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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It has been quiet on the fracking front the last few weeks, but about a month ago it was anything but quiet.

Industry, Tourism and Investment had started their public engagement sessions on fracking regulations and many of our residents were expressing their opinions. “You’ve got the cart before the horse,” many said. “We don’t want fracking,” or “we want to discuss if we should frack, we don’t want to discuss the regulations,” were some other comments.

In response, the Minister told residents that the meetings were not to discuss the merits of fracking, that it was not the time for that. It was time to consider regulations. Mr. Ramsay reiterated that yesterday in his statement, “This work and dialogue is not about deciding if hydraulic fracturing will take place in the NWT.”

It is clear to me that the government is forging ahead with fracking regardless. They have every intention to open the NWT up to development at any cost, and the concerns of residents do not seem to matter.

As I have said before, a conversation about fracking needs to happen, a conversation about if fracking should happen, how it should happen, when and where it should happen. That conversation has never been had and many residents are now and have been asking for it. There must be a thorough investigation of the practice of fracking to educate people, to comfort people, to weigh all the pros and cons of the practice. The highhanded “we know best” approach of Minister and Cabinet is not reassuring anybody. I’m not even sure if the investors are reassured.

We have a lull in fracking exploration and development applications in the Sahtu. Let’s use the time wisely and do the much needed consultation with our people. The Minister said yesterday that he’s committed to allowing more time. Let’s be sure that we use that time for the right purpose, to consult on and review the practice of fracking.

I am not against development, much as it may sound as though I am. I am against any development that has not been thoroughly thought out, a development where the risks and benefits are unknown.

That’s where we are today: a Minister intent on development without thorough examination of the pros and cons inherent in fracking development. Maybe the Minister has seen enough, heard enough to be convinced of the benefits of fracking, but many others in our territory have not. It is only just and fair that they be given the opportunity to get educated, as well, and then have a hand in any development decisions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

As I said, a lot of these businesses in the small communities cannot make the bid on the contracts around $1 million or over $1 million. If you get a business of a high local content of 10 or 15 percent, we will get more people working in that community or migrating to that community from the region or around the Northwest Territories and we’ll build the economy wherever the work is happening. So, it’s an option I want to explore more.

I will ask questions of the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment later on, looking at these options that can help our local businesses, help our local economy and diversify our economy throughout the Northwest Territories outside of the regional centres and outside of Yellowknife. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. Item 4, reports of standing and special committees. Item 5, returns to oral questions. Item 6, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Welcome, everybody. Thank you for taking an interest in our proceedings. Item 7, acknowledgements. Item 8, oral questions. Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I know in my Member’s statement I mentioned that the Kids Corner Daycare in Fort Simpson asked the Minister of Education for $200,000 towards a new daycare facility. In his rejection letter, he noted that his department doesn’t typically support infrastructure projects that are linked to daycare, yet a daycare facility in Inuvik received $1 million in the capital budget early in the 17th Assembly.

Can the Minister explain the rationale for his decision not to support the daycare project in Fort Simpson? Mahsi.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When it comes to daycare operations, we work closely with the operators. With the experience in Inuvik, that was some time ago. There was a need for a daycare establishment. The community fund raised up to 90 percent of the funds. That is an experience we’ve gone through. There is a policy being drafted now on public investment on private infrastructure. It’s been shared with the planning committee. Now there’s feedback to Cabinet. It’s before Cabinet to develop a policy with respect to that, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi.

The funding of private infrastructure policy is certainly being worked on, but before I get to that, the government, right from the start the Early Childhood Framework aimed to enhance the quality of children’s programs and services. In a document on the department’s website, I noted that a review was underway to examine program funding and governance.

Can the Minister indicate whether the review is addressing the matter of daycare infrastructure and whether any funding will be earmarked for the purpose of enhancing daycare facilities? Mahsi cho.

With

our

programming, obviously there is always room for improvement. What the Member is referring to is enhancement of feature programs that we’re concentrating on as we speak. There are programs that we are going to enhance as well. So, it is looking at the programs and services in the 32 communities we serve. We will be making those changes that will benefit the communities along the way. Mahsi.

Can the Minister identify which of the GNWT departments are working on a policy to support the infrastructure needs of non-profit and private sector organizations? Mahsi.

We do have a committee established that deals with these kinds of initiatives and policy development. The Program Review Office has initiated the discussions.

As I stated, that letter has been sent to standing committee and the feedback has come back to us now within our Cabinet to consider those recommendations brought to our attention by the standing committee to integrate that into our new policy that has been drafted. So, we will be updating that and sharing that with the standing committee once it’s available. Mahsi.

Can the Minister provide a timeline for completing this policy? In other words, will it be done before this Assembly is concluded by our September sitting? Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I need to confirm that with the Program Review Office. Part of the target date will be either late this summer or before the end of this term of the government. We want to establish a policy, so we want to expedite that since we have the feedback from the standing committee. We will expedite the process along the way. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, when we’re talking about the policy, is that something that will be done at the end of this Assembly or will have to make its way into the transition document for the next Assembly, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

Those are discussions we are currently having and that could be part of the transitional document. There are other programs under review. It is part of the discussions we are currently having with the Program Review Office, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In follow-up to my statement, I have questions for the Minister of Transportation.

The Minister of Transportation indicated he was going to write the federal Minister of Transportation to get going on the project to do dredging in Hay River. Can he give me an update on where that status is? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Minister of Transportation, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have written my letter to the federal government on dredging the Hay River. I have not received their response. Thank you.

I’m just wondering if there’s some sort of process that we have with the federal government. If we’ve written them a letter, it’s been a couple of months now that we haven’t heard back from them. Is there a process that we could actually get some results on this dredging? Thank you.

We know that the officials do talk on a regular basis. We continue to have our officials dealing with the officials from Fisheries and Oceans Canada to see if it’s possible at least to initiate some discussions and see if it’s possible that there could be some dredging done in the Hay River. That will be our attempt to continue discussions with those officials. Thank you.