Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister tell the Assembly whether the corporation has given any consideration to developing a territorial-wide action plan to deal with this issue of black mould in the NWT Housing Corporation housing stocks? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement, I spoke of a black mould problem affecting the public housing in Paulatuk. I’m concerned with the health and well-being of my constituents. I’m not interested in assigning blame; I’m interested in addressing the problem. Can the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation tell me what the corporation has done to date on the black mould issue in Paulatuk? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, back in October, my first speech concentrated on the issues that I heard during my campaign in the community of Paulatuk. Residents are very concerned with the fact that many public housing units are infested with black mould. Mr. Speaker, we all know there’s enough health problems associated with overcrowding in public housing. Units that have the presence of black mould will just compound these issues and the problems.

The children and the elders in particular are at risk as they are more likely to be unable to fight the infections. I have heard that black mould may be caused by design flaws or by contractors using shoddy construction practices in building the Housing Corporation housing packages. If this is the case, our government has a responsibility to deal with the issue quickly. It is not acceptable to do a study or to spend the next time trying to decide the party.

I’m not here to point any fingers and blame anybody, Mr. Speaker. The issue needs to be dealt with as soon as possible to protect my people of Paulatuk. Mr. Speaker, the first question I asked the Premier on October 19th were

the actions the government planned to take addressing the black mould issue in Paulatuk. He assured me that the NWT Housing Corporation would look into the problem.

I will be following up with that commitment with the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation at the appropriate time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would also invite the Minister, then, to come and visit all four of my communities in Nunakput upon her time availability in the new year.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is for the Health and Social Services Minister. Upon her visit to the Beaufort-Delta in the early new year, if she’d be kind enough to come to my constituents of Tuk and say hi.

---Laughter

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can I have that in writing?

---Laughter

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this question is for the honourable Minister of Justice. Yesterday I asked a question with regard to the timeline of the RCMP in the community of Sachs Harbour. Can the Minister give me a day or date that they’ll have the officers on the ground in the community, because we’re policing ourselves in that community? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Before I end, I want to recognize the many sponsors of this conference, including the Northwest Territories Power Corporation, ConocoPhillips, Shell, NorthwesTel, Entegrity Wind, Frontier Power Systems, and the Inuvialuit Group of Companies. I also want to thank the hamlet and the community corporation of Tuktoyaktuk, and the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, and the federal government, and our own government, led by the departments of ENR and ITI, for working hard to make this important conference a reality.

Mr. Speaker, although I am unable to attend this conference this week because of session, I look forward to hearing the results from the leaders from the forum at the end of the conference and all the recommendations it will make concerning this use of energy in the Beaufort and other regions of the Northwest Territories. Quanami, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank my colleague Mr. Bromley for bringing up the hosting of the Wind Energy Conference in my community of Tuktoyaktuk. There’s over 100 delegates across the Northwest Territories and the northern remote jurisdictions, such as Alaska, Yukon, Newfoundland and Nunavut. It’s particularly exciting that the conference is being held in Tuktoyaktuk, the windiest region in the territory, and the region, I believe, that offers the most immediate opportunity for the use of wind energy.

Mr. Speaker, this conference provides an important opportunity for the community leaders to come together, to learn from the experience of the northern leaders, developers, academics, researchers and experts, who have developed wind energy projects in the remote northern communities from Alaska to Newfoundland. Mr. Speaker, this also allows community leaders to clearly state their wishes and desires of all levels of government regarding development to support the purchase of wind energy.

Mr. Speaker, I believe at this time it is the right time for both federal and territorial governments to develop long-term, stable, comprehensive programs to support our remote northern communities to take advantage of this resource. As we all know, the North is not just bearing the brunt of rising global fuel prices, but also the front lines of changing global climate. Many Arctic communities, including those in my constituency, are faced with extremely high and rising living costs, rising sea levels, and melting ice packs and want to be a part of the solution.

However, for wind energy to be successful there is a need to increase northern capacity and partnerships between governments, the private sector and research organizations. For example, the Inuvialuit are proposing a model that identifies Tuktoyaktuk’s infrastructure and human resource capacities and economies of scale together with the training and research capabilities of Aurora College and Aurora Research Institute as making it a good candidate for a wind turbine project and hub.

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