Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize members of the NWT Seniors’ Society. Their motto is Seniors Helping Seniors and they do that very well. I’d like to recognize the president, Leon Peterson; the past-president,

Beatrice Campbell; secretary Marion Smith; director Ib Kristensen; and the executive director, Barb Hood. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, as well, would like to take this opportunity to recognize three fine constituents from Thebacha, Bea Campbell, Ib Kristensen and the president of the Seniors’ Society, Leon Peterson and thank them for coming and welcome to the Assembly.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s my pleasure today to recognize a constituent of Hay River South very active with the Seniors’ Society in Hay River, constituent Marion Smith. I’d also like to recognize two of my former colleagues in the House today, Mr. Jim Antoine and Mr. Tony Whitford. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to acknowledge to you and through you two residents from Range Lake. We have Ms. Heather Riviere here and we also have young Master Tim Riviere who is the recipient of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, I believe one of the youngest recipients we have in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to acknowledge the presence of former Premier, Minister and MLA Jim Antoine, who also served as chief and is my good friend and mentor.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to use this occasion today to recognize Sandra Taylor, who is the president of the Yellowknife Seniors’ Society and she is a constituent of Yellowknife Centre. I’d like to thank her for coming today. I’d also like to recognize all the seniors in the gallery, although there are too many to name, but I would like to make special mention of Barb Hood. She does a fantastic job with the NWT seniors. It’s a yeoman’s job and she needs a special pat on the back for the hard work she does. Finally, of course, I would like to recognize two good and long-time friends: Jim Antoine, who I have known since I was a young man and certainly he has been a mentor to me as well, and always my special, favourite friend, Mr. Anthony W.J. Whitford.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also would like to recognize Weledeh residents. First of all, Barb Hood. Thanks for all the great work she does. Also, Anthony W.J. Whitford. I’d also like to recognize former Premier Jim Antoine. Also, I would like to mention Loretta and Dick Abernethy, who are long-time but not quite current residents of Weledeh, and I believe they are both awesome as well.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a Page from Yellowknife South, Bethany Giovanetto, and also all the other Pages who are working here this week.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’ll set a record by recognizing Mr. Jim Antoine in the House as well. Welcome to the Legislature, Jim, it’s a pleasure to see you, and once again, congratulations on your Diamond Jubilee medallion that you received earlier in the year.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will break that record by recognizing Mr. Jim Antoine, a good friend of mine, also to Mr. Whitford and all his accomplishments. I’d also like to recognize the NWT Seniors’ Society group that my mother dearly loved to work with and she certainly spoke highly of them. I also, in closing, would like to recognize one of our staff members who is with one of the children up there.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. I, too, would like to welcome the mayor of Tuktoyaktuk, Mr. Mervin Gruben, and from my home community of Tuk, my cousin Wanda Norwegian. Welcome to the House. It’s always good to see you. Probably the happiest day for me was welcoming my son Mitchell back home last night. He’s coming home with me tomorrow. Welcome back to the Territories. I’d like to welcome the Abernethy family too. They’re all great. To all our visitors in the public gallery here today, thank you for taking an interest in our proceedings here today in the House. Have a good day and enjoy the proceedings.

Item 7, acknowledgements. Item 8, oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My daughter told me that a friend of hers overheard a peripheral conversation with me talking about how wonderful the Ministers were and they said, what’s happening? Is your mother resigning? Anyways, let me assure you I am still alive and well, and I have had too much coffee today so I need to talk about Hay River dredging. I’d like to direct my questions to the Premier today because I do believe that this is an area of federal responsibility, the dredging of the Hay River Harbour, which was, for some reason, vacated by the federal government without due consultation and without due plan in mind when they stopped doing this.

I’d like to ask the Premier, although we’ve had some money from Transportation in our government to look at studies, it’s time to stop the studies. We know what needs to be done. The harbour in Hay River needs to be dredged. Is this something that the Premier could elevate as an issue to be raised with the federal government at his level?

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Government of the Northwest Territories, we go to Ottawa and generally try to keep our asks to a manageable level. We focus on the areas of highest priority. I recognize that it’s been almost 20 years since the Hay River Harbour was last dredged, I think it was 1993-1994, and we’re quite prepared to do that in addition to spending money to do some work this summer. We have a small dredging program planned. We will also lobby the federal government.