that place up, which might be part of the problem, but has anything been done to start addressing the amount of time that people are waiting on the telephones or have we put in more people to ensure that the calls are answered in a more timely manner? Thank you.

The steps are being taken and have been taken to address that issue. The phone system they installed at the clinic is quite sophisticated, but we have been running into some trouble. The authority has been working with the provider and the main person from the headquarters. They have been meeting. It’s a sophisticated system that’s able to evaluate and

take all of the numbers of the calls being made, how long people are waiting for and how they can improve. As the Member knows, because we have met with the authority, they’re observing all of that and will be analyzing that and I expect to get some reports on that very quickly. I will get back to the Member and inform the public as to what steps are being taken to improve that. Thank you.

The Minister actually hit on something incredibly important there and I’m glad she’s going to provide the information back to me and my colleagues; that’s important. But more importantly it’s about getting the information to the public, because they’re the ones who are using this clinic and we need to make sure that whatever we do is clearly communicated and articulated to our residents, the ones who want to use it. So I look forward to that.

Another area of concern, and I’ve touched on it briefly, is just the number of staff that we have in that facility. I had one constituent come to me -- and I’ve shared the information with the Minister -- where they went to the diagnostic side and there was nobody there. There is a waiting room there, and they waited for what they felt, and what I feel, is an extended period of time before there was even somebody in there, which kind of is a little worrisome, but I know that there are some staffing issues. I’m wondering what kind of timeline is in place to ensure that we get that facility fully staffed so that there are people at the front counters when people come in to both the diagnostic and the clinical side. Thank you.

As we get further into operating this facility, the authority is, and will be, reviewing the staff makeup and the presence of staff at the front office. The way it’s designed, because of the physicality of the floor, we couldn’t have everybody in one place, so it just necessitated having two different stations. We have been able to train and staff additional personnel on the lab side. I have also talked to the management about using some of the equipment and TV screens and other things to advise and inform the public about how long they have to wait, why they are waiting, what’s expected to happen while they are waiting. The authority is constantly evaluating the operation to see how we can improve them and I will keep the Members advised as well as the public as we move forward.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just two quick things in closing. I mentioned earlier that I had a constituent who mentioned some difficulties they had accessing the building, especially the interior doors. The individual was in a wheelchair and there was no electronic opener on the door, so it was very difficult. I believe that’s been rectified. If

I can get the Minister to confirm that that has in fact been rectified.

The second part is that the Minister has mentioned that this facility is not just a Yellowknife facility, that it is a territorial facility. My question to the Minister is if they have ever considered renaming the authority. Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority doesn’t seem like the appropriate name if we’re providing territorial-wide services.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Two questions there. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I agree with the Member that the automatic door situation was really unfortunate. As soon as that was made apparent to us, DPW and Department of Health and Social Services and YPCC worked immediately to rectify that.

To answer the naming of it, the authority did have public consultation and the board decided that they would like to stay with the Yellowknife name because that’s what even the communities outside of Yellowknife recognize the facility to be. Mr. Speaker, I... Oh. System off line. I will talk to the authority about a possible name change to reflect the operation, but that might be too soon, seeing as it just came into operation in June.

System off line. But the lights are on.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about a potential taskforce concept or certainly a business team that targets business growth in the Northwest Territories that reaches out and finds good business that could invest in the North and create jobs. In combing through ITI’s business plan, I didn’t see anything that focused in on attracting new business to the North. I provided a number of examples. Can the Minister tell me who’s been tasked with that type of initiative that can attract business in the Northwest Territories?

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. I missed who you’re addressing your question to, Mr. Hawkins.

The Minister of ITI.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the Member is aware of this old saying about great minds think alike. Just last week I had a

meeting of my ministerial advisory panel and I posed exactly that question to them, as to whether the businesspeople in the Northwest Territories thought it was a good idea for the Government of the Northwest Territories to get involved with attracting businesses from the South to relocate to the North and whether the Government of the Northwest Territories should develop new programs or invest any money in doing so. We’re still waiting for a response from the ministerial advisory panel.

I’m really glad that the Minister didn’t comb over the issue as I’ve been combing through the department.

---Interjection

And recognizes how important it is.

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Not that it’s a problem for either of us.

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As the Minister says, he’s proposed the concept to the ministerial advisory panel. Actually, we did talk about this some time ago and he did suggest that he’d make sure he brought something similar to the concept to them and it sounds positive. Does the Minister see their good value for the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment with coming up with a taskforce that could target these types of initiatives as well as reach out to local businesses to see how we can dovetail our policies to do this attraction of new business to the North?

The initial reaction to the question that we posed to the ministerial advisory panel was that we had to be very strategic in attracting new businesses to the North. That whatever we did should be to meet some specific needs and also would build on northern capacity. Also I know that with the preference policies that we developed for northern businesses, is our northern businesses don’t mind competing as long as it’s on a level playing field, so they would want to see whatever businesses come up here invest in the North and set up their businesses accordingly.

I’m glad the Minister talked about trying to find specific targets that would point at present needs of business. Certainly, I guess he was alluding, in one form or another, to what would work in our economy that makes sense. I would say, would the Minister be interested in supporting some type of panel discussion or conference that would work with business to help develop a business growth strategy here in the North that could attract new business and investment and, furthermore, get Northerners to work? This is not just a Yellowknife-centric issue. I think we can find

ways to spread and seed businesses throughout the North that could help everyone.

We’d be quite prepared to work with our partners. We work very closely with the chambers of commerce, with the Northern Aboriginal Business Association and other groups to see if we can set up such a conference or workshop.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister’s answer was very exciting. Does the Minister see any policy problems that we have that would stop something like this from getting momentum or getting off the ground immediately? I’m only concerned that policy or process of department may have issue with this. I just want to make sure that if the Minister says we can do this and he likes it, I want to make sure we can do it right away.

I think that we’d have to be very careful, because, as I said, we do have northern preference policies for northern businesses. As well, we’ve expended a lot of effort to develop an interim northern manufacturing directive and we would really want to support those northern businesses or northern manufacturers that manufacture in the Northwest Territories, because it’s a high-cost area to operate out of and there are also issues and challenges with regard to attracting skilled labour and availability of housing. When we support our businesses, what we do is focus on the labour issues, reducing red tape and also providing a level playing field.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Colleagues, before we go on with oral questions, I’d like to draw your attention to the gallery and to the presence of a former Member of this House from the 12th Assembly representing the constituency of

Kitikmeot, Mr. Ernie Bernhardt and his daughter Donna, who happens to be the CA to Member Jackie Jacobson. Welcome to the Chamber. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my Member’s statement was on the Mackenzie Valley Highway, particularly the Tuk-Inuvik section. I mentioned that it’s a great opportunity and we made great progress with the department. I want to thank the Minister of Transportation and his department for working so well with the community in the past year. We still have a lot more to do. Can I ask the Minister of Transportation what actions we are taking to promote the highway to the federal government?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This has been an issue that has been on the drawing board for some time. We have moved forward fairly quickly in the area of Tuk and Inuvik with a project description report, a report that we had anticipated was going to take several years and ended up taking a little over a year. That’s been submitted for review. We are, and have been, raising it with the federal government. We, as early as last week, met with the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of INAC and this was raised as something we wanted to talk further about. Also, while attending the National Council on the Ministers responsible for Transportation I had an opportunity to have a brief chat with Minister Strahl and we agreed that we needed to get together and have further discussions on infrastructure issues in the Northwest Territories. This would be part of the discussion. I’ll also be meeting with Minister Aglukkaq while we’re down there in a couple weeks.

Since the Minister has begun lobbying the federal government, when does the Minister anticipate the Environmental Impact Review Board process will be completed?

The EIRB process is something that’s outside of our jurisdiction at this point. We don’t control the process, however, we hope that the final reports or approvals for the Tuk-Inuvik section of the highway will be ready sometime next summer.

You know, I’m glad to hear the process is moving so quickly. The sooner this project gets completed for the cost of living for my constituents, the cost of food, the fuel, transportation between the communities and all up and down the valley making it accessible for people to take their families out on holidays a lot cheaper. It’s beneficial for the sovereignty of Canada, because I always say I always have all the oil and gas in the northern Beaufort. Will this government receive the necessary permits from the Environmental Impact Review Board? What are the Minister’s next steps in continuing the progress on this important road link?

A big challenge, the biggest challenge, and will continue to be the biggest challenge, will be to secure appropriate funding to continue the work on the road once all the approvals are in place. We would expect that as soon as we hear positive response, we would, of course, move forward and try to secure those dollars to do further work. We would also have to start the process to develop more detailed road design. While I can’t commit to any dollars for the life of this government, I would expect that those

issues will be brought forward and will continue to take precedence. The work would take probably more than a year to complete.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions follow up on my Member’s statement from earlier today and are directed to the Premier as the Minister of Executive. I’d like to ask, recognizing that civil society in the voluntary sector is an important third leg on the stool of government market and the civil society, what actions are we taking as a government to ensure a strong civil society and voluntary sector in a jurisdiction where our government sector is so huge and powerful? Of course, we have a strong market sector.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess we need some clarification on this. We have a couple of areas we work in that we would determine, and through the Executive, the NGO, non-government organizations who deliver programs through department initiatives, and then we have the volunteer sector that the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs is involved in.

On the NGO side, the funding stabilization side, multi-year funding process, that work has been ongoing and we have put in a funding package to try to help stabilize on the NGO side. Thank you.

I appreciate those comments and those actions that are being taken. I think what I’m talking about too is, as a third arm I think we have the role of assisting communities in recognizing that they have a responsibility and an opportunity in fulfilling an important role that’s sort of independent of government. It’s a self-strengthening exercise, if you will. Government has a role in helping them out in that. I’m wondering if we are working with communities to get that sort of independent spirit out there and helping them recognize the role that actually individuals and families and communities can play in strengthening that civil society on their own, perhaps with some assistance from government.

I’m aware in communities and trying to strengthen the role of the volunteer organizations and those organizations serving our communities in a very, I guess it would be a supportive capacity. I know the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs is working through the Volunteer Organization Development Contribution Policy. As well, we continue to do,

through MACA, the Outstanding Volunteer Awards Program that they continue to help.