Alfred Moses

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to make quick comments. The Great Northern Arts Festival, it’s $25,000 last couple years and that’s what they’re getting this year. I just wanted to ask the Minister if that’s a fixed contribution agreement with the society or is it just what this government is allocating to them.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just have concerns here, again, back to my opening comments about the decrease in the amount of dollars committed to energy. We do have two communities here that are going to be in dire need. Inuvik is one of them, and it’s going to be sooner than later. Who knows when that’s going to happen? Then we’ve got Norman Wells coming up in a couple years. To have the amount of money that’s contributed to it, there’s already been discussions of due to the budget address that we had earlier in the year where it was mentioned that it was $100,000 for the wood pellets and the...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Obviously, first and foremost on my list in a few of these departments is the Inuvik gas situation. When I look at the opening address and the money allocated to helping out the residents of Inuvik. I always said it time and time again, that it’s a bigger issue than just the community of Inuvik. This is something that’s going to affect the economy as a whole for the NWT, the rippling effects should Inuvik run out of gas and the high cost of living.

As mentioned again, we were just there this past weekend for the graduation ceremonies and there’s a lot of discussion of...

That was a good answer. As the Minister responsible for Seniors and ensuring that seniors have an accurate and fulfilling life in their early years and be able to continue on our traditions, culture and language, would the Minister be willing to look at these motions and be willing to address them as the Minister responsible for Seniors and not the Minister responsible for what was discussed? It was the seniors who brought this forward, after all. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister responsible for Seniors. Over a couple of weeks ago, we had an Elders Parliament here. They went through a lot of work. My experience working with these elders is they are very experienced. One of our values growing up in the North is to respect our elders. I wanted to ask the Minister responsible for Seniors what is his commitment to the motions that were brought forth during the Elders Parliament. How serious is he going to take these motions that put them into action or see something come out of them in this Assembly? Thank...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Today I also wanted to recognize that today is the kickoff for NWT Disabilities Week. I just wanted to add on to what the Minister of Health and Social Services had said and bring a couple more little items to attention for everybody across the Northwest Territories on how important and significant this week actually is.

According to studies, the approximate number of individuals that self-identify with disabilities in the NWT is one in nine. That is 11 percent of our population that self-identifies. The numbers could be higher and more significant. That’s why we need...

I’m not sure how much SEED money the society goes after, but just due to the increased costs of flying that we’ve been seeing lately, the increase to accommodations, the low number of tourism in the community of Inuvik, I think this would be a good opportunity to help our artists out in the Northwest Territories. Even partner territories, as they come up and showcase their artists, their talents, and the work that they do. It will also bring increased money to the economy of Inuvik. It also would create income for some of our artists. Would the Minister be willing to entertain an increase in...

With the announcement of the Minister’s address, I’ve been getting a lot of phone calls from my constituents back in Inuvik in regard to how to use this $100,000, and as the other $100,000 that’s been allocated to do a strategic plan, as the planning process continues to move forward and all the leaders are at the table discussing how we can best deal with this situation, while discussions are going on there are a lot of worried people in the community of Inuvik with the residents and constituents. I do know that there is a meeting going on tomorrow and I hope we get some really positive...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I was going to make a quick general comment about the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline office and with the downturn and, I don’t want to say lack of activity, but how other groups are addressing it and reacting to it and yet we’re still continuing to put money into the office. I just want to make a general comment. I know we did a comment back to Mr. Bromley earlier.

I have a question in terms of the line item of industrial initiatives there. There is a decrease and the mandate of the industrial initiatives outlined in the activity description do a lot of work in terms of the...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. That’s kind of what I wanted to get right off the start. That leads me to my second question. I have a couple here.

As the Minister responsible for Seniors, is he willing to look at the one motion that is relevant to the clientele and people that he represents, and work within his Cabinet to look at the motion in regard to the public housing rental scales in which there were recommendations made from the seniors brought forth by the Seniors’ Society, as well as made from this side of the House? Is he willing to do that and look at addressing that issue?