Thanks for the commitment from the Minister, once again. Mr. Speaker, last session I spoke of overlap and duplication and the development of programs for men who use violence with a GNWT program that had been developed without even the knowledge of all coalition partners. The coalition was created as a clearing house of this work and is recommending a three-year community-based pilot program to create a territorial program standard. Will the Minister commit to working with his Cabinet colleagues to support this program and ensure that the departments use the coalition forum as their partners as their focus of consultation and collaboration? Mahsi.

We will continue to work constructively with the Family Violence Coalition. We, as well, will look closely at the work that’s been done in regard to the recommendations for phase 3. As well, we are doing, at this moment, an evaluation of how effective our commitment and involvement has been and the outcomes that have been generated through the work through phase 2. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks again for the Minister’s comments. I guess I would just ask: will the Minister commit to keeping

the House apprised and committee apprised with as much faithfulness as I commit to bringing forward concerns that I hear from the coalition to the Minister? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will ensure that we work closely with the Social Programs committee and keep them apprised of events as they progress, and work as it’s done, and any milestone issues that would be in the interests of the committee to know about. Thank you.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask my questions today to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. In my Member’s statement I spoke about the Enbridge Pipeline Incorporated, the oil spill just south of Wrigley at the Willowlake River. I’d like to ask the Minister what is the role of the Department of ENR when there’s an oil spill incident and an emergency of this nature. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In a spill of this nature, the immediate folks that are involved, of course, are the owners of the pipeline. The National Energy Board has the lead. Environment and Natural Resources has a support role in that process. If it’s a significant spill, then it will trigger a broader group that will come into play, but in this case, given the size of the spill, it’s those two parties that are initially involved.

We have been working, as the Member’s aware, very closely with all government agencies as well as Enbridge and Imperial Oil in Norman Wells. In terms of the spill itself, we are being kept up to date and we are involved in making sure that the environmental concerns are going to be addressed. Thank you.

I spoke with Chief Tim Lennie last night and he said that none of our regulatory bodies or even federal regulatory bodies contacted his community to offer assistance, to advise him about the nature of the incident or anything like that. In fact, the only person that reached out was, of course, the people that spilled the oil, which is Enbridge Pipeline. I’d like to know what our government’s role is in contacting the community, offering assistance, advising them where they can go for health concerns, environmental concerns and safety concerns, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

As the full extent and impact of the spill is determined, as the

cleanup proceeds, if there’s further follow-up work that’s needed, then we will be there in our support role. If there are health concerns, then Health will be involved. But clearly at this point we’re working through and following the National Energy Board lead. At this point, the issue seems to be under control. If there are very specific community concerns from Wrigley, then I would be happy to talk to the Member about those. Thank you.

I’d like to ask the Minister to work with the National Energy Board, because even them, they did not make any contact with the chief or the residents of that community to advise of their role, how can they be of assistance to the community, because it is very significant to them. They are concerned about the environment and they’re concerned about the water. They’re concerned about public safety, but no one’s reached out and tried to deal with them and try to answer their questions there, Mr. Speaker. With that, can our government do that? Can they contact and work with their federal counterparts, the National Energy Board, and reach out and talk to the community of Wrigley and the chief there? Thank you.

I’ll commit to ensure that we encourage and push the federal agencies, in this case the National Energy Board, to become visible, to make sure that there’s adequate information and that there’s an opportunity, and if necessary, they have resources put by their people to deal with the affected communities like Wrigley. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. There was also Chief Lennie, as I indicated in my Member’s statement, who was impacted. His health was impacted. He has serious concerns. He would like to know when will the Department of Health and Social Services take a role in this incident, advise the community of the health concerns of potential H2S and the effects of just the odours, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to get some certainty that even the Department of Health and Social Services can contact the community. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I understand the spill is about 70 kilometres outside of Wrigley. If the chief has specific health concerns, then I would encourage him to contact the Deh Cho Health Authority through his community if he has those symptoms that the Member’s talking about. If there are broader issues, as well, once again, we’ll make note of those and I will ensure that the chair as well as the CEO of the Deh Cho Health and Social Services Authority is prepared to respond, if necessary. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Deputy Premier, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We should keep in mind the long list that the Member has laid out. We have active files on... We have many things on the go. All those, the pause button was hit, as it were, on the federal side as the election kicked into gear. The election is now over. As the Member said, we have now the good fortune of a majority government that will give us consistency over the next four years. We’re still waiting to find out the line-up in terms of the Cabinet. We have all these files ready to re-engage, we have a Federal Engagement Strategy. The Ministers and the Members in this House know, for the most part, their counterparts know, but that may change and we’ll have to allow that to happen, but we are ready to go with all the work that’s already underway on those initiatives, keeping in mind, as the Member said, we have about four months left. Thank you.

I thank the Deputy Premier for that response. The new federal Cabinet will be sworn in soon. I’d like to ask the Deputy Premier if once that happens, are there any plans by this government to invite the Ministers, you know, in dealing with the many issues I mentioned earlier that we have here in the Northwest Territories, are there invitations that are going to go out to your federal counterparts in Ottawa to get them north to discuss these issues before the end of the life of this government? Thank you.

Thank you. Yes, the letters are basically there. We’re just waiting for the appropriate individual’s name to be able to put in there, find out if there’s any change in

key staff that we have to contact, but there will be basically a full court press on all those issues that we’ve talked about, and others, to move forward with all time constraints that we now face as a government. Thank you.

Thank you. Over the life of this government we’ve talked many times about engaging the federal government in a meaningful way and having a building up on that relationship that we do have with the federal government. I’d like to ask the Deputy Premier, in looking at relationship building with the federal government, will that be a key part of the transition document that this Cabinet is going to prepare for the next government which will be elected on October the 3rd ? Thank you.

Thank you. We have the benefit of a stable Cabinet here. We’ve been dealing with the Conservative government now for the last five years. In many cases there’s been relationships developed among the various Ministers at the federal and territorial level. As we move forward, we do have to look at how do we nurture that relationship. How do we, as has already been stated, better work with our Member of Parliament? Another issue for this Legislature to consider is the role that we have in Ottawa, the presence that we have or should have in Ottawa, is that adequate? And if we are going to be seriously considered and be able to move our own agenda, should that be looked at so that it can be done more effectively on the ground? Thank you.