Thank you, Mr. Premier. The honourable Premier, Bob McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Jackson Lafferty will be absent from the House today for a portion of the proceedings to participate in the Governor General’s official opening of the new Hunters of the Alpine Ice Exhibition at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centres. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 3, Members’ statements. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.

Mr. Speaker, we cannot continue to band-aid the issue. We need to identify the underlying issues and fix them now in this government. Our greatest resource in the NWT is our people. It is time that we take the appropriate actions and invest in the future of the North by investing in our people in our communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up on my colleague Mr. Dolynny’s statement on recognizing our aviation leaders, and mark the passing of a highly respected member of our community and a pillar of our aviation industry, Paul Laserich.

Paul passed away November 19th at his home here

in Yellowknife, aged a mere 52 years. His passing came all too soon after the death of his beloved mother, Margaret Rose, this past summer.

Aviation and community service were the stuff of Paul’s life from the time he first moved with his family to Cambridge Bay in 1967. At the side of his father, Aviation Hall of Fame member Willy Laserich, Paul grew up in the traditions of community service and business excellence. With Margaret, sister Joanne, brother Rene and niece Jesce, the Laserich family provided the vital transportation and air evacuation services that improved and often saved lives in the most trying of circumstances.

As general manager, Paul carried on and expanded the Adlair tradition, building a business with roots firmly established in the Kitikmeot and Yellowknife. As a Yellowknifer, Paul was the epitome of community services. I can’t improve upon the words of Dan O’Neill’s eulogy at his memorial last week:

Paul William Laserich, our friend, with a heart bigger than his hangar, an aviation visionary, a flamboyant ambassador of the North with an uncommon magnetism and frenetic energy, a huge love of family, friends and the North.

Whether providing corporate support to the hospital and disabilities council, sponsoring a golf tournament, donating to the Yellowknife and Cambridge Bay food banks, or just plain helping out friends, Paul offered and delivered with goodwill and energy. When I phoned Paul in October, he

offered his hangar for my nephew Matthew’s memorial before I could even get the first word of request out. We’ll miss Paul Laserich cruising around town in his cherry red caddy and outback hat, his business skills and mentorship, and his ready laugh and helping hand. The North is richer for his life. Please join me in recognizing a life of service and generosity. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Members, I’d like to recognize in the House today Ms. Jeri Miltenberger. Welcome to the House.

---Applause

The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to inform the people of the Northwest Territories of a GNWT launch of “My Voice, My Choice,” a youth drug and alcohol prevention campaign. This launch is occurring on Thursday, December 15th , here at

the Great Hall of the Legislative Assembly at 11:00 a.m. It is important that we encourage our northern youth and have them express their voice on this important topic. The campaign will use a similar well-known setup like Speakers Corner to gather video camera responses to questions pertaining to addictions and messages for youth. The video clips will be edited and placed on the Department of Health and Social Services’ You Tube channel.

I strongly encourage all Members of this Assembly to participate with this initiative and to help send a supportive message to our youth about drug and alcohol addictions throughout the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve had some time to reflect on the Premier’s sessional statement and I’d like to provide some feedback.

All Members of this House have spent a lot of time in the past two months considering the current state of the NWT and what kind of roadmap we should lay out for the 17th Assembly over the next four

years. That roadmap was the essence of the Premier’s statement yesterday. I don’t disagree with the road we’re travelling down, but I must speak to some of the priorities which aren’t on the highway that we have designed. This roadmap bypasses a few important landmarks.

The 17th Assembly roadmap has five priorities and

specific actions under each, but where is the

reference to education of both children and adults? One of our goals is healthy, educated people, but the Assembly’s decision to continue to do more of the same, to not make education a priority, will not graduate more high school students, will not advance the goal of healthy, educated people.

Over the next four years NWT residents will hear Members speak many times about the importance of our youth. But where is the reference to youth in the 17th Assembly’s priorities? As with education,

the lack of a priority on youth will not help our young people succeed and become contributing members of our NWT society.

As well, the Premier spoke of looking for new revenues, and I was pleased to hear that. But he only mentioned resource revenues in connection with devolution. Why are we waiting until devolution is implemented to tap into a new revenue source? This government can add a new revenue source in the 2012-13 operations budget if the will is there, but so far I haven’t seen any indication from this government that they are willing to consider such an action.

The Premier spoke quite a lot about developing our economy and infrastructure investments. But again, what is obviously missing from these goals and priorities is a larger emphasis on the NWT’s social issues. The priorities address housing and health, but our social ills extend to many more programs and services than those two. A booming economy will not benefit NWT residents who lack the supports to get themselves out of poverty.

As I stated earlier, our document, “Believing in People and Building on the Strengths of Northerners,” which outlines our visions, goals and priorities, is a good document, but it has too many holes in it to be the comprehensive roadmap that we need to support our people properly. All Members must ensure that the social issues that affect our residents at the most human level must not be forgotten as we chase the economic development dream. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.

: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to recognize the coaches, chaperones, officials and volunteers that have been instrumental in preparing for this weekend’s territorial trials leading to the Arctic Winter Games. Athletes from the Mackenzie Delta will be travelling to participate in various sporting events, competing against the four other regions.

I would like to acknowledge the determination and the will from each of the athletes to represent Team NWT at the Arctic Winter Games in Whitehorse.

The territorial trials has always been successful, not only in naming the top athletes but it is a way for our athletes to learn more about the sport, to individually excel and, most importantly, to make lifelong friends.

I would like for the Members and the Ministers to join me in wishing all the athletes good luck, try hard and have fun. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to bring up the issue of Hay River’s harbour, because most of you know that Hay River is a natural transportation hub. Hay River is the start point for a lot of the barging and tugboats that go up or down the Mackenzie. The harbour is important to commercial vessels, commercial fishing and recreation uses. We have a Canadian Coast Guard based there as well.

The federal government once dredged the harbour to clear the silt that came down the Hay River. The federal government no longer dredges the harbour. The growing sandbars are making it more difficult to come into the harbour. The local fishermen and their 50-foot boats are sometimes hitting bottom in rough water.

Members and the public will recall in 2008 when we had a flood in the Vale Island area. Residents of Hay River have taken the time with the impacts of the sandbars. Six members of the Hay River Flood Mitigation Committee are taking the proactive approach to flooding. They have come up with a variety of options and one of those options is determining the costs of dredging.

In today’s day and age, with improving equipment and technologies and expertise, we should be able to dredge this harbour. The opportunity is building capacity for the North and Hay River. Hopefully we will be able to use and maximize some of our local contractors in this area. The federal government still has jurisdiction over the NWT waterways and we should pressure the federal government to implement some of the dredging in the Hay River area. The Government of the Northwest Territories needs to consider the Hay River harbour when it is planning to spend money in the upcoming years. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to speak about investment into Highway No. 7 or the lack thereof. My residents and constituents are disappointed that Highway No. 7 is nowhere on the GNWT’s fiscal roadmap this coming year. Residents know that the highway infrastructure is key to economic development in the Nahendeh region. Recently re-elected Chief Deneron heard this very clearly during his campaign. The road conditions isolate the people of Fort Liard. It is easier to drive to B.C. for goods and services than to Fort Simpson. By leaving Highway No. 7 out of its plans, dollars flow out of the North down a smoother highway.

As well, why is the number of tourists in the Deh Cho region down 30 percent from last year? The parks in the Deh Cho are some of the best in Western Canada. In the not so distant past, six tour buses travelled Highway No. 7 every season down to Fort Simpson. That number is down to zero now.

We can blame the economy for the lack of dollars for investment, but the economy looks a lot better than our highway. The Government of the Northwest Territories is making significant investments in tourism. The effort to attract more visitors to the NWT is getting noticed, but it is hard to promote our territory when visitors arrive and find the chipseal has turned to chowder. There is no sense in investing in tourism if we lack adequate road infrastructure to get here.

I just want to note, as well, I was paying much attention to the Finance Minister’s fiscal and economic update earlier today. If we do get some money to increase our borrowing limit, he is going to invest in a certain amount of projects, but nowhere does he mention Highway No. 7. That is disheartening, especially when in Committee of the Whole he said that it will be red-flagged and won’t end up on the red flag B list, which means that I believe in his statement Highway No. 7 should have been there. It continues to be a priority of this government because Highway No. 7 is an important link to Western Canada. The longer we ignore it, the more expensive it gets. Mahsi cho.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. [Translation] I am glad that I am able to make a statement on the 16th Assembly. In the 16th Assembly they said that

there would be a health centre that can be worked out in Fort Providence and with the new health

centre the Town of Fort Providence would benefit from that. [Translation ends]

…use of local expertise. There should be good local jobs and business stemming from this project. This is the kind of development the community will be proud of. The health centre is the only real capital project being carried over from the last Assembly, but there is a lot of other work that needs to be done in all Deh Cho communities.

I spoke recently about developing mine mass resources in Fort Providence. Just down the road, the people of Kakisa want to build a central heating centre for the community. They envision burning wood or wood products such as pellets. I strongly support the use of local resources to lower costs and create jobs in the communities. In this case, we would also replace fossil fuels with a renewable source of energy. This is part of managing our land. I hope this government will work with Kakisa on this project.

The need for capital is somewhat different in Enterprise. As Members know, there is no school in Enterprise. Each day all of the students are bussed to Hay River. People in the community understandably worry about having all the local kids arriving in one bus every day. This problem could be solved by adding classrooms to the hamlet building, particularly for the younger students. I will be raising this matter with the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Finally, there is a need for a swimming pool at the Hay River Reserve. The community proposes that an addition be built at the Chief Lamalice Community Centre to house a pool. I am proud of these proposals from the Deh Cho communities. They are not huge projects; they are all practical and they all represent economical ways to meet the communities’ needs.

I look forward to working with these projects into our capital plan and getting the building itself underway. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It was indeed a pleasure to host Their Excellencies Mr. Governor General David Johnston and his wife Sharon Johnston here today. I want to say that tomorrow we will have the opportunity to host them in Hay River. We are very excited.

This is a first time in a very long time we have had a Governor General visit Hay River. I can’t tell you how long, but it is a very long time. When they arrive tomorrow, a member of the famous Beck

dogsledding family will be taking them out for a dogsled ride. Danny Beck will be taking them out. After that they will go over to the Dene Cultural Institute. They will meet with community leaders there. They will then go to the Chief Lamalice Community Centre for a community feast of traditional foods. They will be able to observe a drum dance, a drum prayer with the elders and the young students there and many other ceremonies that are unique to our neighbours on the K’atlodeeche First Nation.

Then on Saturday they are going to have an opportunity to get up nice and early and take a bombardier ride on Great Slave Lake and attend with Shawn Buckley to pull fish nets on Great Slave Lake. Then we will be treated to fish delicacies after that. Then they will be off to the Hay River Ski Club. It is an exciting day at the ski club on Saturday because it is the Arctic Winter Games biathalon trials. We will have young people there from many different communities competing in that. It is my understanding that Their Excellencies will be fitted with cross-country skis, boots and poles and will actually be going out on a ski with some representatives, some other young representative skiers from our community. Apparently, they are going to do a two-kilometre ski at the ski club. They’re going to be meeting some youth ambassadors there, one from Fort Smith and Mr. Ty Buchanan from Hay River. They will then attend a community reception at the Hay River Golf Club, which they reactivated and we don’t usually have our golf club really open in the wintertime, but it will be ready to go with some community leaders and this event is open to the public. They’ll be treated to some music, some performing choirs, and they will be able to witness the race start for the Arctic Winter Games biathlon trials and the awards ceremony.

So it will be a very, very full and busy visit to Hay River, but we are so delighted to have them come there and I wanted to just point out that there are two opportunities for the public to be involved. One on the K’atlodeeche First Nation at the complex.

Sorry; could I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement, please?

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, colleagues, and thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, so there are two opportunities for the public to participate. One across on the reserve and then at the ski club. Also that event is open to the public.

Mr. Bouchard and I will depart early tomorrow morning to be there to receive Their Excellencies when they arrive in Hay River, so we won’t be able to join you in the House tomorrow, but we are very pleased, and honoured and excited to be having them visit our community starting tomorrow. Thank you.

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