Good afternoon, colleagues. Colleagues, I wish to advise the House that I have received the following correspondence from the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories.

Dear Mr. Speaker: I wish to advise that I recommend to the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, that passage of Supplementary Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 1, 2013-2014, during the Fourth Session of the 17th Legislative Assembly.

Yours truly, George L. Tuccaro, Commissioner.

Thank you, colleagues. Item 2, Ministers’ statements. The honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to update the people of the Northwest Territories on one of our key initiatives to respond to the global climate change problem: the NWT Greenhouse Gas Strategy.

As Members will recall, the Greenhouse Gas Strategy is one of the driving forces aimed at reducing our energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions, particularly within our government’s operations. It is this strategy that drives related initiatives in the areas of alternative energy, energy efficiency and climate change adaptations. More importantly, Mr. Speaker, the Greenhouse Gas Strategy is having a positive impact with direct emissions from Government of the Northwest Territories operations down 30 percent during the 2001 to 2011 time period.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources recently updated this important strategy to build on these successes. The newly revised

2011-2015 Greenhouse Gas Strategy goes beyond the GNWT and identifies actions in all sectors – government, industry and communities – to increase energy efficiency and identify new clean sources of renewable energy.

There is strong support from a broad spectrum of interests for our continued efforts to increase the growth of renewable energy sources for the NWT.

Solar electricity is quickly becoming almost as cost effective as burning diesel. There is already about 262 kilowatts of solar electricity capacity installed here. Battery-based off-grid solar applications account for 90 kilowatts while grid-interconnected systems are responsible for the other 172 kilowatts.

The recent expansion of the Fort Simpson Solar Energy Project by 178 panels, a joint project between the Northwest Territories Power Corporation and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, will displace about 100,000 kilowatt hours of diesel generation per year, and remove 84 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent from the atmosphere.

Mr. Speaker, this is just one of 27 solar projects we funded this year. Interest in the potential of solar electricity continues to grow. The Tlicho Government is proposing proposed utility-scale solar projects in two of its communities, which will allow us to determine the maximum solar capacity on their grid.

Biomass currently constitutes about 12 percent of total heating fuel consumption in our communities. More than 130 wood and wood pellet stoves and boilers have been installed in people’s homes this year with support provided by this government. During the past five years, we have commissioned 11 biomass heating systems in larger government buildings resulting in the displacement more than 2.4 million litres of heating oil, equivalent to about 16 percent of the GNWT's heating fuel consumption. These projects have reduced more than 6,500 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions from government operations.

The demand for biomass energy continues to grow as communities realize the potential for energy reduction and the opportunities for local supply.

We continue to work with Aboriginal governments and communities to assess the best approach for

developing forest industry opportunities and local biomass fuel production to support more biomass energy developments.

Mr. Speaker, interest in establishing a wood-pellet manufacturing facility in our territory will provide significant economic benefits and employment opportunities in communities where they are most needed.

Our role is to support the sustainable development of a local forest industry. Biomass energy and supply are providing an avenue to accomplish this by providing essential forest planning support, resource information, and advice to communities and entrepreneurs on sustainable development and management of our forest resources.

Actions being taken by industry, communities and Aboriginal partners complement the work we are taking and are essential to helping us achieve our long-term goals. For example, the Diavik Diamond Mine installed four wind turbines that started production in September 2012. These turbines have a total generation capacity of 9.2 megawatts and are expected to reduce emissions by 12,000 tonnes per year.

The City of Yellowknife just received recognition from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities for the steps it is taking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Through their Community Energy Plan, the city has reduced its emissions by 10 percent since 2004.

The Tlicho Government recently installed a biomass-fired district heat system that will provide heat to seven buildings in Behchoko. This system will reduce heating oil use by 200,000 litres per year and eliminate 530 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions a year.

The Tetlit Gwich’in Council in Fort McPherson is now installing a biomass boiler in their community and is taking steps to start harvesting their own local wood supply to provide the fuel.

Mr. Speaker, I have mentioned only a few of the businesses and communities taking steps in the same direction that the GNWT is moving because these are cost-effective measures. We have demonstrated that there are ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in ways that make financial sense. We will need to continue with this work. While we are on track to meet our next target of stabilizing greenhouse gas emissions at 2005 levels by the year 2015, it will be a challenge to continue to identify and implement actions that can meet the energy needs of our growing economy.

At the recent energy charrette, many participants discussed the need to ensure the NWT has access to clean, reliable energy at competitive prices. The implementation of actions outlined in the revised Greenhouse Gas Strategy is occurring on a cooperative and collaborative basis with a wide

range of government, non-government and industry groups. This approach will move us all closer to our common goal of a strong and sustainable North. Thank you.

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

Mr. Speaker, sustainable agricultural initiatives play a key role in lowering the cost of living across the territory and diversifying our economy.

Last September in Whitehorse, as part of a meeting of Ministers responsible for agriculture and agri-foods in Canada, I endorsed the multilateral Growing Forward 2 Agreement for agriculture. This agreement sets the stage for bilateral negotiations between the GNWT and the federal government on a new five-year joint funding agreement for agriculture in the NWT.

I am happy to advise Members of this Assembly that these negotiations, on both a multilateral agreement and a subsequent bilateral agreement to continue and expand the very successful Growing Forward Program in the NWT, are on schedule to be completed in time for this year’s growing season.

The Growing Forward 2 Agreement will provide up to $1.2 million per year for the NWT agriculture sector over the next five years, a funding increase of almost $500,000 per year.

Mr. Speaker, the average cost of food in the NWT is almost the highest in Canada, second only to Nunavut and approximately 30 percent higher than in Ontario.

We must continually find ways to not only reduce the cost of food, but also to diversify the types of affordable healthy food choices that are available and ensure greater access to them.

We have witnessed tremendous growth in agriculture initiatives in the NWT over the past number of years. Residents have expressed keen interest in seeing this continue. Thanks in part to the program that we are now working to expand, nearly every community has some form of gardening project in place. These range from smaller community-run gardening plots to commercial greenhouses.

From Norman Wells’ potatoes to Hay River’s Polar Eggs, we are seeing the agriculture sector blossom from our southern border to north of the Arctic Circle.

Mr. Speaker, increasing the supply of locally produced food through agriculture and traditional

harvesting, diversifying the food basket and lowering the cost of food for families are priorities that are continually identified to us by our constituents across the NWT.

In the coming years the new Growing Forward 2 Agreement will allow us to expand community garden initiatives to enable surplus product to be sold commercially, enabling community grocery stores to promote locally or northern produced foods alongside southern imported foodstuffs.

We are also looking at extending support to small livestock operations, supporting municipalities in identifying more lands for agriculture development within their municipal boundaries, and increasing support to our private sector.

The GNWT’s investment in agriculture further supports the 17th Legislative Assembly’s priority to

support small business and the traditional economy in the interest of strengthening and diversifying the NWT economy. Thank You, Mr. Speaker.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Education Renewal and Innovation Initiative is examining a wide range of issues facing education in the NWT and developing a comprehensive plan to address these. The development of this plan and many aspects of the plan itself will involve participation of other GNWT departments. I am happy to report that a wide range of GNWT departments have dedicated staff to participating in this process. The plan itself is scheduled to be completed by this late fall/winter.

The renewal initiative is currently in the research and engagement phases. The project charter, describing the work ahead, will draw upon the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative and, once completed, the Anti-Poverty Strategy, the Safe Schools Strategy, the Mental Health and Addictions Strategy, the Early Childhood Framework and the Inclusive Schooling review. At the heart of it all, our work will be guided by the principles of basing educational change in both evidence-based research and culturally appropriate approaches.

Mr. Speaker, we are not alone in our efforts to improve student outcomes. Other jurisdictions are doing the same. All across Canada we see growing levels of student disengagement, fragmented approaches to learning, a growing gulf between what, and how, students are learning in school settings, and what our students face when they leave school and enter the workforce.

Much work has been done and more is underway:

• We have a dedicated team at ECE leading this

work. Several project teams have been created, and have researched best practices and relevant programs in the North, and elsewhere in Canada and the world.

• A discussion paper based on this research will

be developed by the end of March.

• ECE staff will be meeting with board

superintendents and curriculum supervisors for a full day consultation April 10th .

• The NWTTA is a particularly active partner in

this work. We are encouraged by the possibilities of working together and making positive changes to education in the NWT. ECE will be meeting with NWTTA regional presidents and staff for a full day consultation April 11th .

• A major roundtable is scheduled for the end of

April. This will bring together the project teams with interdepartmental participation. Conversations among project teams will ensure that each of these major areas is addressed in ways that complement the work being done in other project areas.

• Engagement with Aboriginal leadership and

students is planned for May and June.

• Draft work on direction gained from these

consultations will be done over the summer.

With these issues top of mind, Mr. Speaker, we have a momentous task in front of us. We believe that we are making progress to help us achieve this goal, through some of our programs already mentioned, the evidence-based research, and through our collaborations with education and Aboriginal leaders, stakeholders, and communities. We hope for good collaboration, constructive comments and critical conversations that will help inform and guide this important work. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Deputy Premier, Mr. Lafferty.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Bob McLeod will be absent from the House for a portion of today’s proceedings to attend meetings with the Prime Minister. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Item 3, Members’ statements. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am always learning something about this job. For example, I learned that it is the official vision of the NWT Liquor Commission that “our customers will have a healthy and responsible attitude towards alcohol consumption.” The vision is backed by the mission which includes promoting development of a healthy and responsible drinking culture.

When I see what’s going on in most NWT communities, I think there’s a way to go before the Liquor Commission vision and mission become a reality. The reality is consistent with some of the facts from the commission’s annual report. The Liquor Commission sells $46 million worth of hard liquor, beer and wine a year and makes a 53 percent profit on it.

Our government sells more hard liquor – spirits as we call it – than beer, at least by the dollar value. That’s $19.5 million a year, or 42 percent of total sales of alcohol.

What does that tell us about our drinking and how responsible we are as drinkers? Well, in British Columbia the sale of hard liquor is only 26 percent of the total. It looks to me like people there drink more responsibly than we do. It’s too bad we don’t have any statistics about how much hard liquor our system sells to the bootleggers. I guess it’s quite a bit. They don’t buy a lot of wine or beer. Selling booze to bootleggers is probably quite profitable to our government’s Liquor Commission. How responsible is that, Mr. Speaker?

I could go on about the health indicators that suggest our territory suffers from an unhealthy and irresponsible drinking culture. So how is the NWT Liquor Commission going to live up to their mission to change that? It looks like the commission spends $38,000 a year on communicating and advertising. That’s a bit more than one-tenth of 1 percent of the commission’s profits. That’s a pitiful investment. We get warning stickers on bottles, a couple of brochures, a booklet and some posters. I think it’s only fair to say that’s little more than token half-hearted lip service.

We suggest that the commission’s profits go 10 percent to the direct health and benefits of the mission statement like the smoking cessation program. More needs to be done if you are going to have a healthy and responsible drinking culture.

I’d like to ask the Finance Minister some questions later on. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, as several of my colleagues have done before me, I want to highlight the Electoral Boundaries Commission and the consultations that are currently in progress across the NWT.

The Electoral Boundaries Commission is established every eight years to review our NWT electoral boundaries and ridings. The commission considers the populations of our current ridings and determines if all ridings are equitable. It recommends possible changes to the Legislative Assembly, and the Assembly then debates the issue and does or does not make changes to the NWT Elections Act.

The commission is currently trying to decide whether the territory should lose one electoral district, add two more, or keep the current 19 electoral districts. The commission has an interim report and they are seeking feedback on the report from residents on the three options that are put forward in that report.

A public meeting was held about a month ago here in Yellowknife, to hear that kind of feedback. Unfortunately, it was extremely poorly attended. A second meeting is scheduled for tomorrow evening, March 12th , at 7:00 p.m. at Range Lake School and

I hope to see many more Yellowknifers out this time so that the commission hears Yellowknifers’ views. Why should people bother to go? This is important to all Yellowknife residents because it affects how they are represented in the Legislative Assembly.

The city of Yellowknife is currently under-represented here. This city has 50 percent of the population of the NWT but only 37 percent of the seats in this Legislature. Is this a concern for Yellowknifers? If so, you Yellowknifers have to let the commission hear your views. It’s not enough to contact your MLA. The commission needs to hear from residents because silence is generally taken as assent. Do Yellowknifers feel that our city gets its fair share of the GNWT budget and resources? If not, would more Yellowknife Members help to right that imbalance? The commission won’t know if you don’t tell them.

The commission’s interim report can be viewed at www.nwtboundaries.ca. Check it out and then consider attending tomorrow night. Get involved and be heard. All views, both pro and con, should be provided to the commission to guide their discussions in the development of their final report. I hope to see a full to overflowing room tomorrow night at Range Lake North School.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s probably an understatement today to say it was a spectacular move forward on the evolution of the people of the Northwest Territories and our governance model with the Prime Minister here today to announce that the devolution negotiations have come to an end. Of course, that only means one thing: We are pushing forward to an implementation of, finally, the authority and respect that we deserve. I would say that today is certainly a great day for the people of the Northwest Territories.

In that great day there are a lot of questions about what this future will bring, what limitless bounds are before us. What is so critical about this opportunity today is the future belongs to Northerners and it’s ours to carve out, it’s ours to tread, it’s ours to grab and hold.

I’ve been asked by many people, the public, what does the final agreement mean. I look forward to the Premier bringing forward that type of robust discussion to all Northerners so that we can see what the final agreement finally does in the details and the sense of, as they always say, the devil is in the details. This agreement certainly is no exception to that.

The people do want to see the details. While we were on break only a few minutes ago, many people were wondering now what’s next. What does it mean? Where does it take us? I hope that the Premier does hope for a public engagement strategy on informing Northerners what our government has negotiated on their behalf. As Members of this Assembly, we are privy to some of those finer details but, at the same time, we’re cloaked in the confidentiality of that. I look forward to the Premier bringing forward that type of discussion.

There are many people looking forward to being brought on board in support for this Devolution Agreement, but they do want to know what it means. I don’t hear a lot of opposition here in Yellowknife, but that’s not to say people don’t want to know what their government is taking them towards or what rabbit hole we’ve now found ourselves plunging down.

I will say for the record, of course, that I am in support of the Devolution Agreement that was signed here today. I know the work has been long sought after. We have at least 12 years, if not decades, beyond that which have brought us to the final pen signature today. There is clarity sought after in my statement today which is about what devolution means. Many people don’t understand, and would like to understand about the authorities and powers it draws down, the resource control, the

land and water board stewardship that we will be as a people managing ourselves.

In closing, earlier today our Premier made mention that there would be a vote before the Assembly and that type of discussion I would like to hear more of, and during question period I will be having those types of questions for the Premier to find out how Northerners will be engaged in the next step.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to congratulate two remarkable women in my riding: Margaret Ann Landry and Pauline Bonnetrouge. On March 8th , the Status of Women Council honoured

Margaret Ann Landry of Fort Providence as one of this year’s wise women. Margaret was chosen for this award for her tireless work for people in need. She cleans houses for the elders, runs errands, and cooks and shares food with the hungry. She opens her door to women who are in need of shelter from abuse and listens to them with compassion. Congratulations to Margaret on this well-deserved award.

As of this Sunday, Pauline Bonnetrouge of Fort Providence was 100 years young.

---Applause

As a child, Pauline travelled with her parents on the trapline, living in stick lean-tos. Her sisters taught her how to tan hides, set snares, fix snowshoes and sew. After she got married, Pauline enjoyed helping her husband on the land. She would take their dog team to visit her nets and set snares. Pauline also became a traditional midwife and delivered a lot of babies in the Fort Simpson area in the 1940s. She herself had seven children, 16 grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren and six great-great-grandchildren.

Congratulations to Pauline on her milestone birthday. She is a true matriarch of her community.

Fort Providence is greatly blessed to have women like Margaret Ann Landry and Pauline Bonnetrouge among us.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I was pleased to see the signing of the devolution deal today. I know that over time we’ve always said as our government moves forward that

we’ll have more money for our government, but I just want to speak about the things that we do today about flying to the smaller communities. We’re still having lots of different departments, for example, a community like Trout Lake will have three airplanes come in to the community, and we’ve spoken many times in this Assembly about coordinating those visits, even, indeed, with the federal government. It’s about coordinating and saving money for the budget for these departments and overall towards even the federal departments as well.

I just want to remind government again, that we have to coordinate these visits and get into the communities. Overall, we still have to be fiscally minded as we approach this. In the small communities, you see three planes fly in and it’s kind of a shame knowing that they’re all coming out of Fort Simpson and all on the same day, when we can coordinate these efforts, so I’d like to remind government to continue that practice.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to just discuss some of the work that the Inuvik Interagency Committee has been doing over the past year, I suppose. On the request of the Inuvik Interagency Committee, research was conducted in the community of Inuvik by Dr. Michael Young with the Royal Roads University on a Hard to House research program that he worked on. It presented initial findings on the research that he did with homelessness in Inuvik that was done this past winter. The way he did it was he did a lot of surveys and he did some focus groups, specifically with individuals who have been homeless or without stable housing in the past year, and then they explored strategies that could assist them in avoiding homelessness and securing long-term housing.

This week, on Thursday, in the community of Inuvik, I encourage all Members and all organizations that work with people in homelessness and also with mental health and addictions to attend this event. I look forward to getting the information and the research findings from this event and look at creating some type of strategy here with the government so that it can be one of our documents and, kind of, templates that we might be able to follow to address the homelessness issues in our small communities in our regions.

I just want to comment all the hardworking individuals, and organizations and groups from the Inuvik interagency meeting that I’ve had the pleasure of working with for the last 12 to 13 years,

and all the great programs that they do, this being one of them. Like I said, I look forward to finding those results, creating strategies and being able to not only help the people of Inuvik that need long-term stable housing and a place to live for the homeless, but for all communities of the Northwest Territories, and creating that template that I will be able to bring into the House and share with all the Members and residents of the Northwest Territories. Like I said, I commend all the hard work that the interagency group in Inuvik does and taking care of the people of the community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just literally a few minutes ago, this House was resounding with the news of devolution. I would like to offer my congratulations to the Premier and his staff, our government and previous governments that have led to this devolution deal as well as, of course, Aboriginal leaders.

It’s great to see that all of the Aboriginal governments with settled land claims are at the table. We will apparently have considerable new authority with this devolution deal, but I also noticed, as I’m sure others did, that there were some binders on the words that we heard earlier today, one of which was, of course, that we have two Aboriginal governments without settled authorities who are still not at the table. Obviously, we need to work on that.

And even a bigger concern is that we heard that apparently the federal government retains the authority for environmental impacts and review. We have the authority to mine and to drill, but we don’t need to worry about the environment because that apparently will be the responsibility of the federal government. This, of course, is in contrast to what we’ve been hearing from our Premier and Ministers during our debates on environmental issues with respect to devolution.

So my question will be: Where will we get the authority for dealing with the management of the land issues? It’s clear that this is being retained by the federal government. So in all respects, I think this will take quite a period of time to look at. We obviously need a thorough consultation.

I’m very happy that we are making progress and that we signed this agreement, but I also have some grave concerns. I will be looking forward to a real consultation opportunity with all of the public, and debate the various aspects of this deal.

My biggest concern remains. It is almost diabolical that we’ve been given the authority to go out and develop and dig out all of these resources that were mentioned, whereas we have to trust the federal government to look after the land. That is a concern and I will be speaking on that and asking questions when I can. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.