Members, pursuant to Motion 15-17(1) adopted by the House on Wednesday, December 7, 2011, you have agreed to interrupt our proceedings to receive the Address of His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada. Mr. Clerk, please escort His Excellency into the Chamber.

Members and honoured guests, welcome to the Legislative Assembly. When we rise for the entrance of Their Excellencies, please remain standing for a drum prayer by the Detah Drummers and singing of the national anthem by Mr. John Escalante.

---Drum Prayer

---Singing of O Canada

I’d like to take a moment during the proceedings to thank the Detah Drummers for their drum prayer and Mr. John Escalante for his beautiful rendition of our national anthem.

We have many special guests joining us today and I extend my warm welcome to all. In particular, I would like to welcome the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories, the Honourable George Tuccaro. Welcome to the House.

I’d like to also acknowledge the presence of my wife, Jenny, and Mr. Tony Whitford, former Commissioner, Speaker, Member of the Legislative Assembly and now Honourary Table Officer –

---Applause

– joining us for the first time on the floor of the Chamber. I also welcome Tlicho Grand Chief Erasmus, Dehcho Grand Chief Gargan, and Mervin Gruben, IRC representative today. Welcome to the House.

I would like now to invite His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston to address the Legislative Assembly.

Thank you, Your Excellency. I will now turn to the Honourable Robert R. McLeod, Premier of the Northwest Territories, for a few comments.

Your Excellencies, colleagues, leaders, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the people of the Northwest Territories, I would like to thank you and Mrs. Johnston for visiting the Legislative Assembly and our territory.

As Premier of the Northwest Territories and on behalf of all of those gathered here today, I would like to wish you all the very best for your visit to this unique region of Canada, fundamental to this country’s past and its future.

We have a rich and diverse heritage, the heritage that is reflected here today and the circle of leaders that you see before you. Our cultural heritage and values have brought us to this place today where representatives from the Aboriginal governments are present on the floor of this House with Members of the elected public government.

This is the first time that we have gathered together on the floor of this House in a historic moment for the Northwest Territories. I am pleased that we are able to demonstrate our collective commitment to the people we serve. Together, we are building on our diverse strengths as we strive for the authority and autonomy to make decisions for all the people we serve. Your visit will give new symbolism and add further substance for our vision for a sustainable and prosperous Northwest Territories.

As you can see, we do not sit two sword lengths apart in the Northwest Territories; we sit in a circle and we talk. This Chamber is where we, the representatives of the people, debate issues and determine how we can move forward together. This is consensus government.

As you stated, there are no parties, no opposition, all Members vote on legislation and budgets. This is truly our government.

This is the only place in Canada with 11 official languages. In addition to French and English, there are nine Aboriginal languages still spoken in our territory today. Each of those languages has a unique culture and community-based life.

Earlier today Your Excellencies met with the representatives of the Federation Franco TeNOise and toured Ecole Allain St. Cyr. I’m sure you were struck by the vitality of the francophone community.

During your trip south of the lake you will learn more of our distinct cultures, including an opportunity to meet with the people of the K’atlodeeche First Nation and enjoy their excellent hospitality. I know the people of Hay River are looking forward to taking you dog mushing and ice fishing. Our beautiful Northern Life Museum in Fort Smith holds thousands of artifacts collected by the oblate fathers and Grey Nuns during their missionary work in the North that will provide you with a glimpse into the rich heritage of that community and region.

Your Excellencies are focused on learning and innovation, so it is very fitting that later this afternoon you will open an exhibit highlighting northern innovation at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre. Aboriginal elders, archaeologists, biologists, geologists and educators were all

involved in developing this project. The depth and breadth of northern culture will be very apparent as you tour this exhibit.

As a territory, we share your vision of an intelligent and compassionate nation where families and children are supported. To mark your visit, we are making a donation of $5,000 in your name to Breakfast for Learning Northwest Territories.

---Applause

This charity funds school-based healthy breakfasts, lunch and healthy snack programs in communities all over the Northwest Territories, to enhance learning and the healthy development of children and youth. We are pleased that our support of such important projects can be highlighted at this time.

On behalf of the people of the Northwest Territories, welcome to Yellowknife, the Legislative Assembly. Mahsi, merci, quannamiik, thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Thank you, once again, Your Excellency. It’s an honour to have you address this Assembly.

The House will now recess and we invite all our guests to remain and join us for a reception in the Great Hall and a special presentation of the Massey Medal.

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Good afternoon, colleagues. Before we get started today I’d like to send some condolences out to Marlene Edgi, who lost her husband, Louis, who passed away last week. I went to high school with Louis in Grollier Hall for three years and he was a good friend and one of my distant relatives. Thoughts and prayers are with Marlene and her three children, Megan, Colby and Lucas. He’s going to be sadly missed by all.

The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise on a point of order under Section 23(k) where it speaks to the use of abusive or insulting language of a nature likely to create disorder. Section 23(l) speaks disrespectfully of Her Majesty, any member of the Royal Family, His Excellency the Governor General, the Commissioner, the Assembly, or any Member. Section 23(m) introduces any matter in debate that offends the practices and precedence of this Assembly.

Yesterday during the debate in this House during Members’ statements as well as during question period, Mr. Bromley used the term that I think contravenes those sections. I would like to draw Members’ attention to unofficial Hansard page 12,

“According to our Greenhouse Gas Strategy, the GNWT is prepared to allow our emissions to surge by almost 100 percent above 1990 levels by 2020. Given what we know, such policy followed through by any jurisdiction would constitute a crime against humanity.”

In addition, during question period, on page 19 of unedited Hansard, Mr. Bromley in one of his questions said the following: “…what words does the Minister have to explain our policies, which essentially amount to a crime against humanity…?” I indicated in my response to him that I took some exception to that and I went upstairs and I got a definition of crimes against humanity. A crime against humanity is an international criminal justice offence, the perpetration of acts of war, a pawn, a civilian, a non-soldier populace, a term used by, within and so defined by the International Criminal Court Treaty and including any of the following acts: murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, or forcible transfer of population, imprisonment, or other severe deprivation of physical liberty, torture, rape, persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic and religious grounds. The list goes on.

I believe that those words uttered by Mr. Bromley in this House contravene our rules; they bring disrespect to this Assembly; they bring this Assembly into disrepute; it lowers the level of debate; it casts egregious and invidious implications on this Assembly, this Cabinet, all of us Members present and past who have agreed to and supported the work of this government. It definitely calls into question and colours and brings disrespect to the members of the government, the thousands of good employees we have who work hard on behalf of the people of the Northwest Territories.

I think these words are unacceptable. I find them deeply offensive to us, to myself personally and to all the Members of this House. I would ask that you review Hansard and that Mr. Bromley withdraw those comments and should apologize to this House.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. I’d allow some debate on the point of order. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m glad to hear those comments from the Minister that are brought to the floor of the House. In fact, I was planning on tabling today a definition of the crimes against humanity as defined by the International Criminal Court. Indeed, as the Minister left off, there are other details to the definition. I’d like to just read into the record, if I may, some of those details on which my remarks were based.

The definition includes under Section (k) of the definition, “Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or

serious injury to body or to mental or physical health.” The Rome Statute Explanatory Memorandum states: “The crimes against humanity are particularly odious offences in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity, or grave humiliation, or a degradation of one or more human beings. They are not isolated or sporadic events, but are part either of a government policy – although the perpetrators need not identify themselves with this policy – or of a wide practice of atrocities tolerated or condoned by a government or defacto authority.

The definition goes on to include: “Humane acts reach the threshold of crimes against humanity only if they are part of a widespread or systematic practice.” It was within that context that I was saying this government, if we allow our greenhouse gas emissions to increase by 100 percent from 1990 levels or 66 percent above 2005 as stated in our Greenhouse Gas Strategy, that we are in fact participating in a series of events in a policy and actions that are equivalent to crimes against humanity.

It is well documented that if you look on the World Health Organization recent estimate was 150,000 deaths per year as a result of climate change. Other estimates are immediately available in the order of 300,000 to 315,000 in 2009 per year. Millions of people have died of government policies that have allowed, despite their knowledge, we know what is needed to achieve an end to this policy that is killing people, and species, and the future of our children and ourselves. It’s happening right now as we speak.

I also want to note that they have a clause in there that provided those offences are part of a consistent pattern of misbehaviour by a number of persons linked to that offender. I’ll leave it at that. I’ll look forward to your judgment.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. To the point of order. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll just be very brief. I understand that Mr. Bromley feels very, very passionately about the environment and this is something that we have come to know is very dear to his heart. I do applaud his efforts and representations on behalf of the protection of the environment.

Crimes against humanity, as they are understood by the average person without these extensive explanations, are things that we see that occur in countries where they have civil war and all kinds of very direct attacks on human people. There are sins of omission and there are sins of commission. Maybe this government and maybe the Canadian government has not done as much as they could, and been as proactive as they could, but to make the leap from not doing that to saying that this is

crimes against humanity and targeting a specific government, vis-à-vis our government, I think is an exaggeration.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. To the point of order. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I had heard the same words spoken in the House yesterday and it, too, did draw my attention to the concern of using the phrase “crimes against humanity.” At the time I actually reached for my trusty green book of Beauchesne’s Rules of Order to think is this proper language in this type of conduct.

I think Mrs. Groenewegen described the circumstances quite right: The everyday person would define crimes against humanity in the context of genocide and other types of horrific crimes that have happened in places like Rwanda that are terribly shameful and are a stain on humanity.

That said, I do agree with the assertion that this is offensive to the House under 23(k), in my opinion, and certainly under 23(m). I support the point of order.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was offended, I guess, when Mr. Bromley lumped us all together as being somebody like Hitler or Pol Pot or General Radek because he doesn’t like our Greenhouse Gas Policy. I think if he doesn’t like our policy, I’m sure he could have voiced his displeasure in other ways rather than likening us to some of these despots that have murdered millions of people.

On that note, I think that’s very inflammatory language and goes against the rules of this House.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. To the point of order. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate this opportunity. The only thing I would add is that an important part of it is that we do so knowledgably. This government is a very educated government. We are a very privileged nation and a very rich nation and our emissions are obviously off the scale in terms of a global comparison. I hope that you will include consideration of the millions and millions of families who are suffering as a result of government policies that allow our emissions to cause such climate change, including our youth delegation in Durban.

On the comment about emission and commission, I think the most important point there is that we know exactly what’s needed to prevent climate change and yet our policy here is going in exactly the opposite direction. What I’m talking about is the

deaths and suffering and the loss of our future for our people. If that is not a crime against humanity I do not know what is.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. On the point of order. Thank you, Members. I’ll take this matter under advisement and report back to the House at a later date.

Moving on. Item 2, Ministers’ statements. Minister Miltenberger.

Thank you. Mr. Speaker, it would be nice to be able to announce that we are starting the 17th Legislative

Assembly with a booming economy and enough fiscal resources to make all the strategic investments we need to further strengthen the economy.

Such is not the case. We have recently weathered one recessionary storm and another one is looming. While our economy is showing some signs of recovery, stimulus spending has left us with limited funds for new programs and services. As we approach the federally imposed borrowing limit, we have little room left to adjust for revenue or expenditure shocks.

Economy

As we move into 2012, there are signs that some parts of the NWT economy are beginning a modest recovery from the financial and economic crisis that struck four years ago. Our economy has stabilized one-fifth below its pre-crisis peak. Some sectors have done better than others. Our wholesalers have recovered half of their losses and our retailers have recovered one-third of their lost sales. On a more positive note, the number of people employed has almost fully recovered.

Over the course of 2011, forecasters have revised their economic outlooks downward for many countries, including Canada. Economic uncertainty is a global reality at the moment with the debt crises in Europe and the ongoing fiscal and economic challenges in the United States.

Exports of non-renewable resources make up almost half of our economy, which means that international economic events have a major impact on the NWT. Right now we are experiencing economic uncertainty because of the fragility of the international financial system, the high value of the Canadian dollar and limited access to international markets. These factors all have negative implications for our exporting industries and, therefore, for NWT businesses and employment.

Fiscal Situation is Stable Only with Strict Control

The GNWT entered the global economic slowdown in 2008 in a stable fiscal situation and through strict control of expenditures was able to maintain our fiscal position while making significant infrastructure investments. These investments helped to partially offset the slowdown in the private sector activity and at a lower cost than would have been possible in a booming economy.

This does not mean that we can relax. Careful control of our expenditures is necessary to ensure that our operations remain sustainable, especially given the uncertainty with respect to our revenues and our closeness to the federally imposed borrowing limit.

Major pressures like the completion of the Deh Cho Bridge, cost pressures faced by NTPC, the potential impact of federal Justice crime legislation and the negotiation of four collective bargaining agreements add significantly to this challenge.

While our revenue forecasts to 2015-16 have not changed materially since the 2011-12 budget, we are forecasting that the growth in revenues will be less than we were forecasting last February. The slowdown in our economy could slow population growth and, therefore, has an impact on Territorial Formula Financing and tax revenues.

Our current budget planning horizon was developed using three assumptions:

•

Expenditure growth will be tightly managed this

year. This means that only $32 million a year is available to address increased program costs and demands and any new spending.

•

Planning for capital investment in core GNWT,

community and housing infrastructure will be reduced but stabilized at approximately $137.5 million per year, starting in 2012-13.

•

Short-term debt will need to be used until the

government starts recovering its cash resources in the next few years.

Our fiscal situation is tight and we are keenly aware of the risks to our forecast and economic uncertainty in the world at large. We are currently managing within our fiscal resources but we need to remain committed to this principle in order to continue to prudently manage our budget, should, as some suggest, our economy recover slower than anticipated.

Looking Forward – Investments for the Future Need Increased Borrowing Limit

The 17th Legislative Assembly has a fiscal strategy

that will gradually add more space between our ability to borrow and the borrowing limit. We are building fiscal room so that we can start to address the inadequacy of our capital budget without

compromising our existing programs and services or revenue increases.

Minister Flaherty has proposed a new definition for the territorial borrowing limits to be described in federal regulations, which provides more clarity to what is considered borrowing for the purposes of the limit. The current limit will be adjusted to recognize the new borrowing instruments identified by these regulations.

The proposed new limit does not address the adequacy of the current borrowing limit. We have long argued that the borrowing limit should be based on the principle of affordability as we have conservatively defined it in our Fiscal Responsibility Policy. We are working with the federal government in a reassessment of the current limit and expect resolution by the end of this fiscal year.

If we achieve a satisfactory increase in the borrowing limit, we will be able to make some additional, but targeted, strategic infrastructure investments to build a strong and sustainable economic future for the territory. To be clear, we must still manage our expenditures on programs and services within our existing resources. We do not intend to borrow from the future to pay for the services that we use today. An increased limit, however, will allow us to make the strategic infrastructure investments that will help achieve success in the specific priorities that this Assembly has developed.

The success of this Assembly to realize our vision will require that we find the means to make investments in key priority areas such as transportation, health and social services, alternative energy and housing. The proposed fibre optic cable from Fort Simpson to Inuvik is another exciting opportunity that will allow us to diversify into new knowledge-based industries at the same time we improve community connectivity along the Mackenzie Valley.

Conclusion

Our fiscal challenges are not unique and we are not shrinking from them. We have built a sustainable operation and are aware of our fiscal risks. We are managing those risks and are prepared as can be, given the fragile state of the global economy and the many things we do not control.

This government and the Legislative Assembly are dedicated to a vision of strong individuals, and families and communities sharing the benefits and responsibilities of a unified, environmentally sustainable and prosperous Northwest Territories. We will maintain a stable fiscal environment that will allow us to make the necessary decisions to turn this vision into a reality. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The traditional economy plays a key role in diversifying our territorial economy and providing all communities and regions with opportunities and choices, a goal of the 17th Legislative Assembly.

Through the Genuine Mackenzie Valley Furs Program, the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment works in partnership with Northwest Territories trappers, the fur industry and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to support the territory’s traditional fur economy. The NWT is well known for its quality furs and I am pleased to report that the current market for our northern furs and the prices they are commanding is excellent.

This year the Government of the Northwest Territories is doubling the number of fur pelts trappers can claim under the Grubstake Program, from 200 to 400 pelts per trapper. The program offsets a portion of trappers’ start-up costs at the beginning of the next season.

This increase is in direct response to requests from our productive trappers. Not only will it provide them with additional start-up funds, it will also stimulate increased production of wild fur.

Grubstake funds are in addition to the guaranteed advance payment and the prime fur bonus payment.

Trappers who ship their well-handled fur through the Genuine Mackenzie Valley Furs Program will receive a guaranteed advance payment. If the fur sells for less than the advance, the program absorbs the costs. However, if the fur sells for more than the advance, the trapper receives additional money plus a prime fur bonus payment as an incentive to deliver high quality, well-handled fur pelts. The program’s guaranteed advance for seal skins is especially important in the Beaufort-Delta communities since the European Union banned their import.

Training is vital to ensure continued success in the international fur market. This December, trapper workshops will be held throughout the North Slave region. Workshops demonstrate industry best practices in pelt handling and fur grading and help to ensure the wild fur harvest in the NWT remains of the highest quality.

I also want to take this opportunity to recognize the recipients of the Trapper Recognition Awards. Awards are given to the top senior and junior trappers, as well as the trapper with the most pelts and the most market sales in each region.

For the first time, this year the top Youth Trapper Award went to a female: Ms. Marilyn Maring of

Inuvik. Congratulations to all the winners on their well-deserved awards.

By continuing to work with communities and through the responsible development of natural resources in the NWT, we will continue to work towards creating a prosperous, diverse and sustainable economy that will benefit NWT trappers, their families and their communities for years to come. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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