Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. These two particular schools will be part of the educational review that’s underway currently. That report will be done in the spring of this year. Based on the outcome of that, we’re going to highlight the most critical needs, the most emergency requirements, such as other regions’ most critical needs as well. Those two schools will be part of the discussion as we move forward after the spring.

Does this educational review take into account the significant amount of deferred maintenance on these two schools that is outstanding to date?

We have to keep in mind that there have been renovations and major retrofit that has happened in Mildred Hall in 2005. So that will have to be taken into consideration as well. There are other schools that have not been

upgraded due to various circumstances. So those are the discussions that we need to have going forward on capital projects for this fall. So, Mr. Speaker, the educational review will consist of the space of the schools and also the age and enrolment is a big factor as well. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that answer from the Minister. Is the Minister aware that J.H. Sissons is the priority of YK No. 1 to be updated and the fact that it needs things like a fire alarm panel update? It has many combustible materials that need to be addressed and it turns into a bit of a health and safety problem. Of course, I’m not trying to alert the fire marshal, but the reality is the school has a lot of upgrades that need to be done. Mr. Speaker, are these types of things that will help make it on top of the priority list, from his point of view? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, these schools and all schools are a priority to my department. There are no immediate health or safety issues with J.H. Sissons. So those are the areas that we are looking at; the most critical needs, the emergence of it, that we’re going to highlight in the coming months. Mr. Speaker, yes, we’re going to compile all that information and we’re going to highlight the most critical needs of the schools. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Your final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to acknowledge the Minister making it quite clear there is no, sort of, immediate safety concern for the kids, and I wasn’t trying to portray it in that light, but the fact is, these are the types of upgrades that the school system feels is a priority. Mr. Speaker, the GNWT has a deferred maintenance policy program and I’d like to know where these two schools sit in the territorial Deferred Maintenance Program, how much is booked against them for the two schools and where does that put the balance of the deferred maintenance of these types of projects against our budget on that regard. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, part of the plan is to have a review of the Yellowknife schools and bring forward the review at the conclusion in the spring, then identify those two schools if there’s a priority to renovate those schools. One of them has been renovated already. Mr. Speaker, those are the types of important discussions we need to have for this fall capital planning. Mahsi.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement I spoke of the need for environment officers in Tu Nedhe. I’d like to ask the Minister of ENR questions. Could the Minister tell me if there are any regulatory impediments to hiring environment officers in non-settled areas? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don’t believe there are any regulatory impediments. The big impediment would be just access to sufficient resources. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, could the Minister advise me if the GNWT takes any environmental responsibility on land and water? Thank you.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, we’ve exerted our political and moral authority for sure on the water. We’ve spent a significant amount of money with the Water Strategy. We are looking at a land use framework. We are very concerned with environmental protection on an ongoing basis as it comes to contaminated sites and in those types of areas. So we have a very clear and vested interest in those areas. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, would the Minister agree to discuss immediate environmental needs for the Tu Nedhe insofar as resource development and exploration goes? Thank you.

We’d be pleased to sit down with the Member and any of the leaders from his constituency, from the communities, to talk about some of the pressing issues that may be out there. We recognize there are resource development initiatives throughout the area and we’d be happy to come to a table to have that discussion. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Your final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, assuming that the communities are still looking to have some environment officers in their communities, would the Minister agree to place these important positions in the next business plan process? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, we’d be happy to have the initial discussions and we’d be more than willing to look to map out exactly the role of these positions and what they would do and the impact and the possible need in other parts of the Territory with an eye towards seeing what

could be possible by the next business planning process. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources as the lead Minister on the Joint Review Panel review of the MGP and it follows up on some of my questions I asked a couple or three weeks ago. The process established by the National Energy Board for public comment is peculiar, not only in that the final public hearings will apparently be held before the federal and territorial governments have responded to the report. The process also contains no mandatory requirement to make public the positions that the two governments take to the JRP around the end of May, I believe, or early June, sometime in June. As lead Minister for the JRP, can the Minister commit to make this government’s response to that report public at the time it is provided in May or June by posting the GNWT’s correspondence to the NEB website so the public can be aware and respond with any concerns? Thank you.