Good afternoon, colleagues. I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and all the residents of the Northwest Territories a happy and healthy New Year.

We are entering what could be deemed the final stretches of the 17th Legislative Assembly and I

know that both Regular Members and Cabinet have much left to do. It will be a busy time and will demand the very best of all of us.

We get to enjoy the presence of approximately 40 students from 10 Northwest Territories communities who will be participating in our Page Program.

It is my great pleasure to welcome the Pages who will be assisting us over the course of this sitting. The students will be from the following communities: Fort McPherson, Hay River, Wrigley, Fort Resolution, Inuvik, Deline, Whati, Paulatuk, Fort Smith and Yellowknife. To the students, I hope your experiences in the Legislative Assembly will be informative, that you will make some lasting friendships and obtain a better understanding of how our government works.

To the parents, the teachers and the staff who make this program possible, I know I speak for all my colleagues when I say thank you for your efforts.

On a much sadder note, I know that many of our communities have suffered devastating losses over the last few months. Please join me in extending the condolences of the House to those families and communities who are mourning the loss of loved ones. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

Before we begin, let me once again remind you of your responsibility as Members of this Assembly to adhere to the rules you have adopted. You have agreed to carry out your work with integrity and honour, with respect for the dignity of the institution we serve and the constituents who depend on us. My responsibility is to continue to assist you in your work and I pledge to do that.

It is now my duty to advise the House that I have received the following message from the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories. It reads:

“Dear Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise that I recommend to the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, the passage of •

Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), 2015-2016

•

Supplementary Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 5, 2014-2015

•

Supplementary Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), No. 3, 2014-2015 and

•

Supplementary Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 1, 2015-2016

during the Fifth Session of the 17th Legislative Assembly.

Yours truly, George L. Tuccaro, Commissioner.”

Thank you, colleagues. Orders of the day. Item 2, Ministers’ statements. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to welcome Members back for the continuation of the Fifth Session of the 17th Legislative Assembly.

As we near the end of our term, it is only natural to want to look back at what we have achieved. While we have accomplished many of the goals and objectives we set for ourselves when we first met in October 2011, there is still more work to be done. Now is not the time to rest on our laurels.

We have a vision of strong individuals and communities sharing the benefits and responsibilities of a unified, environmentally sustainable and prosperous Northwest Territories.

We decided we would pursue that vision by strengthening relationships with Aboriginal and other governments to build a strong, sustainable future.

We committed ourselves to increasing employment opportunities where they are most needed.

We identified the importance of a strong, diversified economy in all communities and regions.

We agreed to address housing needs and to support our people to be healthy and free from addictions.

These priorities are not ends in themselves, Mr. Speaker. These priorities are important because they will help to create a territory where our people can prosper and thrive, a territory where our people can enjoy a high quality of life, good health and a healthy environment, a territory where everyone has the support they need to be full participants in their community and to achieve their aspirations for themselves and their families.

This Assembly has made good progress towards realizing our vision for this kind of territory. We have achieved devolution; we are implementing the Land Use and Sustainability Framework; we have plans to address poverty, mental health and addictions and community safety. We are supporting economic growth and diversification through the Economic Opportunities Strategy, Mineral Development Strategy and expected Oil and Gas Strategy. We are investing in our people through education reform and early childhood development.

But we cannot take this progress for granted, Mr. Speaker. Some of the challenges, like the high cost of living and the high cost of energy, have been persistent, requiring the attention of many previous Assemblies. Some of the challenges have arisen during our term, such as falling oil prices and slowing oil and gas exploration that threaten our economic growth and limit available jobs for Northerners.

Completing the work we started in 2011 so that Northerners have the opportunity to benefit from strong communities, a healthy environment and vibrant economy means maintaining the momentum we have achieved. It means keeping our focus and continuing to identify opportunities for dealing with the issues that matter to Northerners.

Addressing the high cost of living is one of those issues, Mr. Speaker. We know that many people across the North struggle to get by, especially in our smaller communities.

The Government of the Northwest Territories is committed to taking action where it can to address this challenge for all our residents. We have increased the minimum wage to ensure that working Northerners have a better chance to earn the money they need to live affordably. We have borne the increased cost of low water in the Snare Hydro System, sparing residents all across the Northwest Territories the increased power bills that it would have meant.

Of course, subsidizing energy costs is only a short-term solution, one that this government will ultimately not be able to afford. That is why we convened a second Energy Charrette last

December to look for new, practical ideas to address the energy question and address it soon.

We know that we cannot continue to rely on expensive, imported diesel. The cost is too high to our wallets and to the environment. Finding affordable and more environmentally-friendly alternatives to diesel generation will be an important part of our plan for lowering energy and living costs.

We know that there are opportunities for generating power more affordably in more communities. The Inuvik LNG project is proving to be successful, even with the cost of trucking fuel from British Columbia. As LNG supplies move closer to us, costs will drop and we can consider options for expanding to other communities along the transportation route.

We also continue to pursue renewable energy options. The Northwest Territories leads the country in the installation of commercial-scale biomass heating systems, many in Government of the Northwest Territories buildings. Not only does biomass hold out the promise of cheaper energy for residents, it also provides economic development opportunities for Northwest Territories harvesters and wood pellet manufacturers that we are supporting through forest management agreements.

We are also seeing success with solar and wind energy installations and have opportunities for mini-hydro in several communities.

Taking action to lower high costs will only go so far. Some of the factors that contribute to the high cost of living will always be outside our control, like the long distances between our communities and the climate we live in.

Where we cannot lower costs, we will have to find ways to increase the general prosperity of Northerners. People need good jobs and good salaries so they can afford to live in their communities, Mr. Speaker. We can achieve some of that through decentralization of Government of the Northwest Territories jobs, and we continue to make that a priority, along with an increased focus on regional recruitment.

At the same time, it is business that creates jobs, not government. Government’s role is to create a supportive environment in which businesses can thrive and create the jobs and economic opportunities people depend on. If we want to create sustainable, affordable communities, we have to continue our work to grow a strong, diversified economy in all communities and regions of the Northwest Territories.

A key part of that is investing in the kind of infrastructure the territory needs to support continued economic growth: communications infrastructure, energy infrastructure, transportation infrastructure.

Investing in this kind of infrastructure has been a priority throughout this Assembly. We broke ground on the Mackenzie Valley fibre line last month and are in our second season of construction on the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway, on schedule and on budget. We continue to develop our plans for completing the Mackenzie Valley Highway and are pursuing funding under the federal government’s New Building Canada Plan. We are looking at options for an all-weather road into the Slave Geologic Province, potentially linking up with a road in Nunavut.

This is a resource-rich territory, Mr. Speaker, but those resources are going untapped and Northerners continue to struggle when they should be enjoying the kind of prosperity that the responsible development of those resources can bring. We have an estimated $3 billion infrastructure deficit in this territory. We are already addressing this deficit to help transform potential into prosperity, and we need partners to join us.

Last week a delegation of Ministers, Members of the Legislative, Aboriginal leaders, business people and a non-governmental organizations’ representative took this message to Ottawa for our second NWT Days. In meetings with the Prime Minister, federal Ministers, embassies and stakeholders, and in media interviews, we talked about how northern resource potential can contribute to national prosperity. We also talked about the critical importance of infrastructure investment if we hope to realize that potential and the need for partners, like the Government of Canada and industry, to join us in that infrastructure investment.

The borrowing limit was also on the agenda for our discussions. Our ability to make any of the investments we have talked about will be severely limited with our current borrowing limit. I spoke to the Prime Minister about how the Government of the Northwest Territories needs the fiscal flexibility of a higher borrowing limit to be able to make the strategic infrastructure investments the territory needs for economic growth. I expect we will have an answer on our request by April.

We also talked about the need to consider the potential of the Mackenzie Valley as an energy, information and transportation corridor that can serve as a path to tidewater for northern and Canadian resources.

For 40 years our attention has been focused on finding ways to ship our resources to markets in the south with limited success. If we are going to benefit from them, we have to consider all our options for responsibly developing and moving our resources, including a northern option.

Talking to people about a northern option is an important part of raising the profile of the territory. Over the years, it has been hard to get national

attention for the Northwest Territories and its potential. People know about Ontario’s Ring of Fire and the job opportunities that until very recently have drawn Canadians from all across the country to Fort McMurray, Alberta. Few people seem to know what the North has to offer or why it might be in the national interest to invest here, and few people will invest here unless we work to promote our potential nationally and internationally.

Studying a potential northern corridor is one way to do that.

Northerners are already familiar with the potential here and have heard many ideas for responsibly developing and transporting our resources to market. Through the years the Government of the Northwest Territories has studied many of the ideas and is already moving ahead with projects like the Mackenzie Valley fibre line and the Mackenzie Valley Highway. We will continue with these kinds of investments in our infrastructure, and more.

But building up the infrastructure we will need to support economic growth will take outside investment, and competition for investment dollars is intense. Letting people know there are business opportunities here, and clearly describing them, will help to attract investment to our territory.

Being able to clearly describe the challenges and some of the unique considerations that will face anybody working in the North is a critical part of creating success. We have seen uncertainty and lack of information stall projects here before. Gathering the information and filling knowledge gaps by undertaking a comprehensive study is an appropriate role for government as we continue to promote awareness of this territory and its potential.

Casting a wider net and seeking new markets and business partners outside of Canada is also important. It was with that in mind that Minister Ramsay and I undertook our second trade mission together to China and Japan at the beginning of this year. If we need to work hard to get recognized on the national stage, we need to work even harder to get recognized on the international stage.

Asia represents huge market opportunities for Northwest Territories products and a potential source of investment in both infrastructure and resource development projects. Exports to China have increased $8 million, or 22 percent, since 2008, and there is already Chinese investment in Northwest Territories mining. The Japanese have shown interest in oil and gas and LNG and have previously funded the Mallik Gas Hydrate Project. On the tourism front, Aurora tourism visitations hit record highs in 2013 and 2014, and we have seen Chinese tourist visits double every year since 2010.

We have achieved this kind of growth by building relationships with potential investors and

government officials, and we continue to invest in those relationships to ensure the benefits continue.

Mr. Speaker, building a better future for this territory and its people has been a constant theme during this Assembly. Through the last three years we have advanced an agenda based on investing in our people, our economy and our environment to achieve that future. But it is a long-term project and the work will not end with us.

Tomorrow Minister Miltenberger will table the 2015-2016 budget. This will be the final budget that we will debate here as Members of the 17th Legislative

Assembly. This budget will give us an opportunity to take stock of what we have achieved in the past three years. At the same time, budgets are about the future and this is an opportunity to consider the future, our future priorities, our future plans and our future commitments.

As we enter the final months of this Assembly, Mr. Speaker, we will keep up the momentum that has brought us this far. We will complete the work that is near to completion and we will start identifying the opportunities that will let future governments take advantage of the work we have done. I look forward to continuing to work with all Members during the coming session and in the remaining months to achieve the priorities that have guided our work throughout the 17th Assembly. Thank you,

Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that I will deliver the budget address on Thursday, February 5, 2015. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today is February 4th , World Cancer Day. World

Cancer Day originated in Paris in 2000 at the World Summit Against Cancer. Today organizations and health professionals around the world are taking this opportunity to raise awareness of cancer and encourage its prevention, detection and treatment.

This year the campaign will focus on four key areas: choosing healthy lives, delivering early detection, achieving treatment for all and maximizing quality of life.

Canadian Cancer Society’s 2014 cancer statistics report that cancer is the leading cause of death

among Canadians, representing 30 percent of all deaths in Canada. Close to 200,000 Canadians were diagnosed with cancer in 2014 and about 76,000 Canadians are estimated to have died of cancer in 2014.

Cancer is one of the most dreaded diseases as it claims many lives every year. In women, breast cancer, cervical cancer and ovarian cancer are the most common, whereas men are more susceptible to oral cancers, intestinal and prostate cancer.

Although there is still a long way to go to providing a cure for cancer, we are grateful when we look at how much has been achieved in recent decades. Millions of people suffer with cancer and not all of them are lost, thanks to the ongoing dedication of those who fight for this cause.

The theme for World Cancer Day this year is Not Beyond Us. This theme highlights the fact that there are many practical ways that we as individuals and communities can reduce our risk of cancer. Most cancers are preventable through lifestyle changes, early detection and treatment. These lifestyle choices include eating a healthy diet rich in fruits, vegetables and whole grains and limiting our fat intake; avoiding tobacco in any form, as both smoking and chewing tobacco are linked to causing cancer; set moderate drinking limits when consuming alcohol; exercise by being physically active for at least 30 minutes every day; avoid direct sun for long periods of time and always use high SPF sunscreen; get regular medical care and check-ups.

Treating the early stage of disease could reduce your risk of developing cancer. A healthy lifestyle can’t guarantee someone won’t get cancer, but it certainly can stack the odds in your favour. Remember the lifestyle choices that you make every day, no matter how small they are, can make a big difference in your life and your future.

I believe that in our communities around the North today there will be activities going on to recognize World Cancer Day, and I believe here in Yellowknife, if I’m not mistaken, at the Prince of Wales Museum this evening at 5:00 – the Health Minister is giving me the sign language here – we will be able to share in the stories of the journey of some of the people in our communities, our friends, our neighbours, who have been diagnosed with cancer and have volunteered to share their very interesting stories with us. So that is on in Yellowknife tonight and I encourage everyone to attend. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One cannot avoid, as of late, observing all the traveling occurring within our government. Taxpayers see travel to places such as China and Japan for fur and mineral exports and, most recently, to Ottawa in support for NWT Days. Most residents would agree the Government of the Northwest Territories has an obligation to support and promote, both globally and nationally, an open-for-business position. This is a given. But it’s the blurred line of government travel that always has to be put in perspective.

Without exception, our presence in a competitive world economy is paramount, but the question is: how do we as a government evaluate such expenditure, what are our performance indicators for such spending, and how do we weigh the merits of multiple excursions to far off lands? With a population base of only 40,000 and with our limited budget, we have an obligation to proceed with utmost caution and to weigh potential consequences in all our government travel and spending.

To put this to the test, last session this Chamber undertook a great debate on the issue of junior kindergarten and its questionable rollout, but more importantly of its ill-conceived funding model. Although this JK rollout cost only a mere $750,000, it was deemed impossible for this government to find money from within current budgets, and sadly, to this day, they continue to dig their heels in defiance.

I’m sure many of us have been asking the question if they, being Cabinet, can find three-quarters of a million dollars for travel to China and Ottawa from within their budgets, then surely we can do the same for such ill-funded new initiatives as junior kindergarten. Yes, we know this government has a spending problem; yes, we have hit a debt wall of worry again; and yes, we have heard from our Finance Minister that we need to do more than just keep the lights on. All I ask, Mr. Speaker, let’s put in perspective what we spend, how we spend it and what’s really important to the people we serve. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to welcome everybody back to the Assembly for a six-week session. Mr. Speaker, as you are well aware, two regions in the North have been working on bids for the Arctic Winter Games in 2018. The

Beau-Delta and the South Slave have been working hard on these proposals. They’re rallying all their volunteers in all their different sports.

These will be exciting games. It has been decades since the Arctic Winter Games have been outside the capital of the Northwest Territories. It will be exciting to have them back in our regional centres.

I would like to thank all the volunteers in the South Slave region who worked so hard to put this bid together for the South Slave. The International Committee came to the Northwest Territories, seeing all the communities, all the facilities, and we are hoping that they are impressed with our South Slave bid.

In 1978 Hay River and Pine Point hosted the Arctic Winter Games, and we’re hoping that 2018 will be the 40th anniversary of a South Slave Arctic Winter

Games.

Again, I would like to congratulate the bid committees for all their hard work, and as the ongoing joke is, the MLAs from the South Slave will be happy to pick up the Beau-Del representatives at the airport in Hay River.

On a following note, I’d like to congratulate some of the participants that are going to the Canada Winter Games in Prince George. The Canada Games will be from February 13th to March 1st and I have four

participants. I have Novelyn Bordey, Dawson McMeekin, Amanda Roach, and Curtis Rowe as a coach. Congratulations to them. Good luck in Canada Winter Games. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. We have talked a lot about a government that is fair and open and accountable. That is how we Regular MLAs try to conduct ourselves, very strongly with these principles. I expect no less of Cabinet Members and every department they lead. It might be even more important for them because they ultimately manage the money and most of the land.

The latter fact and the power that goes with it should not get in the way of having fair negotiations with First Nations over land and self-government, but I believe that is happening. Today I call on the Premier to correct it. The state of negotiations in the Dehcho Process is alarming. Alarming, Mr. Speaker.

My information is that our government is offering the Dehcho First Nations less land than Canada is offering. Not more, less. How can that be? How can it be that this government is working against its own people? How can it be that this government is

blocking progress when even the usually stingy federal government is willing to do better?

I want to make it clear that the Dehcho First Nations are not asking for some grandiose, out-of-the-line quantum of land. The Dehcho First Nations have made a practical and realistic proposal. Their proposal is in line with what’s in the Tlicho Agreement that this government signed and celebrated. The Deh Cho agreement-in-principle would be a great benefit to all the Northwest Territories and it is within reach.

We can do this if we are reasonable and use a little common sense. Instead, I fear we are trying to bully the Dehcho First Nations into a deal that is not as good as other regions have achieved. That is not fair.

I fear our government talks a good line in the media about working with Aboriginal governments but throws bricks at the negotiations table. My understanding is that if our government does not get its own way, which means getting more land for the GNWT to control instead of the Dehcho First Nations, our Premier has threatened to walk away from the talks.

I do not want negotiations in the media or in this House, but I do want fairness to the Dehcho First Nations. I’m convinced that if there’s fairness, a deal can be made. I’ll be asking the Premier about his priorities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, colleagues, welcome back. It’s good to see everyone here in the House after our Christmas break. I’m sure we’re all ready to roll up our sleeves and get to work on the budget and legislation which we’ll see come before us in the next few weeks.

Mr. Speaker, there are so many things which need to be talked about, I had to choose from a long list for my statement today, but I decided to start with a long-standing, seemingly never-ending issue, that of income support.

An inquiry recently came to my office. It was a plea for help to assist a constituent with an income support application and the policies which govern that application. These are not new policies. We have all as MLAs run into them during our terms. We’ve encountered the oppressive, depressing policies which our residents are subjected to when they need some financial assistance from our government.

Mr. Speaker, consider this situation. A resident who has been employed quite successfully for some time but earning a small wage, enough to live on, mind you, but not a big salary, but enough for them

to be able to remain independent. This individual has had their job reduced to half time and now struggles to make ends meet, not hard to understand when the income is less than $1,000 a month. So, income support was applied for. But wait. They have an RRSP, a Registered Retirement Savings Plan, carefully saved over the years of a better wage. Good planning, I say, and kudos to them for being proactive and ensuring financial stability in their later years, but not so ECE.

Income Support Policy demands that the resident cash in any extra money, money such as an RRSP or the value of a vehicle. Use that up before income support can be granted, says Education, Culture and Employment.

We as a government seem determined to force people into poverty so we can dole out a few dollars to help them get by. We remove any independence from the individual and force them to be completely reliant on government to live. How does that meet ECE’s stated goal of moving income support clients to independence? This “cash in all your extra money policy” ensures the individual is kept reliant on government, ensures that government will have to continue to provide financially for this person when they could be given the help they asked for and not be a bigger drain on our resources.

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

---Unanimous consent granted

I have to ask, is it the goal of the Minister and the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to force our people into poverty or to lift them out of it? When was the last time ECE considered our income support policies, all of them, together? Is the contradiction in policy recognized by the Minister and the department, and if so, why has it not been corrected? Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will have questions for the Minister at a later time.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too would like to welcome all Members and staff back into the House for our long operational budget session.

Today I’d like to talk about a commitment that this government has made since 2012, and that’s the tour that our Minister of Finance goes on every year and gets input from residents of the Northwest Territories, entitled the Budget Dialogue. In fact, there are three reports that are written and tabled in the House.

The most current Budget Dialogue was done on October 8, 2014. It lasted about two months. Some concern for me was that in a territory of about 42,000 people, we only had 97 people come out to

these meetings in seven regional centres, and we also had 11 individuals and organizations make submissions. However, we continue to hear concerns from people across the Northwest Territories.

The focus of these budget dialogues were on the GNWT’s fiscal situation, which was expressed in our Premier’s opening remarks sessional statement. We want to talk about top priorities for investment moving forward as well as how can the GNWT better manage our expenditures. As you’ve heard here, and you’ve heard many times, we are spending a lot more money than we are getting in terms of revenues.

Some topics that were discussed and outlined in the Taking Stock Budget Dialogue include program spending, growing our economy, energy was a big one, as well as strategic infrastructure.

I had the opportunity to attend the session in Inuvik, and there was a lot of passion and concern expressed in two areas. One is the slow economy that we’re currently experiencing, but also was on energy-focused initiatives and how can we focus on energy to lower the high cost of living that we currently see in the Northwest Territories.

On the eve of the budget address, Members on this side of the House as well as residents of the Northwest Territories want to in fact see if the government is actually listening to what is being said in these budget dialogues over the last three years. I will have questions for the Minister of Finance later, on how it’s being addressed in the operational budget.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. The Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m going to just follow my colleague here. I too read the Budget Dialogue Taking Stock report, and the Minister certainly came into the Sahtu with having some of my people sit and listen to the Minister give the current fiscal realities of our government, giving us the realities of the size of our population and the fiscal picture if we don’t get any type of economic development moving in the Northwest Territories.

Some of our regions are wealthy in the resources, and like the Yellowknife area around here rich in diamond mines, there is lots of revenue royalty coming out of it. The other day I was at Tim Horton’s grabbing something to eat there and I saw two young fellows come in from Deline, and they went to the mining project training here. These two young fellows were pretty excited, because once they finished the mining training project they had jobs at the diamond mine. They were happy and excited. Actually, one young guy has an eight-month-old daughter, and he said I’m doing

something good for my daughter. The other guy is working here because of the mines.

Come out to the Sahtu and our people are hungry for work. Our people want to work. They know the realities, and right now we are hooped because we do not have infrastructure such as the Mackenzie Valley Highway going into the Sahtu. Potential is there for a lot of energy, a lot of work, and we can see it now today. We cannot move our resources, and that’s a shame in this government here.

I’m hoping that the Premier, the Minister and the Cabinet Ministers do the best they can to get the borrowing limit raised. If not, we’ve got to make some tough decisions, and right now it’s cold out there, and that’s the reality.

I’m going to be asking questions on the budget. It’s a good report, but it tells me wake up and smell the coffee because some hard times are coming if we don’t get the borrowing limit raised and we don’t get the infrastructure that we need.

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The Minister of Health and Social Services announced a new medevac contract in January of this year. The new eight-year contract combines the medevac and clinical services as well as provides for newer aircraft and new equipment to serve all of our communities in the Northwest Territories. This is designed to improve the quality of service and response times.

In my constituency in recent years, there have been two instances where people felt that our medevac system failed them. Firstly, in May of 2013, the medevac took six hours to reach the community of Trout Lake, a mere 430 air kilometres. Secondly, there was a huge delay in getting to Fort Liard due to no automated weather observation system. Sadly, these two specific cases involved fatalities, so my constituents were very disheartened and concerned deeply that the medevac system fell short of delivering quality service.

I did raise these issues with the Minister of Health and Social Services at that time, and I am hopeful that these two specific concerns were taken into account when they deliberated this new contract.

Later today I will be asking the Minister of Health and Social Services how exactly will this new medevac contract benefit our small and remote communities. There is provision in the new contract for guaranteed response times. I am hopeful that they mean all of our communities, even those that have smaller airports.

With these improvements, I want our people in smaller, remote communities to have their confidence restored that their medical and medevac needs in distressing and challenging times will be taken care of in a timely manner. Mahsi cho.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.