Good afternoon, colleagues. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise on a point of order. I’ve waited until today to raise the point of order because I wanted to review the previous day’s Hansard. During an exchange with the Premier regarding the courthouse, I made note that on Friday, February 22, 2013, on page 26 of the Hansard, Premier McLeod makes the following statement: “We did, as the government put it, have that project, called the NWT Law Courts Project, and we put $40 million in the capital budget in 2005-2006. Committee took it out of the budget.” There lays the point of order issue.

So I draw all Members’ attention to Rule 2(g) of the Rules of the Legislative Assembly which states, “’Point of Order’ means any departure from any written or unwritten rule or custom of this Assembly or of Parliamentary tradition.” It is, in this instance, the House is governed by its own precedence and long-standing parliamentary traditions and convection.

To confirm this, I have searched high and low and combed committee reports, and I have not found any formal position taken on it, so I draw the attention of the House that that was a breach of committee confidentiality. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. I will allow a little bit of debate on the point of order. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to just make the point that if the Member says that he couldn’t find any reference to it high or low and then he says it’s a breach of committee confidentiality, if in fact there’s no evidence or reference to it, how can it be a breach of committee confidentiality? I think the Member is really reaching here on a fairly specious matter. So I would just put that on the record for your consideration as you look at this particular matter. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. To the point of order. Honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know that the $40 million was put on the capital budget as a marker. It had considerable opposition. It was my understanding that that’s what happened. So we’ll search as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There was no formal direction on this particular initiative and I have comments that say as such. That only causes me to conclude two things: the discussion of the courthouse future and its followance, missing or absence on any future capital plan, had to have been done in camera; second, with the lack of any formal correspondence, it’s only reasonable to assume the deletion of the courthouse from its capital plan must have formally been done either in Cabinet, which does not include Members. Accordingly, I will speak to the appropriate order, as such, with this sort of supporting documentation.

In terms of precedence, I would like to draw and highlight page 891, dated October 21, 2004, where Speaker Delorey says, on an identical breach – oddly enough by Michael McLeod who was Minister then – says, “I am guided by a ruling by Speaker Whitford on February 14, 2001, in which he rules: “It is an infringement of our rules and contrary to parliamentary practice for Members to refer to committee proceedings that have not been reported to this House. Specifically, I want to caution Members about making reference to what may or may not have been said or who may or may not have been in attendance in any proceedings or events outside of this House.”

Speaker Delorey goes on by saying, “I am also guided by page 885 of Marleau and Montpetit House of Commons Procedures and Practices: ‘It is not in order for Members to allude to committee proceedings or evidence in the House until the committee has presented its report to the House. This restriction applies to both references made by Members in debate or during oral question period.’”

What becomes further relevant here is Speaker Delorey rules that Minister Michael McLeod can quote himself as in any case they can speak to their

decision as a department lead or the department’s position on the particular case, but they cannot quote things that have happened in camera, or a discussion of those meetings.

Speaker Delorey reminds the House that a Minister can quote public documents, again, that have been tabled before the House.

As I cited in my earlier comments, in my research over the weekend I found no comment in Hansard or reports that have been laid before the House, and I’ve studied all relevant information over the 15th and 16th Assemblies, Mr. Speaker. Therefore,

there seems to be an absence of any direction, or the House’s direction, either by the Minister of Justice or by the appropriate Minister.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, the point I’m getting to, is that nothing can be found, so where did this information, “committee took it out of the budget,” come from? It can only be found because the Premier has made a statement and I’m not sure from where.

That’s the crux of the issue. Concluding that this discussion Premier McLeod is referencing is from an unknown in-camera discussion perhaps, it can only be considered maybe from the Cabinet table.

In closing, it’s critical to note that this matter can only be dealt with by way of point of order. Breaches of committee confidentiality are a breach of privilege, Mr. Speaker. I’m sure you are well aware of the rules.

Again, referring to Marleau-Montpetit, my last point here on page 838 of the House of Commons Procedures and Practices, “Divulging any part of our proceedings, an in-camera committee meeting has been ruled by the Speaker to constitute a prima facie matter of privilege.” So Members are often blamed for the release of the findings, or findings of confidential information to the public. My point is such that clearly there’s been one done here. Even Cabinet can be capable at times as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. To the point of order. I will take it under advisement, Mr. Hawkins and Mr. Premier, and I will bring it back to the House at a later day. Thank you.

Item 2, Ministers’ statements. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Ramsay.

Mr. Speaker, last week we learned of the tragic loss of two truck drivers and serious injuries to a third person as a result of a collision between two commercial vehicles. Our thoughts and prayers are extended to the families and friends of those who perished and to the

survivor who is now recovering from the injuries sustained in the collision. This is a tragedy that has had a devastating effect on the families and loved ones involved. Our condolences go out to those affected by this terrible event.

I want to acknowledge the efforts of those who were first on the scene and rescued the survivor, the RCMP officers who are managing a very challenging scene and investigation, the highway staff and highway transport officers who provided support, and the medical personnel from Fort Providence and Yellowknife. These professionals kept the site safe and secure through difficult conditions and long hours.

I also wanted to thank the stranded motorists and truck drivers for their patience while everyone worked to make the crash site safe and passable. Your patience and understanding are greatly appreciated.

Now that the crash site has been cleared and the highway re-opened, it is time to begin the healing process. Mr. Speaker, we need to let all the truck drivers know that their work is appreciated and valued. We can’t take the work that these men and women do for granted. Their work is not recognized enough, in part because the transportation system works so well. It isn’t until a disruption in delivery service or a rare tragedy like this happens that we stop and think about the importance of their work. Let this tragedy remind us all of the value of their services. These skilled men and women drive long distances through challenging conditions to ensure we have fresh produce on our tables and fuel to heat our homes. Their work is essential to our daily lives.

This tragedy should also remind us that we all have a role to play to reduce the risk of collisions, injuries and fatalities on our highways, streets and trails. Check road conditions before you leave, and always give driving your full attention. Use appropriate safety equipment and prepare for the unexpected. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister responsible for Seniors, Mr. McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to provide an update on plans for supported housing for seniors. One of the priorities of the NWT Housing Corporation’s strategic plan, Building for the Future, was to develop infrastructure based on community needs including approaches to support housing for seniors and aging in place.

Seniors are the fastest growing segment of the territorial population. Currently, there are about 600 seniors that reside in public housing and the NWT

Housing Corporation has units targeted for the senior population in many communities. Providing the opportunity for seniors to live independently in their home communities is an important part of the housing continuum and for the continuum of care for seniors.

We are all aware of the importance of seniors being able to stay in their own communities for as long as possible. Long-term care is necessary for seniors that need more additional support, but many seniors are able to keep living independently with a little help. We also know that it takes a lot of resources and effort to maintain their own house for some seniors, and supported living facilities provide a good option for these residents.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to announce today that the NWT Housing Corporation is planning to add four seniors facilities in the communities of Fort McPherson, Fort Good Hope, Fort Liard and Whatì.

We will begin planning with these communities, to better understand their needs and to help determine an appropriate location and the types of services that would be available in these facilities. We expect that each facility will contain eight independent housing units, space for the delivery of home care and other services for seniors, and a place for residents and other seniors in the community to gather and to undertake additional programming. There will be caretakers units and security in these facilities.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Health and Social Services and I are working closely on this initiative as the services and programming that will be provided through these facilities are as important as the units themselves. We expect to have the planning and design for these facilities completed during the upcoming fiscal year and to start construction in the summer of 2014.

Mr. Speaker, I also wanted to take this opportunity to update Members on the Joe Greenland Centre in Aklavik. After an extensive review of this facility, we have determined that it will be more cost effective to replace the Joe Greenland Centre than to renovate. We will immediately start to work with Aklavik on planning for a new facility.

The vision of the 17th Legislative Assembly includes

strong individuals, families and communities. The steps that we are taking today will contribute to this vision and I look forward to working with all Members as we continue to work on our priorities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Mr. Speaker, oil and gas development has the potential to grow and diversify the Northwest Territories economy, a key priority of this government. Nowhere has this reality been more apparent than in the Sahtu region. Today I would like to give this Assembly an update on the activity in the Sahtu over the past few months and the plans for moving forward.

More than $600 million in work commitments has been pledged for the region over the next few years. As the busy winter work season draws to a close, early indications are that this has been a successful one for the local businesses and for the development companies.

Husky Oil, ConocoPhillips, MGM Energy and Explor Data all performed work in the Sahtu this season. Feedback from all companies has been extremely positive and they have all indicated they are moving forward with their plans for the region. Although there have been challenges, we are pleased to see that they were all addressed in a positive and timely manner to get things back on track. Shell Canada and Imperial Oil were not as active during this past work season but remain committed to development in the area.

This government wants to ensure development continues in a timely yet sustainable way, and that local residents and businesses benefit. By keeping the lines of communication open with resource companies, local residents, business leaders and Aboriginal organizations in the Sahtu, we will ensure development continues in a way that benefits all of our people.

Part of this engagement was the Sahtu Exploration Readiness Session held this past fall. This event was extremely well attended and attendees noted it was an effective platform to discuss our collective goals, objectives and priorities. We intend to continue this sort of initiative every year.

The entire NWT will benefit from the lessons learned as petroleum development progresses in other parts of the territory.

Mr. Speaker, one area of concern highlighted to us this work season is the stresses that oil and gas exploration can have on existing regional infrastructure. As activity continues and even increases, we can expect this stress will only continue to grow. This government will continue to look at ways to improve on and invest in our infrastructure.

Several GNWT departments are working together to address this. Industry, Tourism and Investment, together with the departments of Executive; Justice; Education, Culture and Employment; and Environment and Natural Resources are investing $1.2 million in various programs and initiatives to

that ensure environmental impacts are monitored, that businesses of the Sahtu region continue to benefit from this exploration growth, and that residents are well positioned to seize training and job opportunities.

By taking the time now to address concerns and maintain our consistent dialogue between industry, NWT residents and businesses, and Aboriginal organizations, we will ensure the petroleum resource sector continues to be part of our diversified economy that provides all communities and regions with opportunities and choices. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Item 3, Members’ statements. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The devastating deadly crash last week just north of Fort Providence has, clearly, troubled many residents of the Northwest Territories. Such accidents, although rare, open the debate about how our government emergency systems work in remote parts of our highway network. One only has to stop and ask, what if that was my wife or kids or neighbour. Even the Minister of Transportation indicated today we all have a role to play. Does our government have the proper rescue and medical support framework to act accordingly? I believe the answer to this question is maybe.

In essence, your chance of survival clearly depends on what location you would be in the event of a severe auto accident. Should this accident happen between Yellowknife and Rae, the Yellowknife Fire Department is under jurisdiction to respond, yet beyond Rae you’re on your own. Although we pray for all families involved, the accident last week clearly proved that our systems of emergency response, patient mobilization, dispatch, medical support and medical transport are in dire need of an overhaul or, at best, a plan.

I say this as non-government and non-industry information has been given to me that clearly begs to ask some serious questions as to emergency response systems and protocol. For example, why did medical travel request a medevac helicopter staffed with two skilled Yellowknife Fire Department EMTs, auto extrication NFPA-1001 certified firemen only to be told to stand down when the chopper was ready to lift off. How did this non-aviation extraction delay the care of the victim, keeping in mind that a round trip to the crash site and back to Stanton Hospital would have been approximately two hours? How is a ground transport to Fort

Providence and eventually medevacced to Stanton Hospital two hours later more efficient than a direct helicopter medevac? Who is making these decisions?

We now know that a victim was transported from the crash site in a health centre van. Was this a professionally equipped van ambulance or just a passenger van? How was the patient secured? Does this van have any emergency medical transporting standards? What level of care was provided to the patient on his 84-kilometre drive to Fort Providence?

Unfortunately, deadly accidents all too often forces one to review the safety and security of our residents. Our Cabinet has been asked many times in this House about the highway emergency response capabilities and our medical support systems and procedures. Last week’s accident proves that our questioning was warranted. We need a plan, but first we need to ask the appropriate questions. I will have such questions for the first round for the Minister of Health later today.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. It is one of our government’s priorities to bring health services as close as possible to the people who need them, but we still have communities without nurses. Wrigley is one of these communities. Three years ago I thought we were making progress towards restoring this critical service for the people there, then the Deh Cho Health and Social Services Authority decided not to go ahead. It seems to have forgotten about it ever since. Why our government has not insisted that nursing service in Wrigley is a priority I do not know. It is time to revisit that decision.

With new oil and gas exploration in the Sahtu region, Wrigley is experiencing more visitors, activity and traffic. It is the only community on the long winter road from the Sahtu to the Mackenzie Highway and it is about halfway between Tulita and Fort Simpson.

The decision to hire a nurse in Wrigley should not depend on the $500 million Pipeline Impact Fund, which was going to be tapped for that back in 2010. We are seeing the impacts of increased development now, but not a pipeline. In any case, the decision should be based on what is best for the health of our people.

I will remind the Minister that there is already a nursing station in Wrigley; a nurse is all that is lacking. People have felt this shortage for far too long. Diagnoses of some illnesses can take longer than it should. In the cases of some cancers, for

example, this can be a matter of life or death. This is a problem in Aboriginal communities across Canada, but I thought we were doing better than the rest.

I will have questions for the Minister at the appropriate time.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This past Friday night I had the pleasure, with my colleague from Hay River North and Minister Ramsay, to present some Queen’s Jubilee celebration medals in Hay River. I’d just like to quickly note some of the folks who received that recognition, and also say that Hay River has many, many wonderful volunteers and wonderful citizens, and we did get a chance to recognize a few.

Pat Bobinski. For the last 40 years, community volunteer, sport builder in cross-country skiing, biathlon and snowshowing, who has been recognized by many as an inspirational coach and mentor to elite athletes in the NWT, including our own Olympian Brendan Green.

His Workship Mayor Andrew Cassidy, recently nominated for this prestigious award by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. Mayor Cassidy is an accomplished community leader who makes exemplary efforts to make Hay River a great place, and he has a very strong interest in agriculture and healthy lifestyles as well.

Darm Crook – many of you will remember that name – started the union movement in the North as a steward in the early ‘70s and held a variety of progressively more senior regional and local union positions in the UNW, capping his career with a 12-year run as its president from 1985 to 1996. Under his leadership the GNWT greatly extended its reach, organizing workers in towns, hamlets, housing authorities, mines and hospitals across the NWT. Mr. Crook, when he received this award, made comment that it was great as union leader to get recognition at a Chamber of Commerce event.

Mr. Paul Delorey, well known to everyone here, served the people of the North with much distinction and dedication and commitment as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for Hay River North. Mr. Delorey was elected in 1999. During his term as MLA, he served seven years as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. He retired from politics in 2011 and has an extensive history of volunteering in our community.

Brendan Green, biathlete who was born and raised in Hay River, NWT. He’s a product of Hay River’s

Ski Club Nordic Program and was introduced to the sport by his coach, Pat Bobinski. Brendan now ranks among some of the greatest athletes ever from the Northwest Territories.

Vicki Latour has made a significant contribution to Hay River and the North in general. She’s had a successful career in journalism spanning over 20 years, and owned and operated a local newspaper and publishing company, co-founder and 20-year co-president of the Hay River Museum Society.

Wilson Claude McBryan, better known as Buffalo Joe, as he’s affectionately known around the world, is a vital and key member of the North’s aviation family. In 1970 he founded Buffalo Airways.

Mr. Speaker, could I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement, please?

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you so much. In 1970, Joe founded Buffalo Airways, a truly family business, and Joe is known for his vast collection of vintage airplanes and cars, and is the careful and dedicated custodian of an aviation era from World War II.

Ross Potter. Mr. Potter was honourably nominated by the NWT Fire Chiefs Association. Ross Potter is emergency services in Hay River. He’s been with the Hay River Fire Department for over 35 years and is now Hay River’s full-time fire chief.

Lastly, we recognize Jill Taylor, a supporter, mentor and advocate for youth at risk, helping each achieve their truest potential. For many years now she’s been the driving force behind the Hay River Interagency Group, a team of community representatives from many organizations dedicated to helping build a stronger and healthier community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Member for Range Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we continue to consider the budget for the Health department today, I want to talk about a health-related issue.

The NWT has a number of chronic diseases which plague our territory. One of them is diabetes. The rates of diabetes in NWT residents are markedly higher than in the rest of Canada. More than one in four residents in the NWT lives with either diabetes or prediabetes. Prediabetes is a condition which, if left unchecked, puts you at risk for developing type 2 diabetes. Statistics also indicate that, on the whole, NWT residents are overweight compared to the rest of Canada, and that statistic continues to increase.

Some of our residents recognize their overweight condition as obesity, and unsuccessfully struggle to overcome it. In Canada, about 2 percent of men and 4 percent of women are morbidly obese. Obesity-related death rates are at least on par with deaths related to smoking, and the World Health Organization links obesity to a doubled risk of premature death.

The only viable solution for some is bariatric surgery – gastric bypass, for instance – a procedure which is not an insured service for NWT residents. But we would be wise to reconsider that position. The drain on our health resources due to obesity and its associated health conditions is large. Diabetes is one such condition; hypertension, or high blood pressure, another; then there is cardiovascular disease, sleep apnea, liver disease, orthopedic problems and asthma. In the NWT the rates of diabetes and heart disease are particularly troubling, but studies have shown that 83 percent of patients are cured of their diabetes after bariatric surgery. A similar percentage of patients, 80 percent or more, are cured of other health conditions, as well, after surgery – hypertension, sleep apnea, asthma, liver disease and cardiovascular disease – and there is an 89 percent reduction in the death rate for the morbidly obese.

It may cost our health system a bit more for surgery in the beginning than just treating the systems of obesity, but in the long run our costs are significantly reduced and the quality of life for the patient very much improved.

Elsewhere in Canada, all provinces cover at least lap band surgery; some cover both lap band and gastric bypass surgeries. We would do well to do the same.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent approved