Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Minister. I look forward to going home and telling all my carvers that I’m going to have a carving centre opening up. No, he is right; I do have all the oil and gas in the Territories. We’re open for business.

The initiative such as the Subsidiary Company Program with the NWT BDIC is an excellent way to create jobs in the communities; development services promote traditional arts. Will this government look at providing similar assistance to other community-based businesses to service the export of products?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. The Arts and Crafts Centre will be governed by dedicated people and the crafts centre will continue to provide employment for the residents’ exposure, community pride in our arts and culture and preservation in traditional skills.

Again, I’d like to thank the Minister, Bob McLeod; MLA Hawkins; chair of IRC, Nellie Cournoyea; and the Co-op board, and all who have helped in this project. I know in the whole Territory, my carvers and printmakers are the best in the Territory.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A couple of weeks ago I had the honour of heading into the community of Ulukhaktok with the Minister to open up our new facility for arts and crafts with the Co-op. We provide the venue for traditional crafts and fabric and other sewing materials that are hard to get.

Currently the arts and crafts centre employs two people and plans to be expanding soon. The possible applicants eventually will work on the arts and crafts in the centre. They will require some training. These workshops are taking place now and start within a week; knitting qivuit right in the community of...

Only the most important riding in this whole Territory, Mr. Speaker.

---Interjection

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What will the Power Corporation do to improve the communication with the customers in the small communities so that their complaints will be resolved sooner rather than later? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, what’s being done to ensure that the troubleshooting with the electrical systems can be done in our communities instead of waiting for technicians to fly into the communities? Thank you.

Anyway, I’d like to welcome Melinda Bourke as well. She’s my wife’s niece and I’m her uncle. I’d like to welcome Marcus, as well, for doing a good job helping out as a Page in the Page Program. It is a really good program. I’d like to welcome Ms. Sarah Jerome, too, into the House. Good to see you, Sarah. And Mr. Reid, one of my old teachers up in Inuvik. We had a lot of good run-ins and a lot of good times. Thank you, Mr. Reid.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A common concern in my constituency is damage done by extreme power surges of electricity coming into the homes. One constituent has been discussing this problem for some time with the NWT Power Corporation time after time. NTPC has tried to solve the problem, with no success. It may be a part of the problem is the lack of qualified professionals who can truly diagnose what’s going wrong and fix it in the community, Mr. Speaker. This constituent had to wait a long time for a specialist to fly into the community, evaluate the problem, only to watch the individual climb...

Mr. Speaker, will the Minister ensure that my constituent complaints be looked into by the Power Corporation and be dealt with as soon as possible? They have been ongoing. Thank you.