Thank you, Mr. Blake. The Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re willing to have our staff go in there and assist the community in developing a plan for their future infrastructure. Then, at the end of the day, the decision will be the community’s one to make. But we’re more than willing to do our part in assisting.

I’d like to ask the Minister if he will commit to work with the community to secure funding and enter into a long-term lease in order for the arena to be constructed when the time comes.

The community has an allocation from this government for their infrastructure and they will determine on their own what they want to use that money for. If it goes towards an arena, again, that would be their decision, and our role in it is to support the community and help them find other sources of funding or secure bank financing if the need arises. But we will work with the community and explain to them what some of their options are.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Earlier in my Member’s statement I spoke about decentralization and the huge opportunity for us to grow the whole of the Northwest Territories. I know that we have lots of work ahead of us with phase one and phase two, and we still have lots of heavy lifting up until April 1st , but my questions are

more specifically towards phase three of the devolution plan, when we can start focusing on decentralization. Perhaps I can ask Mr. Premier about what’s the bird’s-eye view of phase three in devolution and decentralization. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Member for asking this very important question. As we’ve spoken about decentralization and devolution many times, we talked about the three phases. Phase one is where we decentralize a number of existing programs and services. Phase two is devolution, where we said we were devolved and then evolved, and as part of that, we were able to move a number of positions out into the regions, something in the neighbourhood of about 90-some positions.

In the past we’ve been talking about decentralization for a long time, as long as this government has been in existence, and we’ve successfully decentralized quite a number of positions, and we are going to do that again. Decentralization, or phase three, is a priority of this 17th Assembly. We are developing concrete policies

and strategies for housing in the communities and office space in the communities, and we have identified the lead department, the lead Minister in the Department of Finance, and we will take a very active approach to decentralizing positions.

I’m glad the Premier is speaking about it being a planned and measured approach to devolution. I just want to get more about the planned and measured approach only because once we start establishing infrastructure like housing, more office spaces in the regions and the communities, then the plan is not just about plucking lives out of Yellowknife and sending them to the regions. I guess it’s about everybody being told up front that these jobs, these positions will eventually be in the communities. I know that there are lots of big deputy minister committees and everything on planning the move for April 1st , but at

the same time, I just want to impress upon the Premier that we cannot lose the fact that we must grow the whole Northwest Territories.

That is exactly the approach that we’re taking. We feel that by moving programs and services out into the regions, we’ll be

able to better serve the people of the Northwest Territories, and we have a very developed approach in how we do that and also in how we deal with affected employees. Also, we will be introducing… The Minister of Human Resources talked yesterday about our strategy for human resources in the regions, a Regional Recruitment Strategy, so we are approaching it on all fronts.

As we go through recruitment, I guess part of the strategy – I don’t know if it’s there – is that new employees must be informed that the potential for decentralization is there. Is that part of the Regional Recruitment Strategy as we move forward and hope to fill all these empty positions? Because I understand not all the Ottawa jobs are basically unfilled.

For sure, as we go forward with phase three, we will have a very detailed and structured plan so that nobody will be caught by surprise.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know that in the past, there was some devolution work getting out to the communities, and during my last constituency tour, some of the smaller communities would still like to know more about devolution. Once we achieve, I guess, phase one, which is getting to April 1, 2014, making the transfers and doing all the legislation that’s there, I’m wondering if the Premier is looking at a second round of devolution to be explained to the communities and regions.

We have a Cabinet committee that will be working on decentralization, and at the appropriate time, will be going out and talking to people in the regions, because I know already when meeting with municipal governments and other organizations, they all have ideas on the kinds of programs and services that should be decentralized.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Drowning is the second leading cause of preventable death for children under 10 years of age in Canada. We can, we must, we need to do what is right and not what is easy, to prevent further tragedy at our territorial park beaches.

In reference to my Member’s statement earlier today, I want to ask the Minister responsible for our territorial beaches to do the right thing and bring our lifeguards back.

Since many of us have not read the soon-to-be tabled report from the Lifesaving Society of Alberta, could the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment quickly walk us through some of the highlights that he shared earlier today in a press release, so that he can ease the minds of many concerned about water safety at our territorial beach parks? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We didn’t just react when the tragic occurrence happened at the Fred Henne beach here in Yellowknife earlier this summer. There is a process. We got the Lifesaving Society of Alberta to get involved and provide an audit at both Fred Henne beach and also the beach in Hay River. The report on the beach in Hay River will be coming out later this fall. Certainly, there are a number of recommendations contained in the report that will lead to a much safer beach and waterfront at Fred Henne Territorial Park. That is fundamental to all of this, is we want to ensure that we have, as much as possible, the safest beaches that we can here in the Northwest Territories.

The report by the Lifesaving Society of Alberta looked at a beach and provided recommendations for a beach that was unsupervised. That’s not to say that we aren’t going to be looking at the feasibility of putting lifeguards at Fred Henne beach next summer. That is something that I will commit to, to taking a look at. We are going to, again, employ the services of the Lifesaving Society of Alberta to help us with that study on lifeguards.

There is a lot more to it than simply putting lifeguards on the beach at Fred Henne. We have to look at the swimming area. It’s going to impact, potentially, the hours of operation, the access to that beach. Before we do that, we have some time here this winter to ensure that we get this right. We also want to have some public consultation take place on how the public feels if we have to look at reduction in the hours of access to that swimming area, the reduced swimming area. These are things that take some time. We are going to ensure, and I give my commitment again today to the House, that we are going to do everything in our power to ensure that that beach is as safe as possible. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of all Yellowknife residents, I accept the commitment, but we also hope that there is action behind that.

Let’s start with an easy question for the Minister today. It has been documented, You Tubed and in the media a number of times now, the issue of the dangerous holes in the swimming area just 30 metres from the shoreline of Long Lake beach. We’ve heard that, due to shifting sand, they could

be filled, but we have been encouraged that warning buoys in the water could be used.

Could the Minister once and for all tell the people of Yellowknife exactly how he is going to solve the issue of the holes? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, one of those ideas could be to reduce the swimming area. The Lifesaving Society, in conducting the audit, I believe there were divers out there who had masks and snorkels and surveyed the ground under the water at the beach. A lot of this they believe is caused by the way the lake moves and whether or not you fill those holes in one day, they may in fact be there a few weeks later.

There are ways we can mark those holes if they are there. We wouldn’t want to have a swimming area where there were these holes and opportunities for people to get into an area that was with water that was over their head. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I think people are feeling a bit more comfortable that this issue will definitely be addressed in the summer of 2014.

If the Minister is not going to support beach lifeguards in the immediate future, it is clear from the current volunteer group, Lifeguards for Lodune, that liability is their main concern and continues to remain as their number one issue.

What is the Minister willing to do to assist this volunteer group? We have bona fide First Aid volunteers, policies, procedures and a soon-to-be board of directors. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, we are going to look at lifeguards, putting in proper lifeguard services at Fred Henne Park, and I’ve made a commitment to do that. If that is the case, I still believe there would be a role and a function for a group such as Lifeguards for Lodune to be involved, perhaps as safe water practice ambassadors or helping out in various capacities. That all remains to be seen, what role and function a group like that could have, but our anticipation is to continue the dialogue with that group and certainly we would like to fit them into the plans going forward in some capacity. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.