I would like to thank the Minister for that. As you know, travelling on the highway, you don’t have it full of neighbours along this. Usually you are alone travelling at your own risk. Could the Minister provide an update on the work MACA is doing in cooperation with Health and Social Services and Transportation on ground ambulance and highway fire emergency services and also in developing a policy legislative framework? Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct; we are doing some work with our colleagues over at Health and Social Services and Transportation, trying to come up with

overarching work to cover all of the Northwest Territories.

As far as MACA goes, we do provide $200,000 to communities that want to apply for some of these services. It’s $200,000 divided amongst the number of communities that apply. So we do have that, but understand that that doesn’t really cover a lot of the issues facing drivers on the highway. We are working with Health and Social Services. We are

looking at some numbers. It is going to be quite costly to implement a whole system right across the Northwest Territories. Those are options that we are putting together right now and I am sure, when the opportunity arises, we will have discussions with committee and also we will be hearing from the Northwest Territories Association of Communities on this issue too. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I’d like to thank the Minister for the response. This matter goes back to the 16th Assembly and this matter continues to be at least an agenda item for a to-do list for the government.

Would the Minister agree that our highway communities need locally stationed ground ambulance and highway fire emergency vehicles and equipment and access to training for first responders? Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, one of the things that we wanted to do with some of the money that wasn’t taken up by the communities is use it as a training component to train members in the communities. Volunteer firemen would be a good choice and anyone in the community that wants to be qualified as first responders. I think that’s the initial step that we have to take, because they can have a shiny piece of new equipment there, but if they’re not qualified as a first responder, it is a huge liability. I think a lot of communities recognize that. They were very open to the training component of it and we’re looking forward to possibly rolling that out through the School of Community Government within MACA. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to understand just what level of coordination and leadership this department is undertaking. Can the Minister advise when he and his colleagues will be able to bring forward a proposal for expanded ground ambulance services for consideration by standing committees in this House? Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, I knew I should be prepared for that: When? We are continuing to do the work. For me to tell you an exact date, I don’t think I’d be telling you the truth. I will commit to the Members that I will get the information and I will communicate it to the Members. Again, I know I should always be prepared for the fourth question: When? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Part of the ongoing discussions that we have had are in partnership with Inuvialuit and also with the Gwich’in to provide the training requirements. My department is working closely with the Beaufort-Delta on what kind of training is required. Not only that, but we provided training in the past on Source Road 177 in Tuk, combining with our Education and working with the college, Hamlet of Tuk, Tuk Community Corporation and contractors, just going through labour markets to build a database for local residents to plan and deliver training that maximizes the local employment. Those are just some of the examples we have undertaken.

We are looking forward to this new initiative that is coming at us. The project was just approved last week by the Environmental Impact Review Board. We are still waiting for federal approval at that level. But now we are talking about partnership, partnership, partnership. We invited Aboriginal leadership to NWT Days. It was a very productive and successful meeting. We are building on the relationship that we have. Definitely I will be working closely with the Member and members from the Beaufort-Delta to make this training requirement also a success in that region. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, in order for us to be prepared, will the Minister ensure that Class 1 driving courses be delivered regularly in every Beaufort-Delta community? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, if that is the wish of the communities, by all means, we have done that in the past where training has taken place in the Beaufort-Delta, whether it be safety training, substance abuse workshop, Class 1 driver exam, driver training. There is also heavy equipment Class 1 and Class 3 training that has been undertaken. We need to be prepared and also preparing those individuals from the communities so they can enter the workforce. Once the road has been constructed, we want the manpower to be ready. So that is an area that we are exploring.

My officials will be meeting with ITI and DOT, my department, Aurora College and regional representatives to deal with planning stages on Valentine’s Day. Definitely, we are looking forward to those planning stages. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, how many jobs are expected on the Inuvik-Tuk Highway and what is the target for hiring from the Beaufort-Delta communities and also this territory? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the jobs, training opportunities will be identified through a working group that we are going to establish. When I talk about the meeting tomorrow, that is a preliminary stage of planning. Out of that, we are hoping to get some more concrete figures, concrete numbers from ITI, from DOT, from my department and from regional representatives, because they have their own needs as well. So we need to respect that. We need to take those into consideration, compile all the information that I will be sharing that with the Members once we have that information. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Later on today we’re going to be meeting with Environment and Natural Resources. I have some questions in the budget address with the $100,000 that he mentioned that’s an LNG, liquid natural gas, solution for Inuvik. I’ve been getting a lot of e-mails and questions in regard to what this money is going to be allocated towards and how it’s going to affect our gas situation in Inuvik. If the Minister can take a moment, would he be able to elaborate on what this money is for, how it’s going to be spent and how it’s going to be used for what he mentioned in the budget address? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the government has worked with the community of Inuvik and other stakeholders through a response to the declining and depleted natural gas sources around Inuvik, one of the alternatives that came up as a viable option was liquid natural gas. NTPC has been engaged in a lot of work, talking to suppliers, doing the numbers, looking at transportation costs, looking at the cost per gigajoule landed in Inuvik versus other substances like the propane air mixture that’s currently provided, for example, or diesel, which is the most expensive. So there’s been work in that

regard and we anticipate, hopefully in the next few weeks, to be able to report that hopefully we’ve reached a successful agreement with suppliers.

At this point that work is still underway and I’m not in a position to speak too much to the detail, but it looks to us, from the information that I’ve seen, that this is a potentially viable alternative. Thank you.

Thank you. I’m glad to hear that the Minister is working on this. In terms of his mention of synthetic gas, it is an issue because the way we ship it up in Inuvik is from Dawson, and as we all know, the Dempster Highway does close down sometimes. Our storage for the synthetic gas is only a five-day storage and we don’t want to get into a situation during these cold winter months where we’ll find ourselves in dire straits here.

He did mention about four weeks to come back with the report and the study. Can he give me an exact timeline, whether it be after we finish this House sitting, so I can let the residents of Inuvik know that at the end of this session we should have something that might be implemented, something that we can look at and move further? Can he give me a specific timeline, if possible? Thank you.

Thank you. The Power Corporation is working hard to conclude some of the arrangements. So I’m hopeful that in the life of this sitting that we’d be able to stand up and make a public announcement. What we are looking for, or the long-term target, of course, that we’re looking for, is to be – if all things fall in place as we’re planning – by this coming fall, in October, November, in Inuvik we’d be able to have an alternative source should we be able to confirm and sign all the necessary contracts to, in fact, embark on putting in liquid natural gas as an alternate source. So within the life of this sitting, I would hope to be able to stand up in this House and share that information with the folks.

Thank you. We’re talking about this advancement in the LNG possible solution. Last year the Minister and the department had allocated another $100,000 to other energy initiatives such as biomass, pellet stoves, wood stoves. Can the Minister confirm whether that dollar figure is still available for the community residents of Inuvik so that they can find another way to heat their homes and not rely on fuel? Thank you.

Thank you. The money that’s in there for rebates and grants is there, and we’ve added dollars and we’ve raised the cap, especially for businesses. So businesses that have expenses that are fairly significant, I think the cap has been raised to $50,000 from $15,000 and to better support folks. So that money is there not only for Inuvik, of course – but if they make use of that, that’s more power to them – but other Northerners as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Moses.