Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Shale oil development in the Bakken area has placed immediate and unrelenting strain on all types of infrastructure. Transportation infrastructure is a primary concern. There are currently 9,322 producing wells in North Dakota, and the state expects that an additional 2,000 will be drilled this year. The average drilling rig requires at least 2,000 truckloads of materials and supplies, which has an equivalent impact of 25,000 light vehicles on roadways. A single loaded truck raises approximately 100 pounds of dust per mile on gravel roads, coating vegetation and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister responsible for the Social Envelope Committee of Cabinet, the Honourable Glen Abernethy.

What is the current annual cost to administer each of the 16 income assistance and other income security programs mentioned in point 2 on page 5 of the recent Auditor General’s Income Security Program Review? For the purposes of this question, “cost to administer” is defined as GNWT salaries, overhead for office space, travel, per diems and other program delivery-related expenses.

What are the current total annual payments made to clients under each...

I’m sure we’ll see in the Hansard tomorrow exactly what the words were, but I think they were very plain. The Minister said I have rejected some, I have accepted some, and so on.

Could the Minister tell us what exactly has he done here? Has he suggested that he has accepted, rejected and proposed to modify some to the federal Minister, and where is the clarity on this conflict of interest situation?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are in follow-up to my colleague Ms. Bisaro’s questions with respect to the Giant Mine. I’d like to ask the Minister of the Environment, I know he’s aware that there’s a potential conflict of interest here with the proponent, the double role that the government is playing in this case being that there is no mining company and we are both the proponent and the regulator. Now the federal government has developed a firewall to try and keep the processes separate between the regulatory side and the proponent side.

Do we have such a firewall between the two...

As we pour money down this black hole, which we know will drain our coffers for decades to come, we are hearing rumours that the gravel being laid is sinking into the tundra. Mr. Speaker, what is the Minister not telling us about this albatross?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are to the Minister of Transportation today. Once again we find this government buying a pig in a poke. We are spending hundreds of millions of dollars of our citizens’ precious infrastructure dollars in a black hole project whose costs we do not even know. Having authorized $70 million for ‘14-15 for the Inuvik-Tuk highway, we are now an incredible $160 million into this project, and we do not even have a firm estimate of the cost. We are just saying it’s capped at $300 million so we are going to shoehorn it into this estimate. How can this be? Mahsi.

Thank you. Such power. The Minister can shove aside the environmental rights of our citizens at his will.

Under Section 4.(4) the Minister is obliged to carry out an investigation and that the only reason that the Minister may discontinue an investigation is whereas per section 4.(6) “the Minister is of the opinion that the release or the likely release does not constitute a threat to the environment.”

Is the Minister of the opinion that the release of unknown contaminants into the environment does not constitute a threat to the environment and the public trust? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Environment today and I would like to follow up on the Minister’s refusal to our citizens’ request to investigate the issue of unknown fracking chemicals being released into the environment.

While on a fracking tour, we learned that not only are the chemicals that are injected in the wells often not disclosed, but that under the intense pressure and heat found deep in these wells, the injected chemicals react with each other and with the stuff that is in the ground and create new chemicals.

Is the Minister of the Environment aware...

Thank you Mr. Speaker. I, again, would like to recognize some Pages: Shiri MacPherson is actually in the House this time, daughter of our Law Clerk; Jacob Shubert, I don’t know if he’s in the House; and Niva Stephenson. I know Niva’s proud papa is in the gallery today and I’d also like to recognize John Stephenson, a constituent of Weledeh. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’ve looked high and low and spent decades trying to find different solutions that will move our educational systems forward. However, recently, over probably the last decade, we’ve found exciting and informative advances in our knowledge about brain development and the development of our capacity to learn and to be healthy throughout life.

This has been exciting and it is becoming known throughout society now. It goes far to explain our failures to date in achieving our education goals. I believe our Education department is well aware of this, as are all of my...