Bob McLeod

Mr. Speaker, I rise today, on behalf of all members of Cabinet, to once again congratulate and thank all Members of this House. We are grateful for and humbled by your support, and we pledge to work hard, in cooperation with all Members, in the service of all the people and communities of the Northwest Territories.

Each of us elected to this Assembly recognizes that our territory is one of immense potential and that realizing even a share of that potential can mean a vibrant and prosperous future for our people.

Beyond the immediate challenges of housing, infrastructure, the economy and health...

Thank you. Right now in our discussions with Aboriginal governments, we’re keeping all our options open, and at the appropriate time we will have that discussion, and if it would facilitate the process, we would be quite prepared to do it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is our intention to work with the Aboriginal leaders to find some common ground and at that point they’ll look at timelines. Thank you.

Most of my colleagues that have been here before have been to all 33 communities or most of the 33 communities. I like to travel to the communities and we’ll all do everything as humanly possible to get to the communities as many times as possible.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I had a very good discussion with Minister Duncan and I told him about how we, as a Caucus, had met with the Aboriginal governments, and that I had been on the phone talking to the majority of the Aboriginal government leaders and it was my intention to talk to all of them either by today or early next week. He indicated that he was prepared to come north and to meet with the Aboriginal leaders at some appropriate time in the future, so I believe that it is his intention to do so. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We can develop guidelines. I think that if we commit to only going to a region when you can go to every community in the region, I think it would detract from the ability for Ministers or myself to go into a region. A lot of times you only have a day or two days there if you go into a region. If you commit, let’s say, going to the Sahtu and going to all five communities and if you have to spend six days or block off six days to be able to go there, a lot of times it’s very hard to find a block of six days to go into a region.

I think that we could agree to a guideline, but to be able to commit...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know there is a rental scale review. We’re expecting the results fairly soon and we’ll take whatever steps we can to do it on a timely basis, recognizing that it’s a big issue for all of the communities in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think that’s going to be the key element of our communications package. Any of the Ministers that travel to anybody’s riding, the Member or the MLA representing that region or community is made aware of it well in advance and there will be an opportunity. Any time I go to a community I find it only helps if you have the MLA representing help to introduce you to their constituents. I think that’s the way to get things done.

The way I look at it is we’ll have to confirm the numbers, finalize a proposal. Whether it be a loan guarantee or a no-interest loan proposal will have to be brought forward. We’d have to discuss it at Cabinet, and if we have a positive response, then we would go forward on that basis.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe that the three northern Premiers will probably get together before the next Council of Federation meeting. Normally the three Premiers get together to set the stage for the discussions that will happen when all of the Premiers are together. My expectation is probably the first chance for all the Premiers to get together is the end of November. I will have to confirm it, but my expectation is we will probably have a chance to get together before then. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.