Bill Braden

Mr. Speaker, thank you. My questions this afternoon are for Mr. Menicoche, the Minister for Transportation. Mr. Speaker, there are two visionary projects in play right now to open up the diamond fields and other mineral areas north and east of Yellowknife to more secure transportation. The Bathurst Inlet port and road proposal, which would bring things in via the Arctic Ocean marine route, and, of course, the Tibbet to Contwoyto seasonal winter road project. Both have significant ramifications for our economy; both will require significant public and/or private investment. It is likely...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That’s very good news and I know a lot of families will be looking forward to hearing about this next month. Mr. Speaker, the Minister mentioned children and perhaps I missed something in his reply but I would like to confirm, are we also going to be acknowledging or accommodating adults, Mr. Speaker, who can sometimes find themselves in situations where they are perhaps as helpless as children but still warrant and can be provided the support of families? Will we be acknowledging the situations for disabled adults, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I appreciate the acknowledgement of my colleagues in the involvement that I have been very pleased to have with this exchange student. So it is certainly a pleasure to recognize Mr. Emil Madsen, Miss Letizia Foracchia and Miss Hiu Ying Lau. I would also like to recognize a resident of my constituency, at least on a temporary basis, Miss Jessica Monnaie, who is from Belgium, not an official exchange student but very much one of our community. She is staying with her aunt, Ms. Nancy Trotter. Of course, Mr. Speaker, I would be remiss if I did not recognize another...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I apologize to the Assembly for missing my cue earlier.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Minister examines the issue of involving non-custodial parents in caring for apprehended children and, if necessary, make required necessary and regulatory changes to allow child protection workers the discretionary powers to place apprehended children with the non-custodial parent on a temporary basis, providing it is in the best interest of the child. Thank you, Madam Chair.

I recently read that I think by 2012, something like 14,000 truckloads of material are going to be required compared to the 10,000 that went up this year. How much more in fees are we going to collect? Mr. Speaker, every year that that bridge is not built is that much revenue that is not going to be coming back into this project. Let’s build it now.

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Careful. I must say I have some confidence in what we have heard from Ottawa...

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Tough acts to follow, Mr. Speaker, but I’ll get in here and do my bit at bat here. There’s almost a theatrical, dramatic element to this and a question that we can put to ourselves, Mr. Speaker, to bridge or not to bridge?

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There’s the rub. I’ve been 43 years living in Yellowknife and in the North, Mr. Speaker. I’ve seen several versions of this movie. They’ve all had the same sad, sorry, no-go ending and it’s about time now that we can change the ending of this story.

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I can’t imagine a better time for us to endeavour to do this. Four years ago, in fact almost to the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Given the significance of these, does it not make sense, is there no kind of process underway or at least under contemplation, Mr. Speaker, that would involve Nunavut, Canada, us and industry to assess these and make some long-term decisions that will work for us? Is there a process underway that we can participate in, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will these reforms enable families who are able to tap into our support system and provide that kind of long-term support in their homes as opposed to having to look perhaps only at institutions as their only real options? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.