David Krutko

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. My questions are for the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation.

Please provide the number of negotiated contracts and the amounts of each one for housing in the communities of Aklavik, Fort McPherson and Tsiigehtchic issued to local contractors over the past five fiscal years.

Please provide the number of contracts and the amounts for each one for housing in the communities of Aklavik, Fort McPherson and Tsiigehtchic issued to contractors based outside of those communities over the past five years.

Please provide the list of all...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In regard to the last fiscal year there was some 72 calls made from the community of Tsiigehtchic requesting services in the community which required the RCMP presence. So I’d like to ask the Minister what do we do to ensure that those 72 calls have been responded to and how long does it take to respond. So is there a way that we can track these calls to see exactly what action was taken and if any action has been taken? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are directed to the Minister of Justice in regard to the policing in small communities where we don’t have a permanent RCMP presence, but more in line of trying to add policing services to our smaller communities. In light of the decision to look at establishing a position in Fort McPherson, it was welcome news for the community of Tsiigehtchic, but we’re seeing some challenges in regard to the actual delivery of the program in the communities. I think even the RCMP have identified some areas that they have issue with in regard to not only providing the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister that now there’s a new operational motto that’s in place for policing in small communities, can the Minister assure us that this policy will be distributed, and more importantly, that communities will have input in regard to ensuring that we find improvements in policing in our small communities by enhancing the policy and putting in the adequate resources that are needed to ensure that we do have the policing services that we do require and ensure that they also have the equipment that they need to do their job? Thank you.

Thank you. Again, I noted from the information I received in regard to a report from the RCMP, one of the issues that they identified was the lack of office space availability in Tsiigehtchic for the RCMP so when they go they’re able to do their work, they’re able to work out of an office setting and able to process the paper that has to be processed as part of their investigation. So what I’d like to know is what is the government doing to accommodate them by finding office space in those communities where they have to physically do their paperwork, interview witnesses or deal with the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Policing services are an essential service similar to health care, education, and more importantly, the service that we basically do not have sometimes we take for granted. I’m talking about RCMP services to the community of Tsiigehtchic, a community that I represent that does not have full-time permanent RCMP members stationed in the community.

Over the years I’ve raised this issue and now the remedy was to station an RCMP member in Fort McPherson to serve the community of Tsiigehtchic. From the records, it indicates that some 73 calls have been made to the RCMP...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is directed to the Premier and is in regard to my Member’s statement. One of the biggest challenges we’re facing in our communities is dealing with the social and economic aspects of trying to generate employment and jobs for our residents. A lot of those jobs and opportunities come by way of government contracts and services. I think that we as government have to take a close look at the social and economic indicators, especially where we have high pockets of unemployment, high graduation rates. What can we as government do to ensure that those capital...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Premier if he could submit a report to this House or the Members of this House identifying how this government is re-profiling its programs and services so we can actually physically see how the programs and services we have are really benefiting communities, and at what cost are we putting them in place to ensure that the investment we make in our communities, the dollars stay in our communities, and that it is stimulating our local economies.

Again, I’d like to ask the Premier, with regard to looking at the social and economic fabric of our communities where we’re really starting to see high, high numbers of unemployment in our communities, knowing that we have to do whatever we can to sustain our communities not only through programs and services but economically as well, does our government look at the social numbers to see where we have high pockets of unemployment where people are using the high numbers of social programs and services, regardless if it’s income support or other programs, and as a government realizing that there...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Capacity building in the Northwest Territories is more than bricks and mortar. Mr. Speaker, the whole idea of building capacity is building the most fundamental resource we have: our people.

Mr. Speaker, in a lot of our small, rural, remote communities, we are struggling to basically see the benefits of these developments, regardless if it is government contracts and services, building of houses and homes, and like the Minister of Transportation mentioned, improvement to the community access programs. Mr. Speaker, all of these programs are needed to build capacity.

Mr...