Bob Bromley

Mr. Speaker, I don’t disagree with that. I just think that what we should be discussing is whether those dollars for youth should be going strictly to sports or whether they should be going to sports plus arts and cultural programs.

Are arts organizations represented in this review that the sports and recreation organization is doing? If they’re not, then it’s hardly surprising what they would come out with. So can we get arts organizations — territorial arts organizations, regional arts organizations — participating with the Council of Sports and Recreation in doing that review?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of MACA, and it has to do with the lottery funds that I talked about in my Member’s statement earlier today. What would be required to get that reviewed and some of those funds from the lottery program going towards arts and cultural programs, rather than just to sports?

Mr. Speaker, the amount of money generated from lottery proceeds in the NWT was $3 million last year, a significant amount of money. Currently in the NWT proceeds of the Western Canada Lottery program are exclusively allocated to sports organizations. The NWT is the only jurisdiction in Canada that exclusively allocates lottery proceeds to sports. Alberta and British Columbia divide their lottery proceeds between many different organizations and causes, and the Yukon divides its proceeds between arts and cultural programs and sports programs.

The arts play a significant role in a community’s...

Would you commit to doing this in 2009?

I thank the Minister for those comments. I realize that’s probably a prudent approach, but I think the opportunity is there for at least some. Again, I’m not suggesting that we try and do this for every house. This is not new technology; it’s off the shelf. This was adopted a couple years ago by the City of Yellowknife. There’s lots of expertise available in this area. As the Minister has noted, other provincial and municipal jurisdictions have been doing this across the country. There’s not much engineering work that’s required here. This is really off the shelf.

I’d just like to encourage or...

Mr. Speaker, I would like to follow up on my Member’s statement on the Energy Priorities Framework by asking the Minister who is the lead for energy about why transportation was completely missed out here. We spend hundreds of millions of dollars every decade subsidizing highways, highway transport, and costs are continuing to soar. Greenhouse gas emissions are continuing to increase. What are we doing outside the box? Why aren’t we thinking outside the box, trying to lower our costs, coming up with low intensity greenhouse gas emission ways of transport and some long term solutions? Thank you...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, colleagues. I think possibly the biggest thing we can do here is a thorough and complete review and possibly restructuring of the Northwest Territories Power Corporation. I think this is something we all know at heart. All our residents and constituents have been talking to us about this. We have some real opportunities here. People can start generating and delivering their own energy needs and contributing it to the grid through net metering and so on. We need some real progressive grassroots work there, so let’s get that done.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just very briefly I wanted to add my voice of accolade here to Ms. Bisaro and Mrs. Trudel and to those who helped put this together.

We heard earlier today about some of the waste recovery proposals the Minister of ENR is proposing. This is a full cost accounting approach. We know that our food now comes from thousands of kilometres away. To have that energy expended and the cost.... A lot of that food going to waste is crazy in today’s world. So very briefly, all kudos, and I’m very happy to see this bill go forward.

Mr. Speaker, this government is committed to a preventative approach to addressing the root causes of issues that we face. Milk is the single most important nutrient to the healthy development and benefit of our youth. The issue has been brought to us by community representatives, by health workers and by educational workers and teachers. Many thanks to them for bringing this forward.

Many people have seen, or heard recently from my colleague, the frightening photographs of many of our youth who are in desperate need of dental surgery and the backload we have there to deal with. Sugary drinks...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate this opportunity to address you. I want to start by thanking the Member for Great Slave for bringing this forward.

The context within which he brings this forward is important. Climate change is happening throughout the world. It’s a global issue. We know what some of the costs are. We’re starting to have an idea of what some of the costs will be. We’re talking about loss of some of our wildlife species and fish, some of our reliable water sources and perhaps, most importantly, our climate. Our climate is becoming very unreliable and relatively extreme...