Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday I spoke of the need for environment officers in Tu Nedhe. Today, along that same line, I would like to talk about the Stark Lake cleanup near Lutselk’e. Mr. Speaker, I have raised the issue before and with little progress on this, I need to again raise awareness of this important environmental issue.

Mr. Speaker, the community, particularly the elders of the community, have been asking for something to be done ever since the mine closed in the late 1950s. It is unacceptable the way the land was left. Mr. Speaker, according to the community, the mine was a uranium mine that started in 1952 and then closed within a few years leaving behind a large tailings pile that was highly radioactive. The people hardly go near that area.

Mr. Speaker, this is a very serious issue for the community and a very serious issue for the environment. Something needs to be done as soon as possible. According to the community, since the mine closed residents have found fish that were deformed, some fish had unusually high amounts of parasites that may be fish coming from that area. Mr. Speaker, we are talking about a primary source of food for the residents. Again, I cannot stress enough that this is a very serious matter and needs immediate attention.

Mr. Speaker, the government has a great opportunity to address a serious environmental concern and provide some employment opportunities for the community. I have stood up in the House and spoken about limited economic and employment opportunities in Lutselk’e, and it’s no secret there a number of exploration projects underway in the regulatory process or at the discussion stage with the local aboriginal government. This translates into a need for environmental workers and responsible stewardship of the land. This is a traditional territory of the people of Lutselk’e. They know the land. We would be in the best position to work with the government to clean up this site.

Mr. Speaker, the Stark Lake cleanup project is a very serious environmental concern. This government needs to start working through the process of cleaning it up as soon as possible. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to congratulate the people of the Northwest Territories on their major success in taking up the challenge of recycling. Yesterday, the Minister of ENR added seven new beverage container types to the list of containers that can be recycled. Responsible citizens can now return 20 types of drink containers for return of deposits. In three short years, the number of communities with recycling depots has risen to 32 and over 100 million containers or 81 percent of drink containers sold are being returned for deposit.

We can see the benefits everywhere. Not only has beverage container recycling brought four out of five containers back for responsible disposal or recycling, the major nuisance of litter from spent drink containers has almost disappeared from our streets. Volunteer groups have found a new source of income to reward their initiative. I predict that the community cleanups that are coming this spring will be the last time we see major numbers of littered plastic bags included in the cleanup.

Perhaps the most important aspect of all this is that children are learning from early on that resources are precious and that every act can either be an act of respect for the environment and a contribution to the common good or an addition to the burden placed on the environment. By putting any revenues back into the recovery, what was once a major source of waste, we are building a capacity across the Territory to expand these efforts on other forms of waste.

Through recycling programs with the margin of return we have spurred development of local businesses and facilities needed to begin recovering more and different types of waste. Through government support, communities can look farther afield at controlling the handling of additional waste materials like cardboard and paper, tires, lead acid batteries, electronics and fuel drums. Nothing happens overnight, but we are taking firmer control of this challenge every day and disposing of the wasteful psychology that fuels the disposable society.

On the subject of the recent expansion of our drink container deposits, I would like one improvement. Mr. Speaker, we shouldn’t be taxing essential nutrition like milk. While I support the waste reduction aspect, I will suggest that we should roll back the 10 cents spread between the deposit paid and the deposit refunded on milk containers. Congratulations to all on a great success story and our determination for greater achievements. Mahsi.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to talk about Payday Loans and the need for territorial regulations. Mr. Speaker, it is in the middle of the month. What does a person have to do if they are short of cash? Well, in Canada, there is a $2 billion industry out there to help. They are eager, Mr. Speaker. This conventional short-term lending isn’t available by the big banks so a person has to go to one of those short-term lending agencies often referred to Payday Loans. Now remember this, Mr. Speaker, convenience does

come at a price. It is a short-term loan and you have to promise to pay it back by your next pay cheque.

According to the Canadian Payday Loan Association, the average loan is about $280 on a 10-day borrowing cycle. But how does the loan work? Well, you have to have a job. You have to have an active bank account, permanent residence, and in some cases you need a current phone bill and a blank cheque of some form so they can make sure they can go get the money. Remember, there is no credit check for this type of service. So you sign the loan agreement and you leave your information and in the short term, you are ready to go.

Now, the loan agreement will ensure that you understand all the terms and conditions. The terms and conditions usually include things like the fees and it also includes the issue of built-in fees. So, Mr. Speaker, some of the things you need to pay are up front prices, the first time charge, service fees, service charges, repayment options and, of course, they stress what happens if you are late.

Mr. Speaker, the law says you can’t be charged more than 60 percent. In Yellowknife, I called around. Apparently their interest fee is 29 percent. But, Mr. Speaker, we can’t forget about those fees because they are built into the price. There is administration, processing, convenience, verification, brokers, collectors, early repayment, late repayment, initial, one-time rollover fees. The fees go on and on.

In Yellowknife if you go to one of the lending agencies to borrow $200 you have to pay $180 back within two weeks. That’s an interest rate of over 2,000 percent. If you went to another lending agency and borrowed $500 you have to pay $136 on top of that. In other words, your final payout is $636, which is roughly 711 percent.

With time running out I’ll say this: something needs to be done. This government needs to make sure its citizens are protected before something goes off the rail. Why wait for a problem and then act? We can act now.

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

Mr. Speaker, [English translation not provided.]

Today I would like to speak about the interpreter/translator training in aboriginal languages of the Northwest Territories. Last year the Standing Committee on Government Operations visited many communities as part of the review of the Official Languages Act. In every

community, people expressed concern about the lack of interpreters and translators. They were concerned as often there was no one to help people who were fluent only in their aboriginal language. Sometimes, for instance, there was no one to translate for an elder when he had to speak to a doctor or nurse, or for an elder who needs to give evidence in court.

For years the Standing Committee on Government Operations has recommended that the GNWT implement training and certification of interpreters. There have been training activities completed by the Yamozha Kue Society, however, the certification process for aboriginal interpreters/translators has not been established. In order to develop a certificate program, experts in the language are needed to assist with development and evaluation of testing materials. Unfortunately it can be very hard to find qualified evaluators.

We heard from Nunavut the importance of culture, of singing, for instance, as a means to preserve language. One’s native language holds culture within it. It holds a way of looking at the world and it holds a traditional technology of living on the land. I trust that Education, Culture and Employment will take seriously the important task of preserving and revitalizing our aboriginal languages and the significant role that interpreters and translators can play in this task.

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

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me pleasure to introduce in our gallery Ms. Rose McConville, office manager of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations from our Ottawa office. Welcome.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Indeed, welcome to the Chamber today. I hope you’re enjoying the proceedings. Item 6, acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It was about a year ago or just over a year ago when I stood up in this House a number of times asking the government questions about the Opportunities Fund and how it was that they came to make a decision to lend $34 million out of that fund. What that did was to raise expectations from around the Territory for other businesses that wanted to get access to some of these dollars for their own pursuits.

I’d like to ask the Minister of Finance, I’ve got a number of questions for him today, but I’d like to ask the Minister why we haven’t made any decisions on the availability of the balance of that fund for other businesses across the Territory.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When we made the Discovery Air loan there was considerable angst and agitation by some Members on the other side of the House.

There was great concern about what was done. A freeze was put on the fund until it could be sorted out as how to go forward with the remaining money. We agreed to do that. We waited five or six months for a response from the committee. They said to come back and give us some options and we’ll tell you what we think. In the meantime, even though this was shared in confidence with committee, the Member has pointed out that we’re having some discussions now with the Auditor General in terms of how the Opportunities Fund will be accounted for in our books.

I don’t want the Minister to be quick to criticize my committee for sitting on this for five months. It’s been a year and these guys have not come up with a plan on the balance of that fund. I’d like to ask the Minister if the decision to lend the $34 million last year changed the way the federal government looks at the fund, now wanting us to book that whole entire fund as debt. I’d like to ask that question.

Just for the record, it wasn’t the Auditor General, it was Finance Canada that came back to us about how we treat and account for that money. I don’t believe that the Discovery Air loan had any bearing on how we were told we have to account for the money. I understand in Yukon it’s accounted for differently as well. I don’t believe the Discovery Air loan, which in fact is generating enough revenue so this fund does not lose money, had a bearing on this current issue with Finance Canada.

I’d like to ask the Minister what the government’s plans are in the immediate future for the remainder of that Opportunities Fund. If we’re not making any money from the Opportunities Fund and we’re actually paying an administration fee of 7 percent, what are we doing here? Why don’t we just give the money back if it’s going to be booked against our debt?

The Member’s suggestion is a serious consideration.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When might the Regular Members finally find out from this government what it intends to do with the remainder of that Opportunities Fund?

I haven’t yet used in this session in due course and the fullness of time, however, I will say that we are in discussions with Finance Canada. Finance Canada has indicated to us that they have this on their agenda, but they are now very preoccupied pulling their own budget together. So we are in ongoing discussions with Finance Canada about the resolution to this particular issue. As soon as we

have anything to report, we will be coming back to committee. 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 I presume, the lead Minister on the Joint Review Panel. At least six of the Joint Review Panel recommendations to the NEB would require the proponents to demonstrate GNWT approval for various plans like incineration of wastes, wildlife plans and so on, plans strategies or assessments. The February 11th response to the NEB consult to

modify process, in that the GNWT notes that it may be more appropriate to require the proponents to consult dot, dot, dot, instead of obtaining their approval. So the GNWT seems to be asking or shaking their shoulders from the responsibility or accepting the authority to require approval of those plans. Why would the GNWT make a recommendation renouncing an authority for GNWT approval seen by the JRP as necessary? Thank you.