Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The NWT population is declining. Mr. Speaker, the Northwest Territories has been good to me. I chose the Northwest Territories as a high school student sitting in a classroom in southwestern Ontario. I picked it off the map. I came here. I didn’t come here with my family, I didn’t transfer here with a job, I didn’t come here as somebody’s spouse. I chose the Northwest Territories. The Northwest Territories has been good to me. I should be the poster person for the Northwest Territories.

---Applause

But, Mr. Speaker, might I also say that I found a man here that wanted to marry me. That’s not a… I just wanted to work that in.

---Laughter

I wanted to work that in because it’s Valentine’s Day. Thank you.

---Laughter

In the third quarter of 2009 we were the only jurisdiction in Canada whose population dropped. Census data for the past five years shows a definite

downward trend while Canada’s population increases and the population of our neighbouring territories, Yukon and Nunavut, are also increasing. To find reasons for our decline we should look no further than the NWT’s high cost of living, the lack of affordable housing and slow paced development. People are leaving many of our small communities where there’s typically higher unemployment. In communities where the population has increased, the number of occupied private dwellings have gone down, evidence of a housing shortage.

In contrast, the Yukon has experienced steady growth over the same period. The Yukon’s population increase is mainly attributed to the mining sector. Two mines came into production in 2010, bringing jobs not only to this industry but also to other sectors. The high price of metals and minerals continue to benefit producers and attract investment from new companies, while on this side of the Mackenzie Mountains companies are still slogging through the red tape. The Yukon also has higher numbers of non-permanent residents, suggesting that more people are being brought in to work in the service industry. These people may decide ultimately to make the Yukon a permanent residence as soon as they have the opportunity.

The Northwest Territories needs to take a hard look at the reasons that our residents leave, why our migrant workers choose not to live here. We need to develop and implement practical strategies that get to the root of why people are leaving. We need targets, we need measurable income, we can no longer afford gimmicks to attract residents, we need real reasons to bring people here, keep people here: job opportunities, comparable cost of living, housing solutions and vibrant communities. This is no one else’s job to try to change this statistic than ours. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to return to the issue I raised yesterday, which is the Betty House, and I want to again state to this House that the Betty House is a very important project in the Northwest Territories. It’s very exciting what it will do, and the fact is it will provide so much support for women here trying to get on their feet. Whether they’re by themselves or with their children, sometimes they just need that extra lending hand of support. I certainly support the objectives of this particular project.

Since yesterday’s statement and certain questions in the House, I’ve gotten a lot of feedback regarding the Premier’s responses to me and it’s interesting how certain reasons why people start calling or e-mailing and letting you know that they’re

concerned. Many people were not happy and they were wondering if we hurt the feelings of the government. The thing is the government did seem defensive on those particular answers. If they have to take shots at me while I do my job asking where the consultation is, so be it. That’s the only way that they need to do this.

The issue is simply this: It’s not about the support of the project, it’s about the process of the particular issue. I won’t read into the record yet again the Premier’s insult to me, which I perceived and many others did. The fact is this is an important issue. He highlighted in 2010 there was committee consultation, but interestingly enough research and ourselves cannot find any of this particular stuff. He highlighted 2011 that committees were updated, but one word or a one-liner does not constitute consultation, in my view, suggesting that we’re still working out some of the details.

May I remind the House, and certainly not at length, we had some really good quotes from the Minister responsible for homelessness back in May 2011. When I asked him questions about supporting the house, it was interesting how he talked about not having money, not jumping the queue, a worthy project but the community can’t get ahead of itself, no O and M money. It goes on and on about how yes, it’s an important project, but the fact is there’s no money and it needs capital review and, oh my goodness, we shouldn’t get ahead of other types of reviews because if we jumped ahead of them we’d probably offend many people in this Assembly.

The only issue here is process and our Members kept informed. I would say the record stands very clear today that Members were not kept informed. I will continue on this particular project during question period.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is unfortunate that often I have made a Member’s statement that acknowledges the passing of Tu Nedhe people. I do this regrettably, but acknowledge that passing away is part of life and each should be acknowledged. Since December 2011 four Tu Nedhe citizens have passed away.

Georgina Victoria Fabien, born July 30, 1958, passed away on December 2, 2011, at the age of only 53. Georgina passed away while she was asleep. Georgina is survived by her husband, Darrow Andrews; her son, Jason Barrens; her sisters Rita, Angelina, Kaye, Helen and Lorraine; her brothers Lawrence, Henry, Don, Eddy and

Robert; along with numerous nieces and nephews, great-nieces and nephews.

Raymond Paul Simon, born January 19, 1950, passed away on December 14, 2011, at age 61. Raymond passed away from cancer. Raymond is survived by his loving wife, Dolly; his sons Kristopher and Dexter; his daughters Aleda, Destiny, Jen and Sonia; his four grandchildren Silas, Kelsey, Kaden and Roanna; his brothers Alexie, Wilfred, Richard and Patrick; his sister Irene; and numerous nieces, nephews, cousins and many friends.

Tyra Ellen Walton, born December 3, 1934, passed away on January 6, 2012. Tyra passed away from complications with diabetes. She also had four different battles with cancer, from what I understand. Tyra is survived by her husband, Bill Norn, of 42 years; sons Arthur and Andy; daughters Lynn, Dale and Lorrie; grandchildren that she raised, Gerald, Dion and Tanesha; and numerous other grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.

Billy Lockhart was born February 13, 1936, and passed away on February 2, 2012, at age 75. Billy passed away from cancer. Billy is survived by his sister, Doris; brothers Archie and Paul; nephews Arthur, Roger, Eric, Perry, Earl, Vern, John, Malcolm and Joey; nieces Verda, Della, Rebecca, Ann, Pearl and Rose; along with numerous great-nieces and nephews.

My sincerest condolences go out to the family and friends, and especially the spouses and children of Georgina, Raymond, Tyra and Billy.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize my wife, Carolyn Smith. Happy Valentine’s Day.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d also like to recognize Carolyn and wish her a Happy Valentine’s Day.

I’d also like to recognize my constituency assistant, the hardworking Mr. Craig Yeo, whose birthday is actually today. A proud member of Weledeh.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. I’d like to welcome Carolyn and Mr. Yeo to the House. Welcome.

Item 6, acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today as well as yesterday and in my oral questions yesterday and certainly today will be principally based on the fact that I don’t feel fair consultation was given on this particular project. Discussion and debate are the pillars of democracy in this Assembly and I would ask the Premier to this House if this is going to be the tone of this particular government when we get great projects like this. Are they just going to pass them through without committee consultation, or are they going to ensure that they engage the Membership on this particular side of the House?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll redirect the question to the Minister of the NWT Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Money for Betty House was first identified in 2009-2010 and was gone through revised estimates. We had some opportunity to have some discussions and that. However, that doesn’t take away from the fact that Members feel like they weren’t properly consulted on this particular issue, and if that’s the case then I take full responsibility for that and ensure that any projects coming through NWT Housing Corporation in the future will be consulted with the Members like we normally do. This is just one that through different circumstances – change of Assemblies, Ministers, presidents and scopes of work – it was actually fairly complicated and we just recently were able to work out the final details.

May I state for the record that’s one of the best answers I’ve heard in this House in years.

My next question to the Minister of the NWT Housing Corporation is: Would he provide at least a written briefing note to Members to show us where this particular money came from, how it was flowed through and how it will affect the bottom line books of the NWT? If it’s flow-through money I’m sure the briefing note will explain this. That’s the type of information I feel was lost in this discussion and debate.

The Homelessness Coalition put some good work into this. They came forward with a business plan through the Canada Economic Action Plan. We were able to free up

some money to make a small contribution to the overall cost of the project.

I will be pleased to provide a briefing note on the whole situation of Betty House to the Member and Members opposite.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Hawkins.

No, thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up on my Member’s statement. I have some questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services with regard to our health system reform. The Minister spoke yesterday about moving doctors around. From Hansard I have a sentence where he stated, “We are actually starting on the process now.” I feel that reworking how we use our doctors and changing our system of hiring doctors, and how we assign doctors to their jobs is something that we really need to do relative to getting reform done and I think the Minister agrees with me. I’d like to know where we’re at in this process.

As I mentioned in my statement, it’s been several years. We’ve literally put millions of dollars, I think $3.5 million last year, into the Foundation for Change. What have we got to show for that money? Where are we at in the process of changing the way that we use our doctors so that we can get them in the communities where we need them?

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Although we see that it’s difficult to fill doctors’ positions in the regional centres where the positions are located – Fort Smith, Hay River, Inuvik, Norman Wells and Fort Simpson – that’s still our first priority. Our first priority is still to try to fill those positions in those communities. Failing that, we’re having discussions and have had discussions with the Joint Leadership Council, which are the boards or public administrators, to talk about the possibility of having one system pooling doctors in Yellowknife and having the locums come out of Yellowknife as opposed to having locums that come out from other parts of the country.

Thanks to the Minister. I appreciate that. One of the things that I have heard talk of and that the Australian system highlighted is a central command, so to speak, for medical assistance where doctors are available 24/7 and they can assist communities or small health centres

elsewhere with difficult problems. The Minister said that they’re discussing things with the health authorities and I recognize that needs to be done, but this has been ongoing for quite some time. I guess I need to know from the Minister – if we’re going to do reform, that usually indicates that change is taking place – when can we expect to see some change in how we use our doctors.