Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Further to my statement earlier today, I’d like to ask the honourable Premier a few questions.

First, what is our government doing to protect the waters of the Peel River in case of development in the Yukon?

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Is the Premier willing to work with the Gwich’in Tribal Council to set up monitoring systems along the Peel River for future data? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

I would also like to ask our Premier, what input did our government provide to the Yukon Peel Land Use Planning Commission in order to protect the Peel waters in the NWT and Yukon? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The rivers, the air, the fish and caribou, lines on the map mean nothing to them. Where they go is where they belong.

The Gwich’in people know how important the Peel River Watershed is to the land around it and all the wildlife and people who depend on it. I want to voice my disappointment in the Yukon government for losing sight of this when they decided to alter the Peel Land Use Plan before it was released last month.

Residents from Fort McPherson, Aklavik, Inuvik and also protestors in the Yukon walked on January 28, 2014, in support of the Land Use Plan that was...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Within the next 46 days we will be implementing our Devolution Agreement, if all goes well.

I would like to ask the Premier, once this process has been completed, will this benefit the outstanding land claim groups in their negotiations? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize one of my constituents in the gallery, Mr. James Wilson, a well-known carver. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Many of the community residents in the community of Tsiigehtchic would like to see more of a presence from the RCMP, so I’d like to ask the Minister, will he ensure more of a presence in the community of Tsiigehtchic? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s been just over three months since we’ve had a commitment to have RCMP overnighting in Tsiigehtchic. So I’d like to ask the Minister, how many times have the RCMP overnighted in the community of Tsiigehtchic since our last session? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just a few brief comments to the main estimates. I, too, like Mr. Menicoche, have a lot of concerns from the communities. For example, Tsiigehtchic is still in need of nursing and also policing. I was hoping to see something here with some promises from the Minister, but I have yet to see that.

On a positive note, there are a lot of great initiatives there that we can expect to see in the communities.

Also, there are a lot of concerns in the region for Highway No. 8, the Dempster Highway. This fall we had terrible conditions, really moist, a lot of rain. We had some places...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to return to item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery.

---Unanimous consent granted