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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Once again, the Prime Minister’s office is also aware of Highway No. 7. I had a resident of Fort Simpson advocating with the Prime Minister of Canada as well. So I’d like to ask our Minister and our government to do the same, to make it a highlight of the federal government and to press it in that light and give us at least one line in the federal budget with Highway No. 7. Thank you.

Again, I appreciate the Member’s passion for Highway No. 7 and the need to get those capital dollars that are required for the reconstruction of that highway. I will continue to work with the Member to see that that happens. Again, we are going to have to pursue capital dollars wherever we can find them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Transportation in regard to his Minister’s statement that he made earlier today. It just goes to show that prevention, promotion and education works, and that he’s doing a great job with the Department of Transportation. It’s something that all departments should look into doing, to cut down on the costs in the Northwest Territories.

With the programs that he mentioned, we have a lot of communities up and down the Mackenzie River and I just wanted to ask the Minister of Transportation, has he or his department done any work on doing a lifejacket borrowing program between the communities that sit on the Mackenzie River, seeing as a lot of people do travel that river as a mode of transportation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That’s a great idea and that’s how ideas are born. I think we need to be looking to Regular Members to supply us with ideas on how we can enhance public education and awareness when it comes to safety on the water, on our roads, on our trails. Certainly as we move forward, we’ll be looking for partners to help us deliver that safety message. I appreciate the Member’s comments.

We’re in the middle of February here and we’re getting ready for our summer breakup and the ice melting away. That’s a lot of time, plenty of time from now until people get onto the waterways. It’s a good opportunity, as well, for the department to start looking into a possible program like a lifejacket borrowing program, like I said, in all the communities that do sit on waterways. Would the Minister commit to look at such a program and putting funds away so that we can ensure that our residents who travel the Mackenzie River, that our modes of transportation are safe? Thank you.

We’ve got a number of initiatives that we’re looking at for next year, and certainly incorporating something like a lifejacket borrowing system is something that I believe we can look at. I do appreciate the Member bringing that issue up today.

Further to that I just wanted to ask the Minister of Transportation if he’s done any work with our five sport and rec organizations in the NWT who do provide kayak programs, canoe programs, skiing, on-the-land programs that do transportation. Has the Department of Transportation done any work with these sport and rec organizations to provide safety to people who enjoy going out on the land?

I know we do work with the Department of Health and Social Services, the Department of ECE, and to the specifics of whether we’re working with the rec associations around the Northwest Territories, again, I think if we’re going to have continued success in delivering safety, it is important that we work with partners around the Northwest Territories. I again will commit to getting back to the Member on how we have interacted with those organizations.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final supplementary, Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We do want to continue to see these encouraging results going into the next fiscal year and beyond. Just in regard to the zero driving and boating fatalities, I’d like to ask the Minister how the new proposed legislation on hand-held devices with driving has been going and have there been any infractions on that.

I think the legislation as it pertains to distracted driving is another tool that

keeps our roads safe. There have been a number of tickets issued for folks driving with cell phones and things like that. We’re encouraged that people are putting their phones away when they’re driving. I know me personally, before the new legislation came in, I was guilty of using my cell phone, but now that the new legislation is in place, I, too, leave the phone alone when I’m driving and I encourage anybody else out there to do the same.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would encourage the Minister of Transportation to take the pledge to leave the phone alone and post a sticker on his window.

My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, and I would like to say that we heard a great deal about bullying yesterday and I think we heard also about the impact that teachers can have on their students. It was an excellent discussion, as I mentioned. One of the things that we struggle with is to get and keep teachers in the Territories and in our communities, particularly in our small and isolated communities. One of the hindrances and one of the difficulties that we have is that we don’t have adequate housing for our teachers in our small communities. Recognizing this problem – and I do believe the Minister recognizes the problem – I would like him to advise us at this point, because we’ve had things on and off for awhile, but at this point what is the Department of Education and what is the GNWT in general doing to try and solve this issue of housing capacity for teachers in our communities?

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. We were fortunate enough for 2011-2012 for those individuals - the teachers coming to the North and also from the North - finding a suitable accommodation. It is a challenge. It’s a struggle at times for those teachers to find accommodations in the communities, especially isolated communities. This is an area that we’ve been working on in a coordinated approach with the Housing Corporation, my department, and also Health, because we have to deal with other professions as well. There is a review on the way, as Mr. McLeod alluded to, of the Shelter Policy review. This is an area that has been targeted as well.

Thanks to the Minister for that response. I know a number of years ago there was a defined program between the Housing

Corporation and the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to try and encourage communities to take the responsibility and for the community to provide some housing for teachers and professionals in general, I guess. My understanding is that program didn’t work very well. I’d like to know from the Minister of Education if there’s a particular explanation as to why that program hasn’t been all that successful.

There has been some uptake on the application process. As the Member stated, it hasn’t been very successful to date. We are exploring those areas. We explored that area as an option and we are also exploring other areas where the Shelter Policy review would capture some of the discussions we’ve had in the 16th Assembly. Now we’re into the 17th Assembly,

how to deal with the housing shortage in the communities, especially for staff or professions that we need to take care of.

Thanks to the Minister again. One of the other hindrances for getting and keeping teachers in our communities is their feeling that they’re not safe within the schools or within the community. I know that a number of years ago… Sorry. I should back up. Some of the boards and district education authorities do have a policy, a Safe Schools Policy, but we don’t have one across the GNWT. I believe in 2009 there was a memorandum of understanding between the teachers’ union and the GNWT to develop a Safe Schools Policy. I’d like to know from the Minister whether or not that goal has been accomplished, has that memorandum been finalized, and is there a Safe Schools Policy all the way across the NWT that all schools should abide by.

I totally agree with the Member that we need to safeguard our teachers and professions in the school. I know there are some policies in place at the regional and community schools about zero tolerance on staff abuse. The Safe School Policy, I need to look into the status on that, if it’s been completed, if it is a Northwest Territories-wide initiative. I’ll get that information and the recent update and provide that to the Members.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Thanks to the Minister. I really appreciate that commitment. I know, from my understanding, there’s been no response received by either the NWTTA or anybody else. I guess I would like to know from the Minister… I appreciate he’s going to look into this. Any idea when I can expect his response?