Bob McLeod

The Member will be very pleased to hear that we have just started phase three and we have decentralized 141 positions in this 17th Assembly. This is the most positions that have ever been decentralized in the history of this government and we are just starting phase three. So the plan will be, when we roll out the business plans for 2015-16, they will be very clear and I am sure that the Member will be very appreciative. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am very pleased to recognize two Pages from Yellowknife South: Bryanna Steele and Emma du Plessis. They are from Yellowknife South. I also recognize all the Pages who are here. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, entrepreneurs and small business owners in the Northwest Territories are committed, passionate and extremely hard working.

I would like to take the opportunity to recognize a particularly dedicated business owner, Mr. Francis Anderson. Mr. Anderson has been the owner and operator of Saville Enterprises, a thriving hardware store in the Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk, since the age of 19.

Maintaining a business in one of the most northern communities in the Northwest Territories may have its challenges, and Mr. Anderson’s business is a great example of how they can be overcome. His work to...

We have a number of international researchers that set up and operate right in the Aurora Research Institute. We also provide a lot of logistical and backup and equipment support. As I said, the Aurora Research Institute receives funding from the Department of Education for annual operations, and they also access funding on an application-based process. We do involve and utilize them to do research on behalf of the government, and certainly, with the Mackenzie Valley Fibre Optic Link, I understand that we will do further investing in that regard.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s a very exciting year to be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Aurora Research Institute in Inuvik. Considering that they’ve been conducting research or helping facilitate research for 50 years in the Northwest Territories is quite an achievement.

I’m very pleased to say that through the Department of Education, Culture and Employment that Aurora College is allocating $1,000 for every year of its existence, so they’ve allocated $50,000 for the 50th anniversary celebrations.

I should add that Aurora College provides the institute with about $1.7 million a year...

We receive results on a regular and ongoing basis. They are channelled through the Aurora College and through the Department of Education, and it finds our way to us. I myself, I think I’ve been to Inuvik about 10 times this year. On almost every visit I have the opportunity to drop in to the Aurora Research Institute for one reason or another, and at the risk of indicating how old I am, I negotiated devolution of the three arctic research centres from the federal government to the territorial government about 25 years ago. I think we have really benefitted from it.

I think it’s a very exciting period as to what’s happening in Inuvik, especially with the satellite tracking facilities that have been put in place. I think there are three satellite tracking facilities there now. When I attended the first one, we were told that with this fibre optic link that conceivably there could be 35 of these facilities, because Inuvik’s got the best location in the world for tracking of satellites. The Aurora Research Institute has been a very active participant and promoting this, and as part of construction of the Mackenzie Valley Fibre Optic Link, we see the research...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am very pleased to recognize a constituent of Yellowknife South, Gayla Thunstrom. Welcome to the Assembly.

I wouldn’t say we’ve been working behind the scenes. I think we’ve been very open and transparent about it. We’ve been working with Alberta. Alberta recently released a report that indicated it was technically feasible to go north, to ship oil through what some people are calling an Arctic gateway, that it’s technically feasible, and we would like to explore that much further.

The Mackenzie Gas Pipeline Project that was reviewed and was approved through the regulatory process and a certificate of public conveyance and necessity was approved, which would provide for one-third Aboriginal...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. NWT and Alberta has a very long, collaborative history. As a matter of fact, Alberta and Saskatchewan were carved out of the Northwest Territories in 1905. We have had an MOU on cooperation and development with Alberta for about 18 years and it’s been renewed twice and recently expired in 2013. We have been having discussions on entering into a new, renewed MOU. A lot of our discussions are on energy. I believe that at the start of this session, when we all met as Caucus, that was something that we all agreed, was we had to do some work in this area. Thank you, Mr...