Bob Bromley

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to follow up on a conversation here and conversations earlier today on child care spaces and what facilities we are putting in place.

First of all, how many child care spaces or facilities do we have in the Northwest Territories? What is the capacity of our child care facilities across the Northwest Territories?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The first question I have on this page is related to Highway No. 3. I don’t see any capital dollars being directed towards Highway No. 3. I think we know, and Mr. Neudorf has said many times, that it’s about the worst highway, most challenging highway in the Northwest Territories. I know there has been some really steady work on this highway and that I believe we have a little bit of research going on out there, too, trying to assess out what some more long-time solutions are, but it continues to be challenging to this day.

There are a number of people, a number of my...

We are in the process of reviewing the capital budget, and the government claims its spending the vast majority of the available funds building highways is an investment in our future. I would suggest that investing in our children has been demonstrated to have a better result, including economic result.

How much money is the government planning to invest in new daycare spaces over the remainder of our term in office as of today?

That was all I had on this page. Mahsi.

I understand that the oil companies are hoping to make a lot of money from fracking in the Sahtu, so they can afford to pay for educational workshops and make everything look so rosy, but the government’s role here is to make sure that people have the best information.

Can the Minister confirm that GNWT funds were used to pay for these workshops and that similar funding is available to bring in people who are not industry lobbyists? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. I was just informed this morning that ITI is putting on fracking education workshops in Norman Wells and Fort Good Hope this afternoon and tomorrow. These workshops have been, apparently, planned for a long time and yet I have just learned of them today.

I am wondering what role the Ministers of the Environment and Education might have had in developing these workshops. I am wondering: Could the Minister please explain the purpose of these education sessions? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I joined the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment and colleagues in a recent tour of the fracking fields of Saskatchewan and North Dakota. We were joined by leaders from the Sahtu, as well as ITI and ENR staff. We learned a lot and I am pleased that there is much interest from the public and the media in hearing our impressions.

I was invited, this past weekend, to speak to a local chapter of the Council of Canadians and a group of concerned citizens during an organized global day event of protest against fracking. Titled “Global Frack-Down,” the event called for...

Thank you. My understanding is that this is happening based on the substantiation sheet. Okay, that will help focus my attention that it should happen and I’d like the Minister to get going with that. Obviously, a substantial school, a gymnasium again that was shrugged off on to the community and it’s clearly in desperate need of replacement in a community that doesn’t have the capacity for that. So I’d ask the Minister to go after that and get that back on the books for the establishment of a good school for these kids. I mean, again, immediate occupation of that school at capacity and they...

In terms of the Kaw Tay Whee School in Detah, what are the standards for a gymnasium for a school like that and is there any plan to put such a facility in place? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, I just want to emphasize here my complete chagrin in not having significant educational infrastructure projects profiled here, especially given the deferred investments in this area and the great need that the Members have been profiling for the last seven years that I know of.

There is also the area of early childhood development, of course. Apparently we are just putting all of these things on the backburner. I think Ms. Bisaro has profiled a number of things that were on the 20-year plan just a few months ago and are missing now in action. Maybe I could just ask...