David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there were two motions recently passed, one in October of last year and another one late last year, pertaining to caribou by the Dene Nation. I was wondering if the Minister is aware of those two motions that were passed and the fact that they show goodwill on behalf of the aboriginal leaders and governments in this Territory. Why is it that we’re in the predicament that we’re in today? Why couldn’t a solution be found to this situation? The goodwill was out there and now we’re left, again, our credibility is suffering because we cannot come up with a...

Other Members have talked about this, but the Sparrow case in British Columbia and the Sparrow test, I wanted to mention this, as well, Mr. Speaker. Is there an existing aboriginal right? Most certainly there is. Under the Sparrow test, does it impose undue hardship? Undoubtedly, it does. Does it prevent the holder of the right from preferred means of exercising that right? Undoubtedly, it does. The Minister’s decision, he says that it was made on the basis of conservation. Now, in that Sparrow test, the government has to recognize a priority for First Nations harvesting. I’m wondering how the...

We do need to protect the caribou, but how can the Minister of ENR simply ignore the rights of aboriginal people? The failure to negotiate a solution is going to cost this government dearly. Our credibility is clearly in question.

I will take that as a no. I guess the other thing I wanted to ask the Minister is how often does the committee meet and whether or not she could share the agendas of the meetings with Regular Members. Thank you.

I’d like to ask the Minister, and that’s a good statement that she’s made today, but what specific initiatives has the Cost of Living Strategic Initiatives Committee taken to Cabinet for inclusion in the budget. She talked about a myriad of different things. Specifically, what has that committee taken to Cabinet for inclusion in this year’s budget? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to discuss an issue that touches each and every Member of this House and our constituents and that issue is the exorbitant cost of living in our communities, the single biggest issue facing this Territory. As Northerners, we pay more for everything. My perspective, Mr. Speaker, is obviously Yellowknife based. However, I have travelled to many of our smaller communities and have a solid understanding of the cost of living outside of Yellowknife and how these costs are affecting the livability and social fabric of our communities.

Mr. Speaker, it is little...

I would like to ask the lead Minister for the cost of living if her committee is taking a look at the Deh Cho Bridge Project and its potential impact on the cost of living to residents in the North Slave region and all communities serviced by air out of Yellowknife. Has that gotten to her committee? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’ve got some questions today for the lead Minister on the Strategic Initiatives Committee on the Cost of Living. I’d like to start off by saying, obviously, it’s an important issue to everybody across the Northwest Territories. Many of my constituents and everybody else’s constituents all face an exorbitant cost of living. I’d like to ask the Minister what specific areas is her committee currently working on. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to pick up where I left off with some questions on the future of business-related support here in the Northwest Territories. I want to just pick up where I left off again. We talked a little bit earlier about SEED. The average SEED contribution, Mr. Speaker, is only $6,000. You wonder how can we expect much in the way of business and employment creation when the average is $6,000 and the majority of that SEED funding, Mr. Speaker, appears to be for community events and ongoing subsidies like tools and snow machines and things like that. So I want to...

That last question, that was about departmental contributions, it wasn’t about SEED, but I’ll take the answer for what it’s worth.

I want to talk about manufacturing and I talked about that as well being in serious decline. We’re losing value-added opportunities such as Fortune Minerals. We’ve got other opportunities on the horizon and I would like to ask the Minister why doesn’t the government of the Northwest Territories have an industrial development strategy. Thank you.