David Krutko

General comments, Mr. Yakeleya.

Sergeant-at-Arms, could you escort the witnesses in?

For the record, Mr. Minister, can you introduce your witnesses?

Does the committee agree?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services.

Please provide a precise breakdown of health care provided to the people who reside in Tsiigehtchic.

How many times this past year has the doctor provided care in the community, when the visits were scheduled and how long did the doctor stay in the community?

Also, can I get a breakdown of how many visits per year has a registered nurse been to the community and how long was the visit?

And finally, does the health and social services board provide care in the means of mental health counselling, and does the...

I also got some research done in that area. Number one, the location where the Peel Crossing is and where they were talking about the crossing, that one side alone, you have to go down 180 feet in order to hit bedrock. That is the reason that it is so costly. That’s why I am saying that in order to make it economically viable, you have to have an ideal location where you can cross the river. There is a location upstream from the existing site and all we are asking the department to do is to do a bunch of core sampling to see if that is a more ideal position than what you are looking at. That...

Again, this government is doling out money to the outfitters industry because of so-called impacts, because of the numbers dropping in caribou. I mean, the same herd is going to affect the people that depend on subsistence harvesting, especially the aboriginal people that depend on those herds for subsistence. You have to offer them an alternative for hunting or harvesting caribou. One of the areas that you can seriously make a difference in is the trapping industry so that those people can realize that if we support them in that sector, that they’ll be able to continue to sustain the...

Just on that, I’d just like to ask exactly what is the relationship between this department and the so-called MAC Group which is looking at a similar objective but they’re looking at...What are we doing to work with our partners to try to achieve this and also being able to leverage more federal funding or by way of some sort of a partnership arrangement to meet the final goal of eventually seeing a highway down the Mackenzie?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are directed to the Minister of ITI, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Speaker, in regard to the importance of the harvesting industry in the Northwest Territories and the important role that it played in developing the Northwest Territories going back to the mid-1800s, I think it’s important to realize that it is still a very good part of our communities and the subsistence dependence that people have is to still trap and still harvest as a means of sustaining themselves.

I’d like to ask the Minister in regard to this government’s programs that they have, we have programs in...

In regard to the comments from the deputy minister, it’s clearly illustrated that if a program is overprescribed, that tells me that people very much want access to the program and, if anything, if a program is overprescribed, don’t you think that we should be putting more resources into that program, increase the amount of money we spend in the program and increase the threshold so it can really accomplish what we’re trying to do? Like I say, this issue has been here as long as I have, going back to the 13th Assembly. Again, it has always come to this Legislature year after year after year...

Just finishing off on my favourite subject in regard to access roads to gravel sources and I think if I don’t respond to it, it won’t be doing justice to the residents of Aklavik. I think that we have to realize that it’s critical that we look at opening up gravel sources around communities and, more importantly, it’s not only for the community, it’s for the regions, it’s for the development of industry, it’s for the expansion of connecting communities, and I think we have to look at these developments in regard to long-term investments. I noted that we have to realize there have been motions...