Frederick Blake Jr.

It seems like only the regional centres have ski clubs in this territory, so is this government willing to work with the smaller communities to make sure that they do have sufficient funds to have proper ski trails which can be used also for snowshoeing and even walking trails? We need proper equipment. For example, snowcats and groomers. I know those are a little costly, but these are needed. We have world-class sport athletes here in our territory and we need to ensure that they have the proper facilities in our communities.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to acknowledge my constituent Charlie Furlong, the mayor of Aklavik; also Joanne Deneron and the delegation from the Yukon. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Sometimes communities don’t have that as their priority. For example, the ski trails, as I mentioned. Can an organization within the community… Right now we have volunteers that provide these trails for our athletes with homemade groomers, yet we have world-class athletes. We need to ensure they have the proper equipment.

Will the Minister work with one of the organizations in the community to ensure that we have proper equipment?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a few questions for the Minister of sport and recreation from my Member’s statement. As I mentioned in my statement, we do not have a ski club or a ski shack in Fort McPherson.

I’d like to ask the Minister, are there funds available that the community can access to have that in place and also to have the proper equipment to maintain ski trails?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the highlights in our communities is celebrating success. Today I want to acknowledge Annah Hanthorn from Fort McPherson. Nineteen-year-old Annah, as we speak, is in Almaty, Kazakhstan, competing in the 2015 Junior World Cross Country Ski Championships.

Five of the fastest and competitive women from across our country have been selected to represent Canada at this huge event, and one of our very own from the Northwest Territories, Annah Hanthorn, is ranked top five in Canada.

---Applause

Fort McPherson over the years has had a population of 900 to 1,000 people. We...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too would like to commend the mover and seconder for the motion. I know the last time this motion came forward I did not support it, but after a little more information I came to change my mind mainly because, in the long run, I can see this cost-saving. A lot of what the ombudsman does is the same thing as the Languages Commissioner and the Human Rights Commissioner. So I feel that we could most likely replace those two commissioners with the ombudsman because they basically do the same thing. That was the thing that made me change my mind.

Moving forward we’ll see...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we all know, at the end of March the Building Canada Plan expired and a lot of projects came to a halt.

I’d like to ask the Minister of Transportation, will the new Building Canada Plan be ready for the upcoming year and projects continuing? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am taking this time today to congratulate the newly elected leaders from the community of Fort McPherson. Elections for one president and four councillors were held in 2014 and I look forward to working with the new community leadership in the coming year: President William Firth and his council Glen Alexie, David Krutko, Abe Wilson and Leslie Blake.

This new council will oversee daily operation of the Designated Gwich’in Organization which is a community organization operating under the guidance of the Gwich’in Tribal Council. I trust that our territorial and...

I would like to ask the Minister again, come April 1st, will this new funding roll out and the project continue over the upcoming summer? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too would like to recognize Mr. A.J. Kenny. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.