Good afternoon, colleagues. Item 2, Ministers’ statements. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.

Mr. Speaker, with increased legislative and regulatory authorities, the Government of the Northwest Territories is positioning itself to take a more proactive and direct approach to expanding the territorial economy and to providing long-term and lasting economic growth and opportunities for the people of the NWT.

Last year this government released the Economic Opportunities Strategy and the Mineral Development Strategy. We could not have completed these strategies without our partners in industry, business and community associations, and the federal government. I want to acknowledge the valuable input we received through our engagement with local and Aboriginal governments as well as residents and business owners from across the NWT. I also want to thank the members of the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure for your input and guidance on both of these strategies.

Mr. Speaker, we are aiming to release the implementation plans for both the Economic Opportunities Strategy the Mineral Development Strategy by June 30.

The Economic Opportunities Strategy Implementation Plan will map out the priorities, approaches and resources that the GNWT will be undertaking to address the 117 recommended actions outlined in the strategy, led by Industry, Tourism and Investment. It is focused on four key areas: supporting the territory’s small business community; growing a stable and attractive entrepreneurial environment; pursuing major

investment projects; and attracting, retaining and preparing residents to be active participants in the prosperous and sustainable new economic environment that we are building.

The Mineral Development Strategy Implementation Plan will provide a blueprint to achieve specific goals outlined in the strategy. These include growing a sustainable mining sector, encouraging responsible mineral development and exploration, improving geoscience information and research, enhancing Aboriginal capacity and creating a Mining Incentive Program.

We will continue to collaborate with our partners who helped to develop these strategies, and work together to promote the Northwest Territories as a place to invest, work and live.

Mr. Speaker, a key element of devolution was that this government and this Assembly would gain the tools to shape and direct the economy of this territory for the long term. Capitalizing on our full potential takes the kind of strategic thought and planning reflected in these strategies and implementation plans. I look forward to working with Members to advance both of these strategies and ultimately to achieve our vision of a prosperous territory. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Abernethy.

Mr. Speaker, every day, seniors across the NWT make important contributions to their families, their friends and their communities.

We don’t always give them the credit they deserve, but recognizing June as Seniors Month in the Northwest Territories and June 15th as World Elder

Abuse Awareness Day is one way to show our appreciation to NWT seniors.

Today we are wearing purple boutonnieres to raise awareness about elder abuse and its many forms, financial, emotional and physical. I would like to welcome and recognize members of the NWT Seniors’ Society and the Yellowknife Seniors’ Society present in the gallery today.

Seniors and elders are important keepers of traditions and culture. They are a valued source of wisdom and guidance and are role models and mentors for younger generations.

Elders and seniors should be given the best care possible, and our government is committed to meeting their health care and social needs. Partnerships with seniors’ groups help to ensure seniors receive the support they need.

Mr. Speaker, seniors are the fastest growing population in the NWT. In the past decade the seniors demographic has grown at a rate of more than 5 percent per year.

A goal of the Department of Health and Social Services is to enhance the continuum of care to ensure seniors remain independent and in their own homes and their own communities for as long as possible. We know that providing home and community care services for seniors reduces the demand for long-term and acute care and helps seniors maintain their quality of life. We all benefit when our elders are able to remain active and independent members of community life.

The GNWT already offers a range of programs and services that help seniors live independently, including home care, seniors housing, and the Extended Health Benefits Program for seniors. Home support is already available in every NWT community, and home nursing is available in communities with nursing staff. The department is also working with the NWT Housing Corporation to address independent housing needs in NWT communities.

However, Mr. Speaker, we know that as this segment of the population grows, we will need to change the way we offer services. After an extensive review of continuing care services in the NWT which helped identify needs, best practices and system gaps, we have developed a strategic framework which outlines the broad principles that will guide how we design and deliver programs and services in the future. The framework document Our Elders: Our Communities outlines seven priorities for healthy and active aging. These priorities include: • ensuring that we continue to deliver home and

community care services that meet the needs of elders and communities;

• making sure that services are integrated and

coordinated;

• recognizing that we need to support caregivers; • working with our communities to ensure that

they are responsive to the needs of their elders and seniors;

• providing accessible and current information to

seniors and their families; and

• continuing to explore and implement sustainable

best practices.

Encouraging healthy and active aging promotes independent living and allows elders to contribute their knowledge and wisdom within their community. This benefits everyone.

This approach also supports a sustainable health system by increasing community supports, which reduces the need for acute care services and long-term care beds, and it helps to achieve our vision of ensuring the best health, best care and a better future for our residents.

Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time, I will be tabling the document Our Elders: Our Communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.

Mr. Speaker, making sure our children inherit a healthy environment that supports traditional lifestyles in a modern economy through the wise use and protection of our natural resources is one of the main goals of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

As you are aware, as of April 1, 2014, ENR took over responsibility for managing water resources in the Mackenzie Valley and inland waters in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region through the administration of the Waters Act and Regulations.

This new legislation gives the Government of the Northwest Territories the authority to make sure water is used in a sustainable manner and is protected and conserved for future generations.

With Rivers to Oceans Day coming up the week of June 9th , it is timely to provide Members with an

update on water management in the NWT.

Mr. Speaker, the principles and vision of the Northwest Territories Water Stewardship Strategy continue to guide our actions post-devolution and ensure conservation of this valuable resource. We continue to build awareness of water stewardship among youth, with activities planned with Grade 3 students on Rivers to Oceans Day.

We are fulfilling our enhanced responsibility for water resource management, guided by the goals of the Water Stewardship Strategy. Through monitoring and assessment, research partnerships and advisory roles, the spirit and intent of the strategy is followed and applied.

There are many important programs and activities we carry out with our increased water management responsibilities. For example, in the fall of 2014 we

will finalize a new Canada-NWT Memorandum of Agreement on Hydrometric Monitoring for the NWT, for continued baseline monitoring of water quantity at key sites across the territory.

We continue to regularly sample water quality in major transboundary rivers as well as through a network of special interest sites.

We are working with NWT communities and other partners to build upon, and support, the NWT-wide Community-Based Water Quality Monitoring Program in the Mackenzie River Basin to help answer community questions about water. Monitoring results have been shared with involved communities and other water partners through regional meetings, workshops and the 2014 water calendar.

A booklet outlining monitoring results for 2012 is now available. Results for 2013 will be communicated in upcoming months.

In late October 2013, following the Obed Mountain Coal Mine spill near Hinton, Alberta, ENR worked with the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada to quickly mobilize and get water sampling equipment in place to address residents’ concerns about downstream waters in the NWT. ENR provided sampling equipment and gave ongoing updates about the spill to the public. Spring sampling is now underway and results of the monitoring will be released later this spring.

I am happy to report we expect there will be little or no impact on NWT waters.

ENR recently supported the Town of Hay River’s emergency measures office during breakup of the Hay River by producing daily breakup reports for the director of protective services and testing an ice jam flood risk model developed by the University of Alberta.

The ENR network of climate monitoring and snow survey sites across the NWT provides valuable information to a broad range of clients and researchers.

Mr. Speaker, we will be relying on the continued support and involvement of Aboriginal governments and other partners as we build capacity and undertake northern-focused research with a greater emphasis on the biological aspect of water monitoring.

ENR continues to support NWT communities in developing source water protection plans. ENR developed a community source water protection guidance document that has been distributed to NWT communities and water partners.

Collaborative partnerships are being established between ENR, other GNWT departments, Aboriginal groups, environmental non-government organizations, community representatives, federal

government departments and academic institutions in efforts to establish community-based monitoring initiatives related to source water protection.

Significant progress has been made on negotiations of bilateral water management agreements with Alberta and British Columbia. An intentions document is being developed for each to serve as a basis for the NWT to negotiate final bilateral agreements. Aboriginal consultation and public engagement regarding negotiations of these agreements are ongoing. We continue to pursue transboundary water management agreements with Saskatchewan and the Yukon.

Along with the regulatory responsibilities of reviewing water licence applications, providing technical advice to NWT regulatory boards and inspecting and enforcing water licences, ENR is now responsible for approving Type A water licences. Since April 1, we have approved two amended Type A water licences, CanTung and Con Mine, in a thorough and timely manner

Mr. Speaker, ENR is stepping up and successfully meeting the challenges of our new water management responsibilities post-devolution.

We remain committed to our vision of keeping the water of the NWT clean, abundant and productive for all time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Item 3, Members’ statements. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a little story I want to tell today and it ends with a question. What are we supposed to tell them?

For many, many years, Hay River has had an electrical inspector who works under the Department of Public Works and Services. Most of you will know that that was Stanley Norn. Stanley Norn recently retired, and congratulations to him on his retirement.

Now, the job was out for competition and candidates applied. This is a position that we have to fight to keep in Hay River. If a candidate who applies for the job lives in a different community, they can’t then just say, can you move that position to my community so I can stay home and do the job?

Mr. Speaker, we not only have to fight for decentralization to get new positions into our communities but it looks like we have to fight to keep the ones we’ve already got and have had for

many, many years. It’s not just a political decision. It comes down to issues like where are the majority of the electrical permit applications made? Where are the majority of electrical contractors? Where is the majority of the work that this electrical inspector would be doing? Where is it located? If it’s located in Hay River, the job has to be kept in Hay River.

So, Mr. Bouchard and I have both received communication from several electrical contractors in Hay River who are extremely concerned that they will not have ready access to an electrical inspector to process their applications when they need to pull a permit to do work in Hay River.

So, in response to that, we need to get some answers on what’s happening here. If we can apply for government jobs in a different location and then say can you just move the job to where I live, then I think everybody in Hay River should apply for a job with the government in Yellowknife, and when they are the successful candidate, they can just ask the staff, can we just stay in Hay River and do that job that’s actually a job in Yellowknife?

I think that we owe these folks in Hay River some answers. I don’t know if decisions have been made, but I had to bring it up here publicly today. We have not named any name of the candidates or potential candidates or where they live, but it’s a pressing issue for us as MLAs for Hay River.

Later today I will have a question for the Minister of Public Works and Services: What do we tell our concerned citizens about the position of the electrical inspector for Hay River? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we witnessed earlier today in the Great Hall with the education presentations, we have many great teachers throughout the Northwest Territories. There are those in our education system that are here to teach and those who serve to inspire their students to great heights.

Keeping on this theme, I’d like to dedicate my Member’s statement today to a group of inspiring Yellowknife teachers at St. Pat’s High School for going above and beyond what is expected as an educator.

Of course, I’m referring to the special St. Pat’s Scuba/Marine Biology 2013-2014 Club Administration Team comprising of Mr. Brent Simmons who is a PADI rescue diver, Mr. Todd Stewart, who is a PADI advanced open water diver and the driving force behind the program, Ms.

Michelle Thoms, the main course and scuba instructor.

The St. Pat’s Scuba/Marine Biology Class is a club that was started in 2000. During the past eight years, the club has taken five trips to British Columbia and as of this past May, three trips to Cozumel, Mexico.

The club’s main objective is to educate youth about marine environment, using safe and environmentally friendly techniques, the completion of a scuba certification and collection of data from a marine biology project.

Students receive credits for the marine biology course, learn First Aid and CPR and graduate with a PADI diver certification, which is also a high school credit course.

The students worked very hard at fundraising leading up to this trip and must maintain school-based academic and attendance requirements. Like any adventurous activity, there are always potential risks; however, I can assure you that these teachers supervised all the training, all PADI guidelines and provided a safe diving experience for their students.

I have great faith in our education system, knowing that we have teachers like Mr. Simmons, Mr. Stewart and Ms. Thoms going that extra mile to inspire our youth in lifelong learning.

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of all Members of the Legislative Assembly, join me in appreciation for their efforts. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to discuss an issue that I’ve brought up in the House before. It’s a priority of the Assembly to do decentralization, to put jobs out in the regions from a priority of this Assembly when we started. Now I’m going to be questioning Cabinet and the Premier today about how and the timing of this.

Mr. Speaker, you well know that this session is very short before we go into the summer break, but then when we come back in September we’ll be looking at business plans of departments of how these departments are going to be run and operate over the next year. In that planning session I would hope to see some of the discussion on how we’re decentralizing some of the activities that these departments are doing.

The question that I have today, and I’ve asked in this House before, is there must be a big plan. I’ve heard, and it has been indicated by some of the Ministers, that there is a plan, we kind of have an idea, you may get this, you may get some other

positions, but we’ve never ever seen a plan here on this side of this is how it’s going to be laid out.

We’ve talked about devolution and the positions there, and we were held up by the federal government on some of the work that can be done. We have plans out there from the department side of we’re going to build these types of houses in this type of locations. The thing is, have we incorporated those construction plans along with a plan to decentralize the government?

I will have questions later for the Premier of the Northwest Territories on decentralization and when is the big plan coming out to the general public and to this side of the House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The cost of fuel is hurting homeowners in small communities across the NWT. Seniors and those on a fixed income are especially vulnerable to increased fuel prices.

Since 1999, heating oil and propane prices have increased over 200 percent in many places. Last week Petro Canada rack rates in Hay River price diesel and furnace fuel oil at $1.01 per litre. Global demand and prices for fossil fuels continue to rise.

Government needs to look at ways to standardize fuel prices like other provinces have done. We could establish rates for private, commercial and industry customers, first in areas served by the petroleum products division and then consider ways to broaden support to the whole NWT.

We know that our years of subsidizing energy prices are dwindling. Fuel prices are among the greatest cost to individuals, communities, corporate taxpayers and the environment. We need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. Not only is it draining our bank accounts, it costs the planet and people more than we can afford.

Consider the changes to our culture alone due to dependence on fuel. Fossil fuel production threatens water supplies and air quality. It compromises cultural traditions and alters our relationship to the natural world.

Advances in technology have generally made our lives easier and longer, but we also rely less on each other. People feel like they have to spend all their time working to have money and things. For the most part, modern lifestyles depend on machines and the ability to travel long distance in a short time. That isn’t all bad, but we need to remember we’re in a balance with nature.

We’re making some positive changes in promoting biomass heating systems in homes and public buildings. We need to make sure private

homeowners and eligible public housing tenants can take full advantage of more stable prices of biomass energy. The government has launched a Solar Energy Strategy, and the Diavik Mine is powering some of its own operations with wind.

We need to help Northerners manage the price of fuel while working on longer term solutions to reduce our reliance on expensive energy. I look forward to more discussion on energy solutions for the NWT over the next few days.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As you know, housing conditions in remote communities matter to all Members of this House regardless of what constituency you represent. I want to talk about some of the public housing conditions in Paulatuk here today.

I’ve been reading some of the condition ratings provided in detail by the Housing Corporation, and I am quite concerned, and I think we need to discuss them today. Now, if you have visited or perhaps been in contact with any of the families there recently, you would hear one point of view, and of course, if you have asked for information such as I have, the Housing Corporation would have provided a briefing note which says one thing, which is a different view, and furthermore, they provided stats to back that up which, oddly enough, is something else.

Take, for example, that the Housing Corporation says that there are five units that fall under the condition rating of liveable. But, you know, when you go through their stats, they don’t actually line up. When you ask them how many units are available for families out there, they’ll tell you that there are three under one condition and two under another, and that adds up to five. But if you talk to people in the community, there are actually nine units sitting there unavailable for people to live in. It causes people to wonder, or at least it causes me to wonder: who is doing some of these condition ratings, who is counting houses, how do you lose houses, what is their ability to do condition ratings, do they actually have competencies to do these types of things, and how do we allow this to happen?

Frankly, in talking to the people in the community, they feel that these conditions that they’re living under are bleak without any hope. I hear stories that the houses there are fraught with mould, the inspections are not being done, the repair and maintenance is non-existent, and as everybody knows, most certainly people like yourself, when it costs $7 or more a pound to fly up anything, if you

shipped up one sheet of drywall, which could weigh 40 pounds, you’re paying $280 just to get that one sheet of drywall to Paulatuk, for goodness sakes. The question is: Do we have the money and are we doing what we should be obliged to, to help the people there?

I have a lengthy Member’s statement, and I don’t know where to begin. There is just so much to say about the mould there and the conditions people are living under, the fact is, are we being fair and honest with the folks there? Clearly, there is a significant need there, and I would definitely say that the responsibility of our government needs to listen clearly to this point. When we own 75 percent of the housing in Paulatuk, 60 out of 80 units, it doesn’t leave you a lot of options on where to go, so people learned that they cannot complain or they’ll be shunned. That has to end. We need something done.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. May was Speech and Hearing Month, and many of us take our ability to communicate for granted, but the ability to speak, hear and be heard is far more vital to our everyday lives than most of us realize. One in six Canadians has a speech, language or hearing problem.

Each year Speech-Language and Audiology Canada dedicates the month of May to raising public awareness about communication disorders. This year in the month of May, speech-language pathologists, audiologists and supportive personnel joined forces to highlight the importance of early detection and intervention in the treatment of communication disorders. Whether working with a child with autism, an adult with impaired hearing or an elderly person recovering from a stroke, their goal is this: to help people speak well, hear well, live well.

We have many chronic health conditions in the North, and hearing loss is one of them. Canada wide, hearing loss is the third most prevalent chronic condition behind arthritis and hypertension, and half of all cases of hearing loss are preventable.

Hearing loss is one of the most common major conditions that is present at birth. Approximately three to five babies per 1,000 born each year have some degree of hearing loss. It’s a condition that affects a child’s understanding and use of language, and it’s one that can be easily screened for in newborns. It’s a condition that can affect a child’s cognitive, social, emotional, academic and communication development, and the sooner the

hearing problem is detected the better the chances for improvement and future success of the child.

That said, historically, hospitals only screen high-risk babies for hearing loss, but studies show that nearly half of all babies with hearing loss have no high-risk factors, so they don’t get screened. All newborns should be screened. Early identification allows for earlier intervention, which can enhance a hearing-impaired child’s development. An accurate and objective hearing screening test on a newborn can be completed in less than five minutes. The typical quoted cost is about $35. On the flipside, every case of unidentified hearing loss has been estimated to cost taxpayers $1 million.

We do have a hearing screening program in the NWT for newborns.

I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thanks to my colleagues. Our hearing screening program is sponsored by the Stanton Territorial Health Authority and the Department of Health and Social Services, and it’s delivered at every birthing centre in the NWT. However, it is a voluntary service for parents.

All children in the NWT deserve access to proper hearing screening to help them reach their full potential. Newborn and infant hearing screening programs must be mandated for all NWT newborns, no matter where they are born. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As a government, sometimes we do face challenges with a lack of resources to provide certain programs and services in the Northwest Territories. As a result, we often have to partner up with organizations from the South, and a particular organization is the Canadian National Institute for the Blind.

Although it’s June, I’d like to take time to reflect that the month of May was, and is, Vision Health Month, and actually the Senate of Canada officially declared May as Vision Health Month.

As the primary provider of vision rehabilitation programs and services to Northwest Territories residents with vision loss, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind Alberta and Northwest Territories Division knows first-hand the importance of vision health.

At this time I would like Members and residents of the Northwest Territories to consider some of the following facts about vision health and vision loss. Seventy-five percent of vision loss is avoidable

through prevention or treatment. Many serious eye conditions have no symptoms and can only be detected through a comprehensive eye exam. Even someone with 20/20 vision may be at risk, and those working with vision loss face additional health risks such as clinical depression, increased risk of falls and increased admittance rates into nursing homes.

In the Northwest Territories there are more than 1,000 residents living with vision loss. This number is expected to grow exponentially with an aging population. As you heard hear earlier today, the seniors demographic has been growing at a rate of more than 5 percent a year, as the Minister of Health alluded to a little earlier today.

The first step towards avoiding vision loss is to visit a vision health professional to receive a comprehensive eye exam. For more information, members of the public, health professionals, Members of the Legislative Assembly can actually find more information by visiting the CNIB website, cnib.ca.

At this time I would like to thank Mr. John J. McDonald, the executive director and regional vice-president of the CNIB Alberta/Northwest Territories Division for contacting all Members of the Legislative Assembly to recognize the important work that they are doing for residents of the Northwest Territories in bringing this important matter to the table for all Members of the Legislative Assembly. Thank you.