Bob Bromley

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the middle of October, over 50 volunteers dragged six truckloads of garbage from the bush north of the Vee Lake Road boat launch. This area hosted events like the annual Yellowknife Ski Loppet and Frostbite 45, and is used by local recreation clubs as well as individual mountain bikers, bird watchers, hikers, hunters and leaseholders.

I want to offer my thanks and congratulations to all involved. The volunteers came from Great Slave Snowmobile Trail Riders, Scouts Canada, the Yellowknife Multisport Club, NWT Motor Sports Club, Yellowknife Amateur Radio Society, and...

Just the other part of that question, I’ll repeat it here, was: Has the Minister made decisions on these recommendations as to whether to reject, accept or modify them specifically?

Thanks to the Minister. I’m glad we have that and I hope the Minister at some point can explain to us in detail how that works. But for now, I’m sure I heard the Minister say that he has rejected some of the environmental assessment recommendations, accepted some and proposing to modify some, accept, reject and modify, but I’m not aware of any decisions having been made at the Ministerial level yet on these environmental assessment recommendations.

Was the Minister speaking for himself or was he speaking on behalf of the proponent team, the actual project team, which is the proponent in this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hear that the gravel being used is primarily fine material, it’s almost sand with the odd boulder in it, some of the worst material with which to build a highly challenging project in the most challenging of all environments and we still don’t know what we’re paying for royalties on this under-grade stuff.

What is the gravel situation and what are the costs, Mr. Speaker? When will we give this project a critical review to test its real mettle?

Mr. Speaker, as per our worst fears, this is looking more and more like the Deh Cho Bridge Project, only worse. We are going into it with our eyes open. Is there no law on the books to protect our residents’ money by saying the government must have a firm estimate of a project cost before committing to it? If not, does this Minister agree that we should have one? Mahsi.

Thank you. Clearly, the Minister is breaching through smoke and mirrors now. The NWT Environmental Rights Act is clear. The Minister is obliged to investigate the environmental rights of our citizens in our own legislation for the Northwest Territories people. We all know that in spite of talk of best practices, things don’t always go according to plan. When something does happen, how will he explain to NWT taxpayers that they are on the hook for a polluted lake and that he refused to even investigate when he had a legal obligation to do so? Hopefully it’s as small a concern as that. Mahsi.

For now I support going forward with the ERI, using existing resources. In order to achieve any success, an absolute imperative is to steadily and intelligently build our early childhood development initiative to a seven to 10 million dollar program annually. Assuming we can make measurable ECD progress in five years, then and only then would be the time, based on sound evaluation of progress, to consider supplementing resources to the ERI.

Let’s get it right from the very start. Mahsi.

Madam Chair, I move that consideration of Tabled Document 1-17(5), Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditure), No. 1, 2014-2015, be now concluded and that Tabled Document 1-17(5) be reported and recommended as ready for further consideration in formal session through the form of an appropriation bill. Mahsi, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

When assessing a client’s need for income support, what are the main factors (rent, income from various sources, number of children, et cetera) that are considered? In other words, how is the amount of income support determined?

When assessing a client’s need for income support, what is the level of monthly income below which a client is considered in need of income support for:

an 18-year-old living on their now in Yellowknife?

a single parent with three children in Yellowknife?

an unemployed couple...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. ECE is the lead on our early childhood development. I’m pleased to see the progressive approach of the Education Renewal Initiative in addressing new ways of learning in today’s world. However, with so many children entering the system with a reduced capacity to learn, it is clear that we must have success with early, zero to three, childhood development first.

Does the Minister agree with this analysis and will he commit to making a vigorous NWT-wide Early Childhood Development Program the number one priority of this initiative? Mahsi.