Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my statement is on Junior Kindergarten, much like my colleague Mrs. Groenewegen. Many people in the small communities, and in the larger communities, as well, feel that this government has rushed in to implement the Junior Kindergarten initiative without first reviewing the pilot projects that happened last year in the small communities. To make things worse, the student/teacher ratio was also changed just last year from 8 to 1 to now 16 to 1. We also have a number of challenges with lack of resources and funding. This year all that was given to the schools to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would just like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. David Brock for all his time and effort. It was a pleasure working with him and I wish him well in his future endeavours.

I would also like to thank Ms. Nicole Latour and I look forward to working with her in the future. Thank you.

Thank you. I would like to ask the Minister what are the plans the department has for the impacts on other programming in the smaller communities. For example, in one of the communities they’re expected to lose approximately seven jobs in the coming year. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned, I have questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Last year the communities that took on Junior Kindergarten received about $45,000 each to implement that. Why are the schools only getting $15,000 today? Thank you.

Health centre, health station, same difference. It’s the place where everyone goes for health care.

It’s pretty clear that the population has skyrocketed, and I’d like to ask the Minister what steps his department is doing to ensure the beaver population is controlled. Thank you.

These trips and future trips up the Peel River will have a lasting effect on anyone who travels there for the first time and witnesses how beautiful our land is. Let’s continue to support initiatives such as these and keep our culture alive.

I’d also like to thank all of the departments that contributed to this on-the-land program. Thank you, mahsi cho.

Just so the Minister is aware, the sign at the health centre says, “Tsiigehtchic Health Centre,” but that’s just for the record.

Moving on, next, as you may know, a few years back the Joe Greenland Centre closed down in Aklavik and many of the elders really want to stay in their home communities, whether it’s Aklavik, Fort McPherson or Tsiigehtchic.

As we move forward and talk decentralization, what are the plans the Minister has to build another long-term care facility in the smaller communities such as Fort McPherson or Aklavik?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just a couple of questions for the Minister. First off, starting with Tsiigehtchic, it’s been quite some time since the health centre there was built. I would like to ask the Minister, when are the plans to have a new health centre built in Tsiigehtchic.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a question for the Minister of ENR. As you heard earlier, there are a lot of concerns about low water levels, especially up in the region of Beaufort-Delta, Mackenzie Delta, and a lot of this when we’re travelling throughout the river system what we notice is there are a lot of beavers in the region, but the price on the pelts are so low that nobody is trying to trap them.

I was wondering if the Minister is open to putting a quota on the beaver in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.