Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, colleagues. Mr. Speaker, barely two years ago the government released its long-term Transportation Strategy. Improving our ferry system is consistent with the strategy's priorities and actions.

Mr. Speaker, the Mackenzie Delta relies on the Louis Cardinal ferry. Before making reductions to this critical piece of infrastructure, let's consider where we want our transportation system to go.

Getting new capital projects is a slow process, Mr. Speaker. We have to take steps toward approving a replacement for the Louis Cardinal ferry now -- and if not a new...

Over the past five years in the Assembly I've noticed a lot of our buildings that are up for major repair or retrofit actually get replaced. A good example is our Stanton Territorial Hospital. We have other facilities in other communities as well, the Joe Greenland Centre.

Mr. Speaker, I just have another question for the Minister: when was the Moose Kerr School last assessed for asbestos risk? The school was built at the same time as Samuel Hearne, and in Samuel Hearne they actually found asbestos in that building. That was one of the reasons why that was replaced as well.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, colleagues. I was almost done, actually. These include possible asbestos risks, especially since asbestos was found in Inuvik's Samuel Hearne School, and road safety because lack of parking makes the school grounds difficult to navigate. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I'll have questions for the Minister later today.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I want to tell you what's been going on in Aklavik's Moose Kerr school over the past year, and I've got to say, they've been pretty busy. Last year, Moose Kerr's 14 teachers taught 161 children, kindergarten to grade 12 students. The school also hosted a safety-theme week, practising fire drills, lockdown procedures, firearm safety, and water safety in the summer, and later reviewing ice safety rules in the fall.

The spring celebration honoured students for strong attendance records and academic achievements, while the school also organized a...

I'm looking forward to that assessment. Would the Minister please provide a report once that's available?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a few questions for the Minister responsible for Education. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to ask the Minister: can the Minister provide a status update on work towards planning for renovations or replacement at Moose Kerr School site? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement. Thank you.

---Unanimous consent granted

That's great news. I hope we could go back to last year when the actual problem started. Our elders have been paying these bills all last winter and this winter. I hope we could fix this problem. The other thing was, I know in our last government we were looking at putting more wood pellet boilers into many of the communities to fix these sorts of issues. Would the Minister be willing to look at this for the Joe Greenland Centre?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in follow-up to my Member's statement I have a few questions for the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation. I'd like to ask the Minister: has the Housing Corporation fully addressed the heating problems at the Joe Greenland Centre in Aklavik? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As the Minister mentioned, we have space heaters in our elders' rooms. I'd like to ask the Minister: can the Minister advise me why elders' bills are still being affected by changing heating costs at the Joe Greenland Centre?