Bob Bromley

Mr. Chairman, I just noted in the justification here the reasoning for the renovations to the Lahm Ridge Tower that…. Oh, sorry. I’m getting ahead of myself, Mr. Chairman. Excuse me.

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to recognize the pages, Alexandra and Kaitlyn, from the Weledeh riding. They’ve been doing a great job. It’s great to see them here. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Minister’s commitment to sit down with the people of Dettah, the leaders in Dettah, to discuss this priority.

Will the Minister work to ensure that it will be a long-lasting resurfacing this time, a little bit thicker than a poker chip and something that will actually last a number of years? I know we have the technology for that.

Laughter.

My question is for the Minister of Transportation.

Recently the government of Nunavut signed a deal with the Government of Canada — the Building Canada Fund. I believe we are negotiating a similar agreement for the Northwest Territories. And it’s an opportunity to get some of these capital projects done that we've had in mind.

We've had one in mind a long time — the Dettah Road resurfacing. I’d like to ask the Minister: will the Minister commit to meeting with the leaders in Dettah to make resurfacing of the Dettah Road a high priority?

Mr. Speaker, the people of Dettah have waited a long, long time for an appropriate road with safe conditions — actually, since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. I remember it well.

Laughter.

It was a long, long time ago. The condition of the road is taking its toll on vehicles and people’s budgets. People are really extremely concerned about the unsafe conditions.

Will the Minister of Transportation sit down with the leaders in Dettah to plan and implement, at the earliest opportunity, something to address this situation and get the road properly resurfaced?

Thank you for that response — very good news. This organization is doing incredible work, and I think we’re already seeing the returns.

Another aspect of the sustainable communities is, of course, the economic, the social and the environmental components of sustainability. I’m wondering if, in that aspect of sustainable communities in the new deal, all three components of sustainability are being profiled in the requirement for community energy plans in the integrated sustainable community plans — for the capital plans. I see this as an opportunity to highlight those three aspects of real...

I hope you will join me in congratulating our capital in feeling pride about its hard work toward achieving sustainability.

The Corporate Knights magazine of Toronto judged 18 small cities with populations under 250,000 on their efforts to have minimal environmental impact and to create a healthy population. Yellowknife came out tops. It was given recognition for the $300,000 that is budgeted to do a geothermal research study at the abandoned Con mine site to potentially access heat from underground. Yellowknife’s community garden co-operative — dedicated people who both grow their own food and...

Mr. Speaker, this 16th Assembly has identified healthy, sustainable communities as a high-priority goal. Yesterday I spoke about youth. They make up an important part of these healthy communities. I’d like, in the absence of the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, to ask the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs if his department is planning to continue its support for the Northern Youth Abroad program.

Our capital city of Yellowknife has been named the most sustainable small city in Canada.

Applause.

Mr. Chairman, a couple of things pop out for me. The first one is the $2 million across departments to fund increased utility costs. Not unrelated, the second one is $1.2 million for additional funds going towards the territorial power subsidy program.

I think we have big opportunities for energy savings and doing things in a better way that’s both cheaper and beneficial to our environment. I, of course, have been bringing some of those ways forward, and I know the Premier and his cabinet are aware of those. But I think it highlights, as well, some of the infrastructure, like the mini-hydro run...