Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Improving workplace safety is not an easy task but is a crucial part of all of our lives. Every one of us knows somebody who has been seriously hurt or even killed at work. When it happens, it can be a heart-wrenching tragedy for the worker, the family, co-workers and the businesses involved.

Northerners have been working under our current Safety Act and the current regulations since 1990, with only a few minor changes in 1992. It’s high time that we revisit them. In 2008 the Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission’s Minister appointed a Safety Advisory Committee to do just that. A special construction industry representative was added this January. The committee reviewing the regulations has done a tremendous amount of work.

There have been concerns raised in the public with respect to the draft regulations that have been released for discussion. Some members of the public have felt that the proposed regulations are not in the best interest of northern businesses or employees. This is a public process and input from stakeholders is critical to ensuring that the final product and final regulations are in the best interest of the public, employees and employers.

There are many improvements proposed within the draft regulations that will bring us in line with advances across Canada. There will be a single set of regulations where there used to be a handful. Worksite health and safety committees will be stronger and deal with more issues firsthand. Prevention will be emphasized. Requirements for personal protective equipment will be updated. The regulations should be better and easier to enforce. Yes, standards for cold weather work need to be sorted out. Concerns need to be addressed. Yes, definitions should be clear, such as what constitutes construction, maintenance and so on. I have confidence that the Safety Advisory Committee, with feedback from the people of the Northwest Territories, will get the job done.

The deadline for input into these regulations is now March 31st , extended from October. The deadline

has been extended twice now. I urge everyone with an interest in workplace safety to take a look at the draft regulations on the WSCC website and take the time to share their knowledge and insight. Our workers and employers deserve the best.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There’s a one-of-a-kind community volunteer that stands out from them all and that’s the firefighters that are asked to conduct exercises in gruelling conditions and asked to risk their lives in the name of community protection. In addition, they are asked to fundraise for their equipment. In a world where firefighting equipment is becoming more costly, hamlets all across the Territories, such as Tuktoyaktuk, Sachs Harbour, Ulukhaktok and Paulatuk, have not had increases in specific firefighting budgets in the last five years.

As I expressed during previous statements in this House, our small and remote communities are still ill-equipped to fight fires. The approach that our departments are taking to let the fires burn is just to control it. Our communities are not on the offensive, they’re always on the defensive. This is unacceptable, considering all the small and remote communities are the most susceptible to house fires and have the highest number of deaths per capita in Canada. You’d think this government would be working with our local fire marshals in the communities to get this sorted out.

Tuktoyaktuk alone will need to replace eight Scott Air Packs and 12 bunker suits. My office did a quick search regarding the cost for standard firefighting equipment. To replace one Scott Air Pack is $6,000. Every cost to the community government is too expensive. It’s $20,000 to replace those Scott Air Packs. The protective suits are $2,000 each. Replacing one would be $6,000 and I’m not even mentioning the related fire truck. I’m not a certified accountant, but I can see that all these add up to the community.

Other hamlets and fire chiefs told me that they’re still experiencing major technical problems with the fire truck, in addition to the garage and keeping their equipment heated and always under repair. Why is this government continuing to place fire services for small and remote communities on the backburner? Why are they always playing the blame game and saying the responsibility is the local government?

I’ve visited Nunakput communities enough to know that each community desperately needs a complete overhaul of their halls.

I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

We need to desperately overhaul completely the fire halls in our remote communities. What I’m especially concerned about is the lack of equipment and resources for community firefighters to enter a house and search for people trapped in the fire. I hope no community

or firefighter in the NWT will have to experience this, but if they do, we must equip them. They’re risking their lives to service and protect our communities. At least we can train them and equip them accordingly.

I will have questions for the Minister at the appropriate time.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In February of last year I made a statement in this House in relation to the Government of the Northwest Territories contracting practices. Today I’d like to follow up on that statement.

The number I cited last year of roughly $53 million being handed out through sole-sourced means has gone up by nearly $5 million, to $58 million in the government’s latest contract registry.

Going through the latest contract registry leads me to the same conclusions I made last year: one, we have an addiction to consultants; two, our staff are taking on too much contract management and administration duties; three, we hire far too many former employees; and four, we sole source way too often which clouds transparency in contracting.

Some highlights of this year’s report on contracting include almost $6,000 spent on a sole-sourced contract for a local lodge to record the daily weather -- that’s ENR; $45,000 sole sourced to set up a camp in Baker Lake, which is in Nunavut -- that’s ENR; $8,000 to Prince Albert Grand Council community observers to look at the Beverly caribou herd; and $23,000 sole sourced for what is called photo interpretation. ECE is also spending $6,500 on an air charter to the Tahera mine site, again located in Nunavut. Strategic advice coming in with a $56,000 price tag in the Executive; $120,000 spent on telecommunications regulatory expertise in the Executive. There was $43,500 spent on what is called the Neutron Activation Analysis by ITI.

I always find it interesting in going through the contract registry both by what is in there and what is not in there. For example, the Deh Cho Bridge contract with Ruskin. If it was signed prior to March 31, 2010, should it not show up in that contract registry? It’s nowhere to be found. Also, if North Slave Correctional Centre has been without a clinical psychologist for the entire reporting period, where is the evidence in this registry that we contracted those services? There’s a little bit, but there’s not very much. As was suggested by the Minister of Justice just the other day, we have been contracting that service. Where is it?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Sadly, rates of spousal abuse in the Northwest Territories are 5 percent higher than the national average. In 2007, 88 percent of Northerners said that they are concerned about family violence in their community.

Since 2008, the V-Day North Campaign has worked to combat this trend. V-Day is a global movement to stop violence against women and girls. In 2010, volunteers produced 5,400 V-Day events in over 140 countries and educated millions of people about violence against women. V-Day North is a group of Yellowknife men and women who put together creative events to create awareness and raise money for anti-violence organizations.

I’d like to take this opportunity to encourage the public to attend any or all of the upcoming events in Yellowknife. These include a live comedy event on February 19th at the Top Knight; a documentary film

screening on February 28 at the Capitol Theatre; a play, A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and A Prayer, by Eve Ensler, that runs from March 10th through 12th at the Top Knight.

Mr. Speaker, 90 percent of the proceeds from ticket sales are divided between the Alison McAteer House and the Centre for Northern Families in Yellowknife. The remaining portion goes to the 2011 Women and Girls of Haiti Spotlight Campaign that helps address the high levels of sexual violence against women following the earthquake and devastation back in January 2010.

Violence is a destructive force in our community and ignoring it will not make it go away. V-Day brings the issue to the front and centre and I encourage all Northerners to get out and support the people who are working to change that. Mr. Speaker, this is not a legacy we wish to leave our young people. Accordingly, it’s time to distinguish ourselves as leaders in the struggle against violence against women.

Mr. Speaker, I’ve certainly not given up hope on this particular issue and, in turn, let’s not remove the hope of our future generations that we can work to stop violence against all women. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister for Deh Cho, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wanted to take the opportunity today to thank two hardworking Pages that are here from the biggest little school in the Northwest Territories, the Kakisa Territorial School. The school is a very small school. It has nine students this year. It has a very high standard for their students. They work hard to support them.

Today we have Dalton Simba and Joey Lacorne-Chicot with us. They’ve been here all week. They’ve come in with their chaperone, Patrick Chicot, on Sunday. They’ve had the opportunity to take in the sights of Yellowknife and enjoy Chinese food and pizza and movies. They’ve been working very hard and they’re doing a very good job.

I had an opportunity to go visit them during the Christmas holidays during the Christmas concert and, certainly, the whole school put on a very entertaining two-hour solid performance, with singing and dancing and a lot of fiddle players. I think every student in that school has a fiddle and they all are learning to play. On a per capita basis, they probably have the most fiddlers around the Northwest Territories.

I wanted to say thank you to them. They both came all spiffed up for this occasion, both wearing the traditional garb of new moccasins, and if you look close, one of them has an NWT crest beaded on the front of it. They’re dressed very appropriate for today and all week.

I wanted to wish them a safe trip home and also say thank you to yourself, Mr. Speaker, and all your staff for accommodating them and allowing a program such as the Paging Program to get them into Yellowknife and do some work for us and see how our sessions are conducted. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 4, reports of standing and special committees. Item 5, returns to oral questions. Item 6, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I am very happy that my older sister Elizabeth “Betty” Hardisty is in the gallery here today. She lives in Fort Simpson. I’d like to recognize her and thank her for her support all throughout the years. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to take advantage of the opportunity to recognize two constituents already recognized by the Minister of Education, but they’re from Thebacha: Vance Sanderson and Dorothy Desjarlais. I would like to thank them for their work with the Aboriginal languages and welcome them to the House.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I too want to recognize constituents from the birthplace of ice hockey in Canada, the Sahtu region. I’d like to recognize Ann Kochon-Orlias from Colville Lake, Dolphus Tutcho from Deline and Theresa Etchinelle from Tulita. I’d also like to recognize Dora Grandejambe. I know her heart is in Fort Good Hope but her work is here in Yellowknife. I’d like to recognize some family and friends here also.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to welcome Margaret Leishman, who is a strong proponent of the Aboriginal languages in the Deh Cho, to the House today. I also wanted to recognize a former resident of Fort Providence, Mr. Albert Canadian, who recently published a book called Leshamie. I encourage everyone to buy it. It’s good reading. I also wanted to recognize Percy Hardisty

from the Deh Cho region. He’s done a lot of work with MVERB, and, of course, his wife, Betty Hardisty, who’s here to check on her little brother. So he’s on his best behaviour. Welcome. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s my pleasure, as well, to recognize members of the Aboriginal Languages Revitalization Board and the Aboriginal Languages Board, and particularly a Frame Lake constituent, Dora Grandejambe, whose heart may be in Good Hope but she’s here now. I’d also like to recognize Nadine Koe, a friend who I worked very hard with on Arctic Winter Games in 2008. Thank you.

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