When we met in Detah we talked about the goals and objectives of this government. We talked about our capital infrastructures. At that time there was discussion on focussing on the small communities. That is definitely one of our goals as we move forward with this particular GNWT 17

th Assembly and when it

comes to capital projects. With the 20-year plan, I have to get that more detailed information. I don’t have the plan in front of me today, but I will gather the information. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will certainly look at getting that information on the 20-year needs assessment to see if it is indeed on the capital plan. In my Member’s statement I asked just that, is that we start planning. It is important for me to see that on the capital needs assessment. Just one more time if I can ask the Minister if he will commit to have that plan perhaps sent to my office so I can review it as well. Thank you.

My department will share what we can share as a needs assessment, part of the capital projects within the Northwest Territories. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I certainly thank the Member for raising the issue and his question this afternoon. It has been a difficult past five months in the northern aviation industry. The department hasn’t formally received a request for a memorial like the one being proposed, but we would certainly like to discuss this further with Members of this House, stakeholders around the Northwest Territories, the aviation industry, communities and families who would like to come up with a way forward on such a memorial. Thank you.

I would like to thank the Minister for the response. On behalf of the families of both the pilots in the aviation world and the families of the victims of these crashes, I would like to thank

the Minister for showing eagerness to work towards resolve. Thank you.

It is more of a comment, Mr. Dolynny. Thank you. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recently in the media there has been a lot of discussion on the whole idea of hydraulic fracturing. My question is to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. What is the government or department doing to ensure that the practice of hydraulic fracking is mitigated and also understood? Eventually, more likely the introduction of the practice will be fairly common up here in the Northwest Territories. Is the department taking measures to ensure that it will be done within the regulatory system that’s safe and, of course, respects the environment? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a recently new process that is not completely understood. It is a source of great research at the international, national and even in our level as we seek to understand the use of hydraulic fracking for unconventional oils, in particular shale gas.

There is work being done at the federal level. We are striking a committee between ENR and ITI and other relevant deputies and departments to look at this issue and to address some of the issues that the Member talked about to try to get a good handle on the research. Some provinces’ fracking for unconventional sources are in use in B.C. and Alberta, Quebec and Nova Scotia, and some others have put a moratorium on it. Some states, as well, are taking a second look at it.

It is an issue, a process that there are a lot of unknowns, lots of potential impacts, use of a lot of substances in an area deep underground and is not well understood. We are going to take the steps necessary to understand this and make sure any steps taken have that balance of protecting the environment as we look at what is possible from this economic development opportunity. Thank you.

The Minister has indicated that there has been some consideration in terms of what other jurisdictions have undertaken. I wonder if the Minister and the department have considered as an option, seeming that there are some other initiatives – one of them is a moratorium on evictions on housing – a moratorium on hydraulic fracking in the North. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, we are not at that point in any of our deliberations.

We have to work with the federal government to look at that type of issue. There’s still work and research to be done. As I indicated, some jurisdictions to the south of us are using that process. There are a lot of questions and there is work being done and there are meetings, as well, being held across the North by the National Energy Board and ANSI, as well as the Government of the Northwest Territories, especially in the Sahtu, to meet with the communities and individuals to talk about this process and understand the concerns and share the information we do have about this process. Thank you.

The Minister has indicated that there is some level of cooperation with the federal government. I wonder if the department is considering, perhaps, some unique ways in terms of how this whole new practice will be introduced to the North. Hopefully at some point the department will consider some unique ways that are northern based, to ensure that the environment is not compromised and understand that there’s some positive development in terms of the Water Stewardship Strategy. I understand water is very vital to the people of the Northwest Territories, so I wanted to know if the Minister is considering some unique northern, perhaps, solutions to this practice that’s eventually going to come to the North. Mahsi.

Thank you. One of the, I suppose, most unique practices that we’re considering or initiatives we’re considering, of course, is to conclude the Devolution Agreement, where we would take over responsibility and authority of our land, water and resource development and be able to speak to these type of practices. I appreciate the Member’s comments on the Water Stewardship Strategy. If he has specific recommendations in terms of what he considers unique northern approaches that we may not have considered, I’d be very happy to look at those and would ask that he share that with us so that we can include that in our deliberations. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.

Thank you. I don’t have any questions, but perhaps maybe at some point I’d like to perhaps get a briefing from the Minister in terms of what it is, perhaps that could be considered in terms of a management regime to mitigate the whole practice of hydraulic fracking. Perhaps the Minister could make that available, if perhaps there are some discussions at that time. Mahsi.

We would be pleased to appear before committee and do a full briefing on the work we’ve done in terms of crossing the North and educating folks on the process, as well as lay out the process, some of the history and some of the questions and concerns

that are existing in regard to this process. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to follow up on the questions that were asked by my colleague Mr. Bouchard, from Hay River North, regarding the lack of resident physicians in Hay River.

This is not a new problem. This has been ongoing for some time. I know the health authority does the best they can with getting locums, and some of the locums are actually rotating in and out on a six-week in/six-week out basis, which is certainly better than no continuity. So I do commend the efforts of the health authority to try and address this difficult situation.

The Minister referred to the challenge that physicians we would like to potentially recruit may not want to live in smaller, remote communities, which I guess Hay River would still be considered remote. I’d like to ask the Minister what currently exists at the departmental headquarters level to assist the regional authorities with recruitment efforts.

We used to have a full-time person on staff in Hay River who did recruitment, but what overarching, territorial, department-wide emphasis or initiative is there within the department to help us find resident physicians? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Minister of Health, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Health has been working with the Department of Human Resources and has recently hired a health human resource specialist responsible for the development and creation of a specialized recruiting and retention strategy program. This strategy is aimed at increasing the number of physicians in rural communities. Thank you.