Good morning, colleagues. Welcome back to the Chamber. Orders of the day. Item 2, Ministers’ statements. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, the Mackenzie Gas Project has the potential to create substantial economic benefits for the people of the Northwest Territories, helping us to make real progress towards this Assembly’s goal of a diversified northern economy providing opportunities and choices for our residents. As Members of this House are aware, we have reached a key milestone in the regulatory review of the project. On December 16, 2010, the National Energy Board released their reasons for a decision on the Mackenzie Gas Project, concluding that the project is in the public interest and should be built. We anticipate that the federal government will approve this decision in the near future.

This brings us closer to building the Mackenzie Valley Gas Project than ever before. When the pipeline is built, the Northwest Territories has a great opportunity to showcase the sustainable development potential of our Territory, to grow the economy of the Northwest Territories and Canada, and contribute to efforts geared towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions by reducing our dependence on diesel fuels.

The National Energy Board attached 264 conditions to the approval of the Mackenzie Gas Project in areas such as engineering, safety and environmental protection. A number of these recommendations will require active participation by the Government of the Northwest Territories to ensure these objectives are met.

The Government of the Northwest Territories support for the Mackenzie Gas Project includes a

number of strategic objectives all aimed at building a prosperous economy and minimizing any possible negative impacts to our residents, communities and the environment. This is consistent with our plan to maximize the benefits of development, as outlined in the government’s strategic plan. As such, we agreed to support the Mackenzie Gas Project provided that the construction and operation of the project is undertaken in an environmentally and economically sustainable manner, that Northwest Territories residents and businesses will benefit from this development over time, and that the project is undertaken in a way that encourages exploration and development of the basin. I am happy to report that all three objectives have been reflected in the National Energy Board conditions for approval.

The National Energy Board requires the project proponents to file an updated cost estimate and report on their decision to build the pipeline by December 31, 2013, and that actual construction of the Mackenzie Gas must begin no later than 2015. These time frames will help us ensure that the people and businesses of the Northwest Territories are prepared to take advantage of the unprecedented opportunities that this project and related activities the project will bring.

Now that the major socio-economic and environmental regulatory reviews for the Mackenzie Gas Project are finished, we are closer than ever before to bringing this project to life. For the past few years the Government of the Northwest Territories has made significant investments in preparing Northwest Territories residents and communities for the eventuality of the Mackenzie Gas Project. These investments have yielded tremendous results.

The Government of the Northwest Territories’ policies and positions in relation to the Mackenzie Gas Project during the Joint Review Panel and National Energy Board hearings were developed efficiently and effectively. Comprehensive information related to the Mackenzie Gas Project was consistently communicated to various audiences throughout the Northwest Territories and we have developed excellent relationships with all project stakeholders.

While we are happy with the progress made, we also acknowledge that a lot of work remains to be

done on this project before a decision to construct can be made by the proponents.

From this point forward, the Government of the Northwest Territories will be working on the implementation of the commitments made and the joint government response to the Joint Review Panel report, responding to conditions provided by the National Energy Board and their reasons for decision, and preparing for the coordination and processing of the many permits that will be required prior to a decision to construct.

We need the economic support of the federal government and the project proponents to move this project forward and make it a reality. The Government of the Northwest Territories is committed to working with all parties to bring this vital project to the next level and we call on the federal government to join us in facilitating this nation-building project for Canada.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to conclude my statement by emphasizing, once again, that the construction and operation of the Mackenzie Gas Project in an environmentally and socially responsible way will generate tremendous long-term benefits for the residents of the Northwest Territories and for Canada. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Later today I will be tabling the Government of the Northwest Territories response to the Standing Committee on Social Programs report on the review of the Child and Family Services Act. The act is a key piece of legislation that regulates many of our Territory’s programs and services for children.

The current act represents and speaks to this government’s values and beliefs regarding children. I believe the Standing Committee report focuses on the issue of enhancing supports to children, and their families and communities. I am pleased that the recommendations support and enhance the extensive consultation undertaken in developing the act. While the recommendations show there is room for improvement in how we deliver services, they also confirm that the act is still very much relevant.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the standing committee on the work they did as well as to all of the participants. Health and Social Services staff that accompanied the standing committee on their tour have commented how

heartfelt and sometimes painful the participants’ presentations were. I commend the people that came forward to speak, for their honesty and their courage. In addition, I would like to thank all the members and the staff of the standing committee for working with Health and Social Services staff and allowing them to be part of the process.

Mr. Speaker, overall, we support the recommendations. They will improve services to children, which is the heart of the matter. The focus on supporting families and increasing community involvement to avoid children coming into care is particularly important. This is one of the priorities in the Health and Social Services action plan, A Foundation for Change, where we are committed to improving services for children in care.

Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories has responded positively to the majority of the recommendations. Some recommendations will require additional funding and some will require a review and analysis of the legislation. The Department of Health and Social Services is planning on moving forward immediately on 22 recommendations that are within its mandate and do not require additional financial or human resources to implement.

The full response of the government outlines which recommendations are ready to move forward and which will require additional support or funding. Mr. Speaker, where additional resources are required, these recommendations will have to be advanced through the regular GNWT business planning process and be decided along with other competing GNWT priorities at that time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to provide Members and the public with an update on the Deh Cho Bridge.

Construction has reached a key milestone with the launch of the truss, a key component of the bridge superstructure. The truss is a continuous steel assembly that connects each of the piers and will eventually carry the concrete deck panels and asphalt driving surface. Launching of the truss is the process of assembling the steel members onshore and then pushing them in a continuous line out from the shore to span the piers. Once the truss is in place the contractor will erect the two towers, string the massive cables that will support the centre span and install the prefabricated deck panels. It is expected that the north side superstructure will be completed by spring breakup.

The centre span and the south side truss will be assembled and launched in the summer. I encourage everyone to visit the Deh Cho Bridge website to track the progress of the final phase of construction.

Mr. Speaker, there was a six-week delay in the delivery of critical bridge components that, coupled with the timing of the ice breakup, has caused the contractor to look for ways of saving time. We expect a revised schedule at the end of February, once additional information is known from the truss launch that is currently underway. The contractor is currently making good progress, with the truss now resting on the second permanent pier. It is expected that construction materials, including the steel truss, towers and concrete deck panels, will be on site prior to the spring breakup. This will facilitate the timely re-engagement in the work once the river is clear of ice, and we will continue to plan and work towards a November 2011 completion date.

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Transportation recently released the Levelton Report. This is an audit of the work completed prior to the GNWT assuming control of the project. The report is available on the Deh Cho Bridge website and the Levelton Report presented 14 findings and recommendations. In response, the department, in consultation with the project management team, has developed a comprehensive action plan. Almost half of the items are now resolved and the remaining are underway. The work underway includes:

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completion of a design continuity check to

ensure the input and the modifications from the three official engineers of record for the project is coordinated;

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remediation of the scour rock protection at the base of the piers;

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completion of an in-situ testing and inspection of the bridge components produced by ATCON that were not subject to a consistent quality control program;

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inspection and, if required, repair of a minor cavity that may exist on the top of Pier 3 South.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to assure everyone that all of the issues that have been identified by the Levelton audit will be addressed without affecting the safety or integrity of the bridge or the progress of construction, and we will have sufficient funds in the project security account to cover the remedial work.

Mr. Speaker, I also note that the Auditor General of Canada is conducting her midpoint performance audit of the Deh Cho Bridge Project, which will be made available soon. The audit was requested by the Members of the Legislative Assembly. The Department of Transportation and other GNWT officials cooperated fully with the Office of the

Auditor General and provided her all the documents and details requested to ensure access to all relevant information.

I hope we can finally concentrate on the prize at hand: the opening of the Deh Cho Bridge. This will be an inspiring structure that will be an icon for generations to come. Thank you. Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 3, Members’ statements. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Dene people and their leaders are feeling very under-represented by this government with respect to the Premier signing the agreement-in-principle on lands and resources. Mr. Speaker, whose land are we talking about? The original landowners for most of this great Territory are Dene. In the Akaitcho Territory, land claim negotiations with the federal government are far from being settled and yet this government, with the federal government support, wants to take control of Dene land and resources before these negotiations to be completed. Mr. Speaker, yes, it comes with a promise: we will give you back some of the land when you complete your negotiations with the federal government.

Mr. Speaker, the track record of such promises to the Dene is not good. This promise does not sit well with the Dene leadership in Tu Nedhe and Akaitcho. The Akaitcho said that once things are signed off, it is very difficult to delete or add to the final agreement. No wonder, Mr. Speaker. When this government, who sits on land claim negotiation tables, the leaders in Tu Nedhe and elsewhere tell me that the GNWT negotiators are harder to make progress with than the federal government negotiators. It will get even worse as this government takes control of the land and resources in the regions with unsettled land claims.

Mr. Speaker, the GNWT trying to achieve devolution is not the problem as long as it’s with the Aboriginal governments. The land and resources of the Northwest Territories should be managed by our own governments. We can do a better job than is being done now. The problem is that this government is not including all of the citizens in this work, only some.

Mr. Speaker, we see that most Aboriginal governments, from one end of the Territory to the other, feel left out. They are not signing the AIP. Even in regions with settled land claims, most Aboriginal leaders refuse to sign the AIP. They, too,

say it is not a good deal for them and the people they represent. There are too many uncertainties.

I have not listed all the reasons, Mr. Speaker, but here are a few:

Mr. Beaulieu, your time for your Member’s statements has expired.

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

---Unanimous consent granted

Mr. Speaker, this AIP has damaged relationships between Aboriginal, territorial and federal governments; the federal resource revenue is much larger; the share of federal resource revenue is much larger than both the Aboriginal and territorial governments’ share.

Our cost of regulating development could easily be much more than the federal government will transfer to pay for it. So in the future we as a GNWT and the Aboriginal governments could be facing costs that we cannot cover. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to speak about the issue of dredging in the Hay River.

Mr. Speaker, as you well know, Hay River has a long history as a transportation hub. Hay River is located where it is today due to the waterways that it sits on: the south shore of Great Slave Lake and at the mouth of the Hay River. Mr. Speaker, the federal government used to play a very large role and had a large presence in Hay River with their Public Works dredging operations, and then quite a number of years back they held a big auction sale. They sold all their barges, all their dredges, all their floats, all their equipment and turned the property over either to the territorial government or the Town of Hay River. Since that time, Mr. Speaker, no one has taken responsibility for the dredging program and this plays havoc with getting into the harbour in Hay River.

Hay River has been the starting point of the tug and barge operation, which carries freight down the Mackenzie River and to points east and west beyond. The Canadian Coast Guard has a large installation in Hay River and brings their large ships in and out. The commercial fishermen have boats, which mean that they need access to the Hay River harbour. Recreational boaters need access to the harbour.

Mr. Speaker, the island that is growing in the mouth of the Hay River is also a concern for the spring flooding that occurs. As that island grows, it has an impact on where the water can go when the Hay River floods.

For all of these reasons, it is extremely important that somebody is on top of the issue of dredging the mouth of the Hay River. Mr. Speaker, there may be consultations going on, there may be funding available, there may be things that I’m not aware of, but people in Hay River are extremely concerned about this. So today I would like to ask the Minister of Transportation questions about what is the role of this government and the Department of Transportation in ensuring that we continue to have a clear waterway to access the harbour in Hay River and that this island that is building used to be called Seagull Island when it was a lot smaller -- I don’t know what it’s going to be called now -- you can practically walk halfway to Fort Providence now without getting wet.

Anyway, it’s a real concern and it’s a real problem. So I’m going to have questions today for the Minister of Transportation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last week I was lucky enough to witness a little bit of history, a big piece of history for the NWT. Of course, I refer to the signing of the devolution agreement-in-principle last Wednesday. I fully support the principle of devolution and I believe that it was right to sign the agreement, but I am deeply troubled by the deep divide between the GNWT and the Aboriginal governments that has resulted from this event.

This relationship break has been building for some time, Mr. Speaker, and hindsight is 20/20, but we can now see that the Premier has failed with the Regional Leaders’ Forum process. He’s failed to adequately communicate with NWT residents about the AIP. We’re left with uninformed opinions, opposing views, entrenched positions and mistrust all across the Territory. Residents and community leaders are searching for the facts, real and valid info, wanting to be reassured, to find something they can believe in. I think our people are now dazed and confused, to quote a movie title from 1993. They don’t know who to believe and they’re looking for the real answers.

Earlier this week the Premier was asked about his and the government’s plans to explain the AIP and the next steps in devolution to NWT residents. From his answers, it seems that there will be letters

to regional leaders, an info bulletin mailed out to NWT households, and advertising and info through the media. I have major concerns about this communication plan. History has proven to us that these tactics do not work.

Mr. Menicoche suggested the other day that the Premier needs to take this issue on the road, that his constituents want face-to-face communication. I could not agree more with this approach. That’s what’s missing in the Premier’s plan: the personal element. There needs to be conversation with our residents, not at them. There needs to be a travelling road show on devolution and the AIP to every one of our 33 communities. Sure, it’s a big job, a time-consuming job, but if the Premier truly believes that all parties should be at the devolution negotiations table and he truly desires to fix these broken relationships to get us out of the mess we’re in, then he will put a better communication plan in motion and he will reach out in person to our residents. He cannot wait for invitations, a part of the plan he described the other day, to go and visit leaders and communities. He must actively pursue contact with our residents eye to eye.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too would like to talk about the devolution process and the lack of coordination, consultation and respect that our Aboriginal leadership should get from a government-to-government relationship.

The Gwich’in Tribal Council submitted a letter dated April 19

th

last year to the government on issues that

they felt had to be discussed prior to a devolution agreement-in-principle going forward. The agreement was signed, as we know, last September, with no consultation and now I’ve received a letter from the Premier to Mr. Nerysoo, some seven months after they received the letter, outlining their concerns and issues that they felt had to be addressed through the devolution process.

Consultation, negotiations and involvement mean sitting at a table and being full participants in those negotiations, not simply observers sitting on the sidelines or being consulted every once in awhile. I think it’s fundamental to improve the relationship between the Government of the Northwest Territories and its Aboriginal leaders by way of formulating a meeting ASAP, even on this weekend or whatever is coming up, to find a way to improve that relationship.

The relationship between the Aboriginal leaders and the Aboriginal communities in the Northwest

Territories is at an all-time low in the history of the Northwest Territories and its political development. I believe this government has done more harm to that relationship through this agreement-in-principle and trying to push something forward for the sake of trying to come up with an agreement without really understanding the implications and effects on the people of the Northwest Territories and the Aboriginal leadership.

At the appropriate time I will be having questions for the Premier regarding his correspondence between himself and Mr. Nerysoo.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The people of Norman Wells were in the dark on December 21

st

not just because the sun went down

early that day but because the town lost power around 5:00 p.m. and it was out for almost three hours. The backup generators did not come on.

NTPC dispatched a crew from Fort Simpson but it did not arrive in time. Where was our government?

It was 30 below and the town nearly faced a state of emergency. Where was our government?

Imperial Oil supplied power to Norman Wells and was having problems with its turbine. Imperial Oil has three turbines to support its operations. On December 21

st

only one was working and it failed.

Where was our government?

If the power had stayed out any longer, Imperial would have shut down the town’s gas line to maintain its oilfield and not the town’s. People were left without heat and electricity. The mayor said, in that situation people would have been evacuated.

Pretty soon there won’t be any turbines working in Norman Wells. In October Imperial announced that it will stop supplying gas to the town in 2014. Norman Wells is one of those communities that want to be linked to the Mackenzie Gas Pipeline but the earliest that could happen is 2018, we hope.

There are some big problems in the way we supply energy to the Sahtu, an area we have some of the greatest potential. The town has met to discuss some of the options for a way forward. Why wasn’t NTPC at this meeting? Where was the federal government that owns one-third of this oilfield and scoops millions and millions of royalties every year? Where were our governments?

The people of my region want to know what is being done to make sure they’re not ever left in the dark. Can the real governments please stand up and help my people, not only take, take, take, take? Where is our government?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to speak today about the Deh Cho Bridge Project. I appreciate the Minister’s statement here earlier today.

I was happy to see the Finance Minister mention that Regular Members will be getting an update from Minister Michael McLeod later in this session. I look forward to seeing that. I’m also looking forward to Auditor General Sheila Fraser’s report on the bridge project, which should be tabled in this House in four weeks’ time. I want to thank the Minister of Transportation and his department for all the work that they’re putting into ensuring that the project remains on time and on budget.

In anything we do in life, we should take lessons, grow, and learn from mistakes that we’ve made. I am still very troubled about how the former Deh Cho Bridge Corporation, probably with our blessing, allowed ATCON to take on a $165 million contract 3,000 miles away from its home base and not be bonded to do the work. I wonder how that’s even possible.

What we found out is that, yes, we had a $13 million guarantee from the Bank of Nova Scotia which, after ATCON entered into receivership, was made good by the Government of New Brunswick on the back of the taxpayer in New Brunswick. A construction audit was conducted by Levelton and it speaks to deficiencies in the work performed by ATCON. The question is whether the $13 million will cover the cost of the needed repairs.

I must also state, for the record, that even though Members had asked to see the report, it was posted on the department’s website and technical briefings were conducted with the media in the absence of any real briefing or update for Regular Members. I should not have to find out the report is available on-line from the local media; it should have been given to Regular Members before being posted on the department’s website.

I just want to make sure that we have guarantees in place with the current contractor, Ruskin, to ensure they are adequately bonded to do the remainder of the work. Also given the fact that there have been recent delays and the Minister states quite clearly in his statement earlier today that the contractor is looking at bringing forward a revised schedule sometime by the end of February, well, when I read between the lines, it means more time. In a mega-infrastructure project like the Deh Cho Bridge, time is obviously money. I want some assurances from the Minister that delays and cost overruns will not

fall on the taxpayer here in the Northwest Territories.

I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

I want some assurances what cost overruns will fall on the taxpayer here in the NWT, and I also want to understand why Regular Members haven’t seen a copy of the contract between Ruskin and whoever it’s with -- the Government of the Northwest Territories or maybe the former Deh Cho Bridge Corporation -- how that works, what our liabilities are in that contract, what are eligible cost overruns. I’ll be asking the Minister for that later today.

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