Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also mentioned resurfacing. I’d like to ask the Minister, why was there no funds in the operation and maintenance to resurface the Dempster Highway from Fort McPherson to Wrangling River at kilometre 173? Thank you.

Thank you. The resurfacing of that highway is, unfortunately, not in the information I have here, but my understanding was that we were continuing the work, other than all other work that needed to be done other than this widening of the highway, using that money from Corridors for Canada. I will check to see what is happening between Tsiigehtchic and Wrangling River and I’ll let the Member know. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m just going to follow up from my Member’s statement today with questions to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment in regards to this very successful program that’s run through the NWT Skills Canada division here.

I just want to ask the Minister, does the department, working in conjunction with NWT Skills Canada, have some type of database on the successes or successful candidates or participants that obtain a job in the trade or skill that they practice and won a gold medal for, successfully obtained a job with the GNWT or industry? Do the Minister and his department have some type of database for that currently? Thank you.

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Through the Skills Canada office, they’re supported by federal and also our territorial government through the ECE department and industry through program and event sponsors. So this is a very successful initiative pertaining to access trades

programming throughout the Northwest Territories, nationally and also international stages. So we are working closely with Skills Canada to obtain the data that they would have on those individuals that are entering the trades programming. We have our own information as well. We sponsor those individuals through labour market agreements. So we try and keep data on those individuals, but we exchange with the Skills Canada organization. Mahsi.

Thank you. I think this is an opportunity right now for government to maybe step up and take it to the next level in terms of looking at how we can think outside the box and look at all our successful candidates that have won gold medals at the territorial level and who are currently going to be representing Team NWT at the national competition here.

Would the Minister implement some type of mentorship supporting program for all of our gold medal winners or all our participants who are currently at the national level, whether they’re in Grade 9 or Grade 12, and start supporting them through the years so that at the end of their high school that they might be able to take on a career within the industry or within the GNWT or within the communities back home? Would the Minister look at creating some type of follow-up mentorship program so that we can support these successful, skilled individuals? Youth actually? Thank you.

Mahsi. First I’d just like to congratulate those individuals in the past that have obtained gold medal level, a silver medal and also bronze at the national or international level and for the Northwest Territories as well. So we have to congratulate those individuals for their hard work and continue to support them. This is an area that, federally, Canada’s Job Grant is coming and Labour Market Agreement and Labour Market Development Agreement, there are changes coming. What the Member is referring to, if we can integrate that into our discussions with the federal, how we can achieve those goals, sponsoring those individuals at the gold level. So, this is an area that we need to discuss with Skills Canada and other partners out there. Mahsi.

Thank you. I know the Minister mentioned the Canada Job Grant. I think that’s a great opportunity, a great program and as long as we can start getting by and promoting that program, but we do have some youth that are down there in Grade 9, Grade 10 and this is a great opportunity for government to step up now and say, in two or three years you’re going to be either going to post-secondary or even getting some type of career, as a government we’re willing to help you, support you, because sometimes some of these individuals might not have high math skills, high chemistry skills, but the trade and the skill that they’re in right

now, they’re succeeding in that. As a government we need to enhance that, encourage that and continue to motivate them to make the skills. So that’s where I’m coming from in terms of recognizing these gold medal winners.

I guess the next question is that if the government isn’t going to be stepping up, would the government start making agreements, whether its socio-economic agreements or working with the mines, other industry, to help support them to recognize our gold medal winners, our Team NWT that’s at the nationals right now to take on this type of program and support them for the remainder of their high school years? Thank you.

Mahsi. I agree with the Member that these individuals should be recognized and supported, and that’s what we’re doing through our apprenticeship occupation certification. We’ve committed $70,000 to support Skills Canada per year. Also, in 2013-14 we provided $140,000 for Skills Canada. We’ll continue to provide those types of sponsorships for these individuals to succeed beyond just the trades access. Someday we want them to be a journeyman ticket holder so they can come back to our Northwest Territories and contribute to our society. So, yes, those are areas that we need to discuss with the new initiative that’s coming down from the feds, and the industry has been in discussion as well. So once that information is available, I will be sharing it with the standing committee. Mahsi.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess the last question, we’ve got a lot of these youth that have the summers off and they might be looking for summer jobs.

Would the Minister possibly work with our Minister of Human Resources to look at developing some type of summer employment program, especially for the gold medal winners, so we can promote them, get them right into the working system and possibly create some type of program? Is he willing to work with the Minister of Human Resources to develop some type of program where our Team NWT national winners would be able to possibly be a priority to get some of these jobs in the summer so they can start practising that skill, that trade that they’ve excelled at? Thank you.

I will commit to working with the Department of Human Resources to establish that. Not only there, but there’s also the Housing Corporation when it comes to plumbing and different trade areas and industry as well. So we do have connections within our department and other departments as well. We need to develop a plan of action towards this so we can focus on those individuals who are in the gold, silver and

bronze areas, so they can hopefully achieve their dream as well. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated in my Member’s statement, a vital service in Hay River, which is the handi-van, that deals with seniors and people with disabilities to get around the community to attend medical appointments and stuff like that, has not been receiving any government funding and has seen cost increases and has pressures there. So my questions are for the Minister of Health today.

Is there any funding available to assist these people, seniors with disabilities, to get to their medical appointments and go throughout the community of Hay River?

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There’s no question that handi-vans provide an essential service for persons with disabilities; however, the provision for transportation services for people with disabilities is beyond the core mandate of the Department of Health and Social Services. I have had an opportunity to share the concerns that have been raised by the Member and the public with the Minister of MACA, and at present there is no GNWT funding available to municipalities for transportation services. The funding that they do receive from Municipal and Community Affairs is for water and sewer, operations and maintenance, and maintenance of infrastructure.

The community government could, obviously, choose to use some of these dollars from their gas tax or community public infrastructure to purchase a van, but that obviously wouldn’t help them to operate the van. However, O and M funding from the community government could be used for this purpose, if the community government chose to.

I strongly encourage advocates of persons with disabilities to continue to work with your community governments to take full advantage of the available funding for those purposes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The difficulty with that solution is we are downloading the information to a municipality where some of these services aren’t just a municipal issue. We are dealing with people from Katlodeeche that use the service as well as the fact that this is not public transportation. This is transportation for a specialized group that need wheelchair access, that need low ramp access. So

we’re not talking about public transportation, as the Minister indicates from MACA.

Is there a way that we can have all these departments, whether it’s the department for seniors, people with disabilities and MACA, to get together and find a funding solution for this handi-van?

The Northwest Territories isn’t unique to this particular challenge. Throughout Canada, many municipalities do fundraising and other initiatives to raise money to support things like handi-vans. This is a community issue. This is a community transportation issue. It happens to be citizens and residents who happen to have some challenges with existing infrastructure, like normal cabs and normal vans, but it is still a community issue and I would encourage all the communities that are affected by the downgrading of services, like the handi-van in Hay River, to work together to see if they can come to a solution or conclusion with respect to the provision of transportation services for their residents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I don’t quite understand the fact that the Minister of Health believes the transportation to health facilities and the need to get those people who need special transportation is not a department issue. I don’t understand the fact that this is being downloaded from private organizations to communities to find the funding.

Is this not the responsibility of the GNWT to deal with its public issues to people’s public access to medical services?

Nothing is being downloaded, because nothing has changed. The fact is, the communities have had this responsibility and they have actively pursued it in different communities. There is fundraising that can be done. Communities have always taken this action. It’s not being downloaded, because it has always been the responsibility of the community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bouchard.

So, Mr. Speaker, I guess the problem with the handi-van in Hay River is the fact that we found an initiative. We actually got some sponsors for the purchase of the vehicle and we got some private funding to start with. We should have first come to the government and begged and pleaded and nailed them to the cross here in this House to get the money. Now that the shortfall is coming, the government still wants to deny their responsibility here. Downloading, yeah, there’s no downloading because you aren’t providing any funding.

I am asking the Minister to commit to looking at all the different departments that are associated with

this type of transportation to find a solution for the handi-van.

Is there any way the Minister can... I don’t know which Minister to ask next because every Minister says it’s somebody else’s responsibility. Is there a way the Minister can look to get the solution done?