This is page numbers 6965 - 7000 of the Hansard for the 16th Assembly, 6th Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was assembly.

Topics

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday I took the opportunity to thank my colleagues on the Cabinet side of the House and I have a few more people I’d like to thank today.

I’d like to thank you, Mr. Speaker, for the 12 years that you have served and contributed to this Assembly and the people of Hay River and the Northwest Territories. They say you don’t get to choose your relatives, you don’t get to choose who your other partner’s going to be from the community you serve from if there are two, but I am pleased to say that we have become friends and you have done an amazing service to this Assembly over the years. I thank you for that.

Also, I would like to thank my colleague Mr. Krutko, one of the four in this Assembly who have now served 16 years, for his unwavering commitment and giving a voice to Northerners in this House. I had the privilege of serving as Deputy Speaker when Mr. Krutko was the Speaker. We travelled a little bit together. It was a little bit confusing to people, because everybody thought I was his wife. They didn’t understand that he was the Speaker, I was the Deputy Speaker, and we tried to get them on the straight and narrow on that.

Mr. Speaker, to my colleagues on this side of the House, it was a privilege. I thank you for allowing me to serve as the chair of the Priorities and Planning committee. We laughed this morning about that. We said there were a couple of times when they wanted to throw me out, but we persevered together and I do thank them for that very, very much.

Also, to the staff, Mr. Ramsay has articulated the staff under Mr. Mercer’s guidance. I would like to especially thank the Deputy Clerk, Mr. Schauerte, who was a smiling face when I entered this building 16 years ago, and has served as the clerk to the

committee that I chaired of Priorities and Planning. Mr. Schauerte has not seemingly aged a day, in spite of all the stress we’ve put him through, which is remarkable in and of itself.

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to thank my constituency assistant Wendy Morgan. We have been a team for over 12 and a half years, and she has been such a support to me. They say that a constituency assistant is someone who helps the Member in the performance of their duties, and Wendy has gone way above and beyond the call of duty in supporting me in my role as the Member for Hay River South, and I thank her very much for that, as I know do the constituents of Hay River South for her generosity and concern. When I have not been around, she has listened to their issues and helped me to convey them on their behalf.

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to thank my family. My husband, Rick, is in the visitors’ gallery today. Last weekend we celebrated 34 years of marriage. When you do the math, 16 of those I’ve been here, and some people would say that’s the success of the whole thing, right?

---Laughter

That’s nearly half of my 34 years of marriage I’ve been doing this, but he has been my biggest supporter and I do thank him very, very much for that.

To my constituents of Hay River South, I’d like to thank them for the honour of representing them in this House. I am proud of what we’ve accomplished. We’ve got a few more things to do and I will be offering my 16 years of service back to the people of Hay River South again in the upcoming election on October 3rd . Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

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

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I will be addressing the elders of Tu Nedhe in my language.

[English translation not provided.]

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

[English translation not provided.]

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

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

Robert Hawkins

Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to use my final Member’s statement to thank a lot of people over the last four years.

Firstly, as I entered this building I thanked the citizens of Yellowknife Centre, and I’d like to begin the same way by finishing this term by thanking the constituents of Yellowknife Centre, the many friends and the seniors who constantly provide advice and support through the years. As we all know, we deal with challenging issues and sometimes very emotional and stressful issues, and many of my constituents have provided much needed advice and support through those and have been the guiding light and certainly the compass rose to many of the issues that I’ve had to seek advice, to get direction and make sure I’m responding appropriately.

Mr. Speaker, it’s very important to me to thank my best friend in the world. That would be my wife, Susan. She’s always been there through and through. She is the ear I bend at the end of the day, sometimes explaining what happened at work, and I ask, like, what the heck is going on. And she says the same type of response, but she’s been the pillar of the whole reason why I’ve been here. Without her on the team, I mean, it’s tough to do this job as it is.

To my two children, who I was able to get in their seats sitting attentively today, that would be McKinley and Hudson. You know, being an MLA is a difficult challenge as it is, but I think it goes unspoken many times about how challenging it is on the families and the children. Sometimes we don’t spend enough time together, but I do try to spend as much time as I can with them and I try to be as good a dad as exceptionally possible. It doesn’t mean I can’t spend more time, but I do promise that we do try as much as we can.

Mr. Speaker, some of the most memorable days this term I would say all started here working with some of the people in this Assembly. Ironically, some of the most stressful days have been working with the same people around this room in this Assembly. But to that, I won’t spend a lot of time thanking everyone individually, but I would just say that it’s been challenging; but I would also say, in some respects, it’s also been rewarding working with everyone.

Mr. Speaker, just highlighting a couple things: It’s been a privilege to see what we’ve been able to do on supplementary health benefits, the dementia centre, e-petitions, the downtown clinic, and even

distracted driving, to name a few. But it’s been great that we’ve been able to move so many initiatives forward.

Mr. Speaker, the work needs to continue. There’s a fair bit of work left on the agenda to do, even though our days are short, so I just want to say and end with this, Mr. Speaker, as I see my time coming up, I just want to say thank you to the citizens of Yellowknife Centre and I look forward to seeing you on the doorsteps very shortly, and I appreciate every bit of advice, support and direction you’ve given me to date and in the future.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

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

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my last Member’s statement is what we need for Nunakput.

---Laughter

Well, I’ve got my list here. Three pages.

Mr. Speaker, projects are the Darnley Bay diamond mine exploration project and an all-season road to Tuktoyaktuk must be jeopardized or injured due to the election. These economic projects are important for the NWT and the region. The executive needs to ensure that progress continues to the next team, the necessities to get the job done.

Mr. Speaker, we need the jobs in the Beaufort-Delta.

Building the infrastructure of the roads is critical to growing capacity and the building of northern regions such as Nunakput. Without continuous investment, more opportunities will just merely pass us by. Companies will go and invest their resources in other countries such as our friends to the west, Alaska.

Mr. Speaker, like I said, the future is in the North. The Mackenzie Gas Project could provide so many jobs to my home community of Tuk and the surrounding Nunakput, and in Inuvik with the offshore drilling programs if they were to go forward.

We have to tell the oil companies that we are open for business and we need to get people working and not rely on ECE so much for handouts.

Mr. Speaker, the all-weather road to Tuk, I hope to get something going this year so we can have jobs in the communities of Inuvik, Tuk, Aklavik and other communities because we need the work. There is nothing going on. There are no diamond mines. Let’s get something started. A few million dollars, I think, would go a long way for that to happen.

I hope to include in the community of Tuk a deep sea port. The LNG plant could create so many jobs

for all of Nunakput and the people. When we come back, when we have jobs, the health care and so many other nurses and doctors at the camps are able to help people in the communities like they did before. We won’t run into people being evicted because of the housing programs, because people have jobs to pay their rent.

Mr. Speaker, we need the jobs. ECE programs, we’ll revisit them when we come back, Mr. Speaker. We have to promote the NWT that we’re open for business to the oil and gas companies so we can get something started for all the people of the Beaufort-Delta and the NWT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

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

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have spoken many times about setting up an office of the ombudsman in the NWT to help our residents with their complaints about government and government services.

In almost all jurisdictions across Canada, the ombudsman actually helps solve problems and prevent them from winding up in court battles that our residents definitely can’t afford. But there’s been very little interest in this service from the current executive of our government. So I feel this Assembly has missed a great opportunity.

Elsewhere in Canada the ombudsman mission, as defined by law, is an impartial investigator of residents’ complaints. An NWT ombudsman act would require government officials and staff to cooperate and provide information to the ombudsman. She or he would be able to deal with almost any matter relating to government. That’s particularly important in situations where other legislation does not provide for an appeal mechanism. There are many instances where no appeal mechanism exists, and our MLAs here are aware of many of those. Some of them are health issues, residential tenancy problems, helping seniors, student financial assistance issues. The list goes on.

Part of the ombudsman’s job is to maintain a high profile so that people know they have someone to go to when they don’t know what else to do, when they feel they’ve exhausted all their options for a solution for their problem. Considering how spread out our territory is and the limited assistance available in our smaller communities, an ombudsman would be a great help to a number of our residents.

Across the country, ombudsmen have an excellent record of having their decisions and reports

accepted by their government. That, to me, is a very good measure of their effectiveness.

I’ve urged the Justice Minister to look into this issue several times. There are lots of working models across Canada which have led the way for us. We should draw on their experience.

Today, by way of this statement, I am asking the Minister of Justice to recommend to his successor that the next government get the job done for the people of the NWT and establish an office of an ombudsman. There could be a bonus in it, Mr. Speaker. It might work out so well that it actually saves our government money. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. From time immemorial our elders were taught by their elders, just as I was taught by my elders. Mr. Speaker, the basics to me that was taught by the elders is that our land is alive, powerful and even holy.

Mr. Speaker, part of our understanding is about the value of our land, which also means the water; they are both the same. We understand the importance of clean water, the source of all life. Without it, surely we will all perish.

That’s why I am very concerned about the future of the Northwest Territories water quality. Two weeks ago the federal government suspended operations of 21 of the Northwest Territories 23 water quality monitoring stations. It also stopped activities in all 10 of Nunavut’s stations, two of them on Northwest Territories/Nunavut transboundary rivers.

It gets worse, Mr. Speaker. There is no funding to support the 18 water quality monitoring stations related to the Mackenzie Gas Project. Reduction of water quality monitoring is taking place right across Canada. Canada has suspended water quality monitoring stations in national parks. It will suspend the operation of water quality monitoring stations until Environment Canada completes a risk-based assessment to decide which stations will continue to operate on a reduced budget.

Mr. Speaker, this risk-based approach to water quality monitoring is too quick to take clean water for granted. We have reached a point where all water is at risk. Fish are showing signs of contamination.

In 2010 the Auditor General of Canada stated in a report that Northwest Territories water quality monitoring is not adequate. The Government of the Northwest Territories has made some real

commitments to water quality. The Water Stewardship Strategy is their attempt to protect our most precious resource. The water stewardship is a shared responsibility. Our efforts are being depleted by our own federal government.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Mr. Yakeleya, your time for your Member’s statement has expired.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. The federal government signed a Water Stewardship Strategy that includes action items to include water quality monitoring in the Northwest Territories. The federal government signed land claims agreements that committed to sustainable, unaltered water quality. The federal government signed a Devolution Agreement-in-Principle that was based on 23 active water quality stations in the Northwest Territories.

This is sad conduct on the government’s commitment to clean, abundant water. It’s an insult to the people of the Northwest Territories and all Canada. I am pleased that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources will fight these changes. I urge all Canadians and Northerners to report the efforts to protect our water systems. This was highly talked about at the Sahtu Secretariat Incorporated AGM in Colville Lake earlier this month. Water is not worth a few more barrels of oil, national defence or economic growth. Water is our most precious resource. Water is life.

Mr. Speaker, when will, or better yet, what will it take to tell our governments if we turn a blind eye from what has been done to our water, our life, we stop listening to our people, who will save our lives, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all I’d like to recognize the Members who will not be seeking re-election. I’d like to recognize yourself, Mr. Speaker, for your work and leadership as Speaker and to say we all recognize the hard work you’ve been doing on behalf of your constituents in your role as Speaker.

I also want to recognize cousin David Krutko.

---Laughter

I think David has the world record for asking questions in the Legislative Assembly and Committee of the Whole. I was going to say I was going to miss his questions. On second thought, I

don’t think I’ll say that. I’ll say I’ll miss his accompanying me on several business trips annually.

---Laughter

Also I want to recognize Premier Roland, his leadership. We played hockey together on many occasions. I also wish to recognize his willingness to make tough decisions when called upon and when required. I wish all three of you the very best.

Also I want to take this opportunity to announce that I will be seeking re-election as the MLA for Yellowknife South in the 17th Legislative Assembly.

It’s been a well kept secret, although I’ve tried to announce it four or five times in different venues.

---Laughter

So hopefully this time it will stick.

Listening to my colleagues today, it comes to mind why we all ran in the first place. In my case, I ran because I felt I could make a difference for the people in Yellowknife and people in the Northwest Territories. I tried to think why do we run again, and I think we all run again because we want to help people, and we can help people, and we all realize that there’s a big job left to be done and we want to be part of it.

I want to thank my family, friends, supporters, constituents of Yellowknife South for the honour of serving them as MLA. I want to recognize the work of my office staff: Katherine Robinson, Hilda Camirand, and my CA, Darlene Mandeville.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. They say time flies when you’re having fun. They also say time flies when you pass 40. I’m not sure which of the two applies here but I can’t believe how quickly the last four years have gone.

It’s been an interesting four years and, as we’ve heard, we’ve had a few Members... Mr. Speaker is not returning. We appreciate the work you’ve done. Mr. Krutko and Mr. Roland, as somebody referred to the two old bulls, they’re not coming back. I wish you all well.

To my colleagues, I wish you all well. Those that are seeking re-election I look forward to the opportunity, with the blessing of the residents of Inuvik Twin Lakes, to serving with you again.

I have to thank my staff, Robert and Heather, and Leah up in Inuvik. They do a lot of work on your behalf and it’s their job to make you look smart. Sometimes they have to work really hard at it.

I really have to thank the residents of Inuvik Twin Lakes. I’m very grateful and humbled by the opportunity they’ve given me, and the support and encouragement I’ve gotten from folks back home. It’s not always what you want to hear, but sometimes they tell you the truth and it’s a good thing.

We all realize as politicians that we’re in this arena a lot and we spend a lot of time away from home. Our families are the ones that have to go without us for long periods of time. We’ve heard a couple of Members touch on it. I have to thank my family. They’ve been a big support. When I started this I had no grandchildren. I have three now and one on the way. If there’s any consolation for them, when Grandpa comes home from being in Yellowknife or on trips, it’s almost like Christmastime. They don’t mind that too much. But we have to thank them. They’re the ones, especially during the campaigns, there’s a lot of stuff that goes on that we’re just used to. We’ve grown fairly thick skin and they have to put up with it, and sometimes that bothers them. They show a lot of strength and we have to thank them.

I have to thank my wife, Judy, my biggest supporter and probably one of my biggest critics too. Anything helps. With all the feedback we get from everyone, I think it’s much appreciated.

With that, Mr. Speaker, good luck to you and Mr. Krutko and Mr. Roland, and to my colleagues, the best of luck to you all and I look forward to possibly seeing most of you here again.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

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

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

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

Reflections On The 16th Assembly
Members’ Statements

August 24th, 2011

Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod Deh Cho

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s good to see you were saving the best for last.

I considered making a response to the opening address yesterday and I crafted a long list. Then I looked at it and it was all about me. Since I don’t like to brag about myself, I’ll just keep it short.

I did want to say farewell to a number of people who are leaving us today, and best of luck. First of all to yourself, Mr. Speaker. I think we’re the only two left from the people who were elected in the 14th Assembly. I thank you for your time here and

working with you. I want to wish you the best of luck.

Of course our Premier, who has decided not to run again. It’s been a real long eight years that we’ve worked together, especially in our time on Cabinet. We didn’t always see eye to eye, but we’ve managed to resolve issues and move forward.

I also wanted to wish David the best of luck. I think David is one of the few people that can still wear his moosehide jacket after all these years. The rest of us no longer fit them.

Most of us will be travelling home to start our campaigns, to start connecting with our constituents, and get our teams together, and start putting our platforms together if we haven’t already done so.

I wanted to say thank you to my staff over the years. I’ve had a number of constituency assistants. Lately Cynthia’s been working with me and she’s done a very good job and I’ve been very happy with her work. I also have to thank Doug Pon, who’s been with me for the whole term that I was a Minister of the last eight years. He’s always been very loyal and helped me steer out of trouble. Also Rachel, who has been with me in the last while and is doing a very good job; I’m very happy with her work.

I also have to say a special thank you to my family, who has stuck with me for these many years. It was interesting to hear my daughter at a federal candidates forum in Fort Providence who was there representing the youth and asked questions to the candidates. She did an interview with CBC later on and they asked her, they made the point of indicating to her that she seemed fairly familiar with territorial issues and wanted to know when she developed an interest in politics. She answered by saying that she was born into it. I think she was a young baby when I got involved in politics, and today she left for college. I’m very proud of her.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your time for your Member’s statement has expired.