Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to recognize all the students here in the gallery from the schools. I want to say something to the students. Never give up on your dreams. One day you could be down here too. So keep up what you’re doing, set your goals high and work hard together. Thank you for the good work that you’re doing. I’m hoping that we can get a chapter like this in the Sahtu region, also, for the same message.

I also want to recognize my little nephew. He’s here, Carter, and I’m very surprised to see him. He’s come into his own world, a young man. He’s come a long way since he was a little baby when I first picked him up, and I want to recognize him. I’m so proud of him.

Lastly, I want to recognize your family members who are here with you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

I urge this government to build upon the partnership that they have with Colville Lake and make this a reality. It’s been proven already. I urge this government to continue this initiative and pass it on to the next government. Colville Lake recognizes our goal set out in the 17thLegislative Assembly and we must walk our talk and commit ourselves to partnerships that will see a new school in Colville Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If I Had a Million Dollars was a song sung by the Barenaked Ladies. However, I’m not going to say anything to that, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, if I had a million dollars I would pursue with the people of Colville Lake and this government to develop a strong partnership with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to begin planning to build a new school. …(inaudible)…,says the movie. If you build it, they will come.

This issue is so important that it was raised with the Premier and the Cabinet on September 24thin meetings with SSI and our government. The people came, they met, and now they wait to see if this partnership can become a reality.

Colville Lake is a traditional community, and as we know, both sizes of these traditional communities have very limited infrastructure, such as the basic essentials of a health centre without a full-time nurse, or having fly-in RCMP services, and they have one room with multi-grade classrooms together with only partitions separating them. There is no standard-size school gym. In this day and age, it’s unbelievable with all the money we spent on other infrastructures that we cannot get a school together for Colville Lake.

Over the years Colville Lake has made great strides to have their students begin and finish and to graduate at home. I have a note that says there were 10 students who dropped out of school this year because there’s no high school program in Colville Lake.

It’s been noted, for the record, that the people in Colville Lake built their own airport, a gold standard airport. In fact, the Premier’s Award of Excellence awarded this community and the people and this government. Partnerships work. It’s been proven and there’s solid evidence. This award was given because of the partnership between this government and the Colville Lake people.

To establish a partnership that works, partners needs to sit down together, and the Colville Lake people want this…

I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The motion that was brought by Mr. Bromley and Mr. Nadli is a motion that we haven't talked very much about in our Assembly, as Mr. Dolynny has mentioned, and I certainly concur to let this Assembly know that I concur with all the comments by the Members on this side here and I will be supporting the motion on a going-forward basis to the election to the 18^th Assembly.

When you look at a motion like this, giving thought to it does bring some personal experience with this as, growing up, I can recall working and helping my grandfather, who was in a wheelchair, and doing things for my grandfather because he was unable to use his legs so he had to be wheeled around in the house. One of the things that they did after he passed away was they built a ramp outside his house, which was way too late and just suddenly things had happened. I experienced all my brothers and sisters, you know, wanting my grandfather to be like the other grandfathers where they could walk around, but he had to be in a wheelchair. That brings a lot of emotional stuff and mental stuff, you know, and today we see that in our small communities.

Some of the houses that these wonderful people live in, there's lots of mud and dirt, and when it rains they can't go out and walk. They're stuck in the house, you know? A lot of people talk about this.

So, I do want to thank Mr. Bromley and Mr. Nadli for bringing this motion forward. It brings me sadness sometimes because I loved my grandfather and at that time I didn't see it as a disability, I thought that was part of life. He did his best. Sometimes, even when we're healthy like this, we're even disabled ourselves.

So I just wanted to say that I hope the message is loud and clear today that we need to continue to look after these wonderful people and help them do the best they can, especially in the small communities where, you know, they don't have the services that the larger centres have. Yet there are a lot of good people out there, they're working with them and they're not recognized for the work they do. So, I just want to say, in closing, thank you, Mr. Bromley and Mr. Nadli, for bringing this motion forward.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Wednesday, October 7, 2015, I will move the following motion: now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, that this Legislative Assembly strongly recommends that the Department of Health and Social Services immediately introduce a policy change to ensure access to non-medical escorts for patients with impaired mobility or cognitive ability, life-threatening conditions, such as cancer, or language barriers;

And further, that the Department of Health and Social Services ensure that the Medical Travel Program is consistently applied across all regions of the Northwest Territories;

And further, that the Department of Health and Social Services ensure that a mechanism is in place for monitoring and evaluating the Medical Travel Program;

And further, that the government produce a response to these recommended actions for consideration by the House by February 2016.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So that's 100 no's so far. I want to ask the Minister, given that the lights are going to be closing pretty soon on the 17^th Assembly, and this is going to be my third government that I've been asking for a regional transportation office - this is the third one now - I want to ask if this is enough, you know that the work that is going to happen in the Sahtu, to put even an interim or a part-time or something to show that maybe the next government will have the might and determination to say yes, we can do this. I want to ask him if that's something that's going to go into some report, because after 12 years you still get a no from this government, as much as we could show it will be a while if you follow the Minister's projection, it will be a while before we get a full-time transportation office in the Sahtu.

I wonder how it would be if we had something like that in Yellowknife where the regional office was in Behchoko or Gameti or Lutselk'e and see how they like it.

That is good news and that it comes through from bundle two and the approved Build Canada projects.

Does this give enough incentive for this government to say we can look at a proposed highway transportation office in the Sahtu? Will that give enough to move your thinking to start planning a transportation office that's needed in the Sahtu? I have asked this question over 100 times and I got 100 different reasons why this government said no to a regional transportation office in the Sahtu. Is this enough? Thank you.

Over the years the people in the Sahtu, specifically the Tulita District Corporation, have worked for a number of years on a proposal to look at building infrastructure. They have looked from Norman Wells south to Tulita. They actually put in the Canyon Creek proposal.

Where is that proposal within the federal government's infrastructure, capital planning? Where is it in this government? What can the people expect from that proposal in the coming years from this government and our government? When can we start building our roads in the Sahtu?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask my questions to the Minister of Transportation about transportation in the Sahtu region, specifically the Mackenzie Valley Highway. I know that the Tulita district has submitted a submission under the Community Access Program in an effort to see that some work can get done in the region to prepare the young workers to be ready once the Mackenzie Valley Highway is under construction, which is an initiative the federal government has undertaken.

Can the Minister update this House and people in the Sahtu as to this community access proposal that has been submitted by the Tulita District Corporation?