Please be seated. Mr. Clerk, would you ascertain whether the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories, the Honourable George L. Tuccaro, is prepared to enter the Chamber to open the Sixth Session of the 16

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Legislative Assembly.

Good afternoon colleagues. I would like to extend my thanks on behalf of all Members to the Honourable George L. Tuccaro, Commissioner of the Northwest Territories, for opening the Sixth Session of the 16

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Legislative

Assembly.

I would also like to extend the Assembly’s thanks to Mr. Daniel Gillis for his beautiful rendition of O Canada, and to Pastor Chris Watkins of the Cornerstone Pentecostal Church for leading us in prayer today. Thank you, gentlemen.

Also, colleagues, I would like to draw your attention to the attendance in the House today of one of the two honourary presiding officers of this Assembly. I would like to welcome Mr. Tony Whitford, former Commissioner, former Speaker, former Minister and former Member of this Legislative Assembly, as he takes his place today as honourary Clerk of this House.

Colleagues, I understand that much work remains to be done, so let us begin this Sixth and final session of the 16

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Legislative Assembly.

Item 3, Ministers’ statements. The honourable Member for Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to update Members and the public on the Community Access Program administered by the Department of Transportation.

Communities and residents are benefiting greatly from this program, especially in our small rural and remote communities.

The Community Access Program provides funding contributions to communities for local access roads, trails and winter roads to nearby attractions such as hunting, fishing and wood gathering areas and recreational sites. The 16

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Legislative Assembly

significantly expanded this program through the Refocusing Government Strategic Initiative, based on recommendations from the Committee on the Sustainability of Rural and Remote Communities. Beginning this fiscal year, the Community Access Program has provided contributions to communities for a wide array of projects, now including local boating and marine projects and winter access to granular resources. Also, the available funding was significantly increased from $320,000 to $1 million so that a greater number of projects can be done each year and more communities can benefit.

Mr. Speaker, our regional superintendents have been working closely with the communities in their

regions to support projects that meet local priorities, and I am pleased to report that our communities have seized the opportunity. In 2010-11 the Department of Transportation is funding 21 community-based projects across the Territory. The program has created community jobs and training opportunities that has helped build project management capacity in our communities.

Mr. Speaker, the benefits of this program extend far beyond the construction phase. These trails and dock projects provide healthy recreational opportunities for our youth and improve access to the land for traditional activities. There is also a sense of community pride and accomplishment that comes along with delivering these community-based priority projects.

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Transportation is doing its part to deliver on this Assembly’s goal of sustainable, vibrant, safe communities through the Community Access Program. This has always been a very popular program for communities and now that we are able to fund even a greater number and variety of projects that is even more popular.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the support of my colleagues in the Assembly for making additional funds available so that this important program could be expanded. While the program is fully subscribed for 2010-11, the Department of Transportation staff are continuing to work closely with community leaders to identify future projects that will be considered under the Community Access Program in 2011-12. Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 4, Members’ statements. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Deze’s decision to pause the Taltson Hydro Project to the diamond mines is undoubtedly necessary because the guaranteed market is simply not there and because they did not successfully grapple with routing issues. But there are more important and larger lessons to be learned here.

High costs and competing demands for government revenue indicate we must focus scarce public dollars on developing energy that serves our communities and directly addresses our cost of living. As well, with what we know today, we cannot continue permitting resource development projects knowing that they will add to our greenhouse gas emissions. It is equivalent to shooting ourselves in the foot.

These facts highlight two essential points. First, from now on, resource development must be

required to develop their own renewable energy sources, ideally with an eye to leaving a legacy for communities. Government’s role is to assist them with a legacy potential. Second, any project receiving public dollars must serve the public interest, reducing cost of living by expanding local and renewable energy for residents, businesses and communities.

The misplaced but well intended Taltson project ignored both of these core points. Any review that NT Energy Corporation now takes must recognize this and respond in a way that provides a sound, responsible and credible way forward. Fortunately there is already a good basis on which to found such a new direction that addresses these requirements.

Studies by the Arctic Energy Alliance prove that all of the additional power produced from an expanded Taltson could be used economically within the South Slave region itself, heating buildings and powering ground-source heat bumps where one unit of energy is used to produce four equivalent units.

Con Mine built Bluefish Hydro in the days of $5 a barrel for oil and now it is part of Yellowknife’s sustainable energy portfolio. What made economic sense then is economically and environmentally essential today, and obviously it doesn’t kill projects.

Tyhee, Avalon, Fortune Minerals, et cetera, our Hydro Corp should be suggesting viable hydro options to develop sustainable solutions with the extensive time frames they have had, which also contributes to improve community service. We are developing a Greenhouse Gas Reduction Strategy. Industry has development proposals. Let’s get out front on producing economically attractive energy and build our renewable energy future. Mahsi.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Capacity building in the Northwest Territories is more than bricks and mortar. Mr. Speaker, the whole idea of building capacity is building the most fundamental resource we have: our people.

Mr. Speaker, in a lot of our small, rural, remote communities, we are struggling to basically see the benefits of these developments, regardless if it is government contracts and services, building of houses and homes, and like the Minister of Transportation mentioned, improvement to the community access programs. Mr. Speaker, all of these programs are needed to build capacity.

Mr. Speaker, The fundamental building block of any community is its human resources and making sure that we have the human resource capacity to take on programs and services delivery and ensure the wealth remains in our communities and provides people with jobs to sustain their independence from government programs and services, and to be able to take advantage of homeownership programs and access programs to be able to get government services and build capacity for our younger students, who we have all seen an all-time increase in graduation rates in our communities. It’s one thing to graduate students, it’s also important for ourselves to ensure that through that graduation and education process we find jobs that are sustainable, meaningful and we retain those young people in our communities.

I think it’s critical as a government that we take a close look at our statistics and where we have high pockets of unemployment and high pockets of social dependency through social programs and services, whether it’s income support, and the safe, viable communities that we all talk about, are we realistically meeting that objection knowing that we have some communities well in excess of 40 percent unemployment yet other communities have less than 10 percent?

We have to look at the government’s investments in the Northwest Territories and make sure they really are achieving the goals and objectives that we set to have an economically diverse and trained workforce in the Northwest Territories. That means 33 communities in the Northwest Territories have to meet that objection and we, as government, have to do a better job to ensure that’s happening.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. During the life of the 16

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Assembly the Department

of Health and Social Services has been working towards the development of legislation for health care professionals in the Northwest Territories where only a few practitioners are employed; professions such as psychologists, chiropractors and other related allied health professions. It’s my understanding that this legislation is intended to protect these professionals’ titles as well as require the practitioners to be licensed in another Canadian jurisdiction before she or he can work here in the Northwest Territories.

As the department moves forward with this legislation, I believe it will be important to include naturopathic doctors. Naturopathic medicine blends

modern scientific knowledge with traditional, natural forms of medicine. The naturopathic philosophy is to stimulate the healing power of the body and treat the underlying causes of disease.

Across Canada more and more people are seeking and benefiting from naturopathic medical care and the number of licensed naturopathic doctors is increasing. This is true in the Northwest Territories as well. Recently, a third naturopathic doctor, originally from the South Slave, opened office here in Yellowknife. A fourth, also originally from the Northwest Territories, is expected here shortly. Residents both in Yellowknife and throughout this Territory have expressed an interest in these services.

If nothing else, the increased demand for these services and increased number of providers suggests strongly that naturopathic doctors should be included in the legislation currently being considered by the Department of Health and Social Services. Personally I suggest it be taken a step further, with more specific legislation developed towards naturopathic doctors themselves. The current legislation being developed will likely protect the titles and require certain education and licensure for practitioners, but it will miss important items which should be included to ensure that naturopathic doctors can provide optimum care to patients.

To optimize care to patients and ensure utmost safety, four things are required: first, title protection; second, clear definition of scope or practice accepted in the Northwest Territories; third, allow naturopathic medical visits to be medically tax deductible expenses; and, fourth, restricted access for scheduled natural health products and basic primary drugs which naturopathic doctors are trained to dispense as a last resort.

Later today I will be asking the Minister of Health and Social Services some questions on this topic.

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

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. On March 8

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the House of Commons Standing

Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development will begin hearings into our Member of Parliament’s Bill C-530 which changes the way the Northwest Territories borrowing limit is determined.

As all Members of this House know, right now in order to increase a borrowing limit we have to lobby Ottawa for years, a process which is unacceptable for a mature jurisdiction and a government like ours. Under Mr. Bevington’s bill, this would change

to a straightforward formula of 70 percent of all estimated revenues. This process is commonly used to determine borrowing limits. For example, under Section 7(1) of the debt regulations under the NWT Cities, Towns and Villages Act, the debt limit for a community like Inuvik or Yellowknife is set through the following formula: two times the municipal corporation’s revenue for the fiscal year minus the principal amount of the municipal corporation’s short-term debt. This process eliminates unneeded red tape and provides for fiscal capacity, which allows NWT communities to act quickly to meet the needs of its residents. Why can’t the Northwest Territories be treated the same way?

Speaking to his bill in the House of Commons, Mr. Bevington said: “It is not in the interest of people of the Northwest Territories to have its government come forward on a regular interval to beg Ottawa for an increase to the amount it has to borrow. This is not responsible government. This is not the kind of relationship we want to have with Ottawa. This is not the way that Canadians should be treated in this land today.”

Last year Moody’s Investors Service gave the NWT an Aa1 rating. This rating is the second highest in terms of credit risk. It places the NWT in line with most of the provinces and, in fact, better than many of the provinces. This is the second year in a row that Moody’s has issued the NWT such a high rating.

Our Territory is responsible; it is acting in a manner that many other provinces should emulate, yet we do not have the fiscal capacity to do the things we need to do for our Territory. Our constituencies have many needs and we have limited dollars. I hope that the Members of this House will support this bill, which gives the Northwest Territories the tools we need to continue to build a strong and beautiful part of Canada.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to speak about the situation taking place at Northland Trailer Park located here in the city of Yellowknife. Northland Trailer Park is home to 1,100 people, including close to 600 children. The issue of the aging water and sewer infrastructure is again front and centre as the trailer park continues to battle frozen lines and freeze-ups.

For the last three weeks some residents have gone with intermittent water service; water a couple of hours a day with no set schedule. The water has been out for some for a full week. This has taken a

toll on its residents. Like I said, there are close to 600 children in that trailer park. There are day homes, elderly persons, persons with disabilities, and families trying their best to cope with a life with no water.

The infrastructure in the ground should have been replaced 15 years ago. Last year the City and territorial government applied for funding from the federal government. Well, who is applying the pressure in Ottawa to get that funding? The thought of a spring federal election is making the residents of Northland Trailer Park very nervous. The infrastructure has to be replaced this coming summer. Our government might not think it’s their problem, but if there’s a catastrophic water or sewer line failure in that trailer park, we will have close to 1,100 people, 600 children, being displaced from their homes. It will become our problem.

Residents of Northland can’t even sell their homes because CMHC stopped insuring mortgage loans for homes in the park almost a year ago. To add insult to injury, residents are paying property taxes on their properties, but what is the assessed value of something you can’t sell? When Northland residents see how quick the City is to jump at the Con Geothermal Project, trying to borrow $49 million and grab the available federal dollars, just how do you explain this to people who are living without a basic service like water and can’t sell or refinance their home?

In closing, this issue has got to be addressed. We cannot continue to just hope that there is not a catastrophic failure of that water and sewer line. The breaks are occurring with much more frequency, which comes as a sure sign that a catastrophic break is not far off.

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

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]

Today I wish to speak about the students at Aurora College and the support they get from the Government of the Northwest Territories. Our students are our future and this government must do all it can to support the students. The success of the students is essential. Many of the students are mature students and have costs associated with family and children.

Currently, a family of three that needs child care services to attend school receives about $1,700 to $1,900 per month, if supported by Aboriginal organizations through the ASETS program. However, in order for these students to get child care subsidies from the government, they must

make under $1,500 per month. I’m not 100 percent sure on all of the amounts, but it takes very little income to make students ineligible for the child care subsidy.

There is a situation where constituents of mine are going to school in Fort Smith at the Thebacha Campus. They receive $1,900 a month and the department considers the total needs of only $1,500, and they, therefore, are not eligible to receive a child care subsidy. At $1,900 a month they are considered to have a budget surplus. A budget surplus. These constituents, like many other students, have to attend the food bank every two weeks because they do not make enough money to feed their families and themselves.

It is difficult financially for students to go back to school, especially with children. Total needs have to be taken into consideration, especially if child care costs are involved. Something is wrong if a student has to struggle to get a child care subsidy and if they have no choice but to go to a food bank every couple of weeks to feed their family. The bottom line is that this government must do what they can to support the students. Remember, most of these students do not get any financial support from their parents.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My Member’s statement is on a school in Sachs Harbour for students. We found a solution. We found a unit in Inuvik that we could rent for the last three months of this last semester for $1,400 a month. It’s a four-bedroom house that we could probably put bunk beds in every room, we could have 16 kids in that house in Inuvik from Sachs Harbour for high school. So I think it beats the market rent for housing for tenants and it certainly beats having students having to leave school in Inuvik and even quit school due to inadequate housing. Basically these students have already lost a year. We need to get them back on track.

Certainly, of course, the Beaufort-Delta Education Council has to cover the costs. The students will need a supervisor to keep them on an even keel. We need to have some flexibility to ensure that the students of Sachs Harbour are getting the support to succeed. This is the only right thing and the only fair thing to do.

There used to be a boarding home in Inuvik, but that closed when grade 12 was added to the school program in Paulatuk. This is wrong. This is a disadvantage to the school students of Sachs Harbour and some students in Paulatuk since the community did not get grade 12.

We say in this House that educating our young people is our top priority, yet even day to day we see young people struggling in our small communities like Sachs Harbour. High school students do not have the same opportunities that other young people do here, either in Inuvik or in Yellowknife. I want to see some action. These students from Sachs Harbour must succeed in school in Inuvik starting this fall, or getting a high school teacher in Sachs Harbour this coming year.

These kids are the future. We must help them. As a government, this government must help.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. March is Nutrition Month and according to the statement made by the Health and Social Services Minister last week, this government believes it’s adequately addressing healthy eating programs by providing support, as she put it. The Minister named a few programs which provide that support. Programs which are fine in and of themselves, but they hardly represent a coordinated targeted approach to improving healthy eating amongst our youngest children or to the significant issue of the need for prevention and early intervention amongst the same group of children.

In this budget year of 2010-2011, Members were very smart and allocated $400,000 to a nutrition and healthy eating program, a program that was delivered by Food First Foundation through our education system. What could be simpler? Minimal administrative cost because the distribution system is already in place and a contractor with a proven success in this program area. But as we heard during the 2011-12 budget review, this funding was a one-time shot never to be seen again it seems.

That is truly disturbing, Mr. Speaker. There have been many positive comments about Food First from educators in schools all across the Territory. They’ve seen the huge benefit of the program run by the Food First Foundation. Yet without any real evaluation of the pros and cons of this program, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment scrapped it without any replacement program. To quote one Yellowknife teacher: If they’re thinking of the kids, this is not a good program for them to cut.

The Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, during budget review, said “I’m sure we provide funding through various programming to the schools to deliver things such as the breakfast program and other programs.” But is it enough funding? Are the programs addressing a demonstrated need? Is the funding available to child care and day home programs? Is it a

coordinated approach across all departments? Is the focus on early intervention and prevention? The questions are many; the answers are few and far between.

Mr. Speaker, it’s well documented that the most formative years of our lives are the ones from birth to six or seven years of age, yet this government consistently applies piecemeal band-aid funding to this cohort of NWT residents. Four hundred thousand dollars is a drop in the bucket for this government’s budget, while the benefit to be gained from a $400,000 nutrition program is a tsunami.

Education, Culture and Employment must reconsider their decision to sunset the $400,000 and reinstate funding for a nutrition program in the 2011-12 budget.

I will have questions for the Minister of Education later on. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was going to speak about the naturopathic doctors and the new legislation that’s going to be coming to the Northwest Territories, but, Mr. Speaker, I will save my questions for the Minister in question period.

I want to talk about two elderly gentlemen from my region: Mr. Edward Gardebois and Mr. Tony Grandjambe, that recently passed away over the weekend.

I was very saddened to hear over the weekend that these two members from Fort Good Hope have left us. I want to say, what can you say with a two and a half minute statement of these two men here. I do want to say that Mr. Gardebois was an older gentleman in Good Hope, well known for his drumming, well known for his comical approach to situations, a very traditional man and one that never stopped learning. A couple years ago his wife was unable to scrape moose hides and do moose hides. He needed the money -- the family -- so he learned how to do moose hides. He said my wife sat there and taught me how to do the moose hides and so that’s how we make money, he says. I learned to do that. He said she’s a really good boss, so she tells me right on how to do them.

Edward was that kind of a man. He was very good. He knew what he had to do to make a living for his family, but he also looked at the good side of life.

I want to also say to the family of Tony Grandjambe that Tony was one of the original people that was involved with the Grollier Hall sexual abuse trial that happened in Inuvik in the early ‘90s. Tony was one

of them that came forward as a survivor and said this is what happened at Grollier Hall. He was one of the leaders that put together a national program with his help. Tony was a very proud man. Even though he went through this difficulty, he looked up and said I’m going to keep on going.

These two people that Fort Good Hope has lost and the Sahtu has lost, again, I want to say our prayers are with the families; our prayers are with the friends of Tony Grandjambe and Edward Gardebois. I want to say how lucky I’ve got to know them over the last couple of years. Thank you.

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