Jane Groenewegen

Mr. Speaker, right now, the school has been closed. I anticipate that if no asbestos of significant amount is found, the school may reopen as soon as Friday. If that is not the case, we have a big problem on our hands.

I’d like to ask the Minister what the chances are of expediting the retrofit to this school at this time.

Mr. Speaker, I don’t know if I can switch to a different minister on the same topic or not. I was going to ask the Minister of Public Works some questions on the same topic, but I’ll have to get back on the list again. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, as I said in my Member’s statement, I don’t wish to cause any undue alarm in Hay River. However, if I were the parent of a student who had been attending the school and now they knew there were issues around air quality and possible asbestos particle contamination, this week would seem like a very long week, waiting to find out if in fact there was the presence of this in there.

I would like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services if she is aware of any kind of testing that exists that would definitely determine if people had been exposed to asbestos particles in the air...

I would like to move that we report progress.

Motion carried.

Mr. Speaker, the removal of the asbestos from the heating pipes would be a very major undertaking in the school. Many other things need to be addressed in the school besides this item.

Would it be possible to expedite or advance or move this work on the Diamond Jenness School forward, so that in the scenario of upheaval anyway, while the students are going to be removed from the school…? If they have to take the asbestos insulation off the pipes, it’s going to take some significant time and effort, and the students won’t be allowed to be there.

I just want to know, in the interests of addressing...

My question is for the Minister Responsible for Public Works and Services.

There was a technical review done on the Diamond Jenness Secondary School quite a number of years ago which listed items of priority. Code requirements were one of the areas that were listed. Areas of life safety and health were listed separately.

It would appear that for quite some time, the department, through their assessment of this building, was aware that there was asbestos on heating pipes in this building.

Under “Code-required items, if renovation planned, not complete” was:

“Remove asbestos from heating system...

I wasn’t referring to the tests of the air quality in the school; I was referring to any test of the students and the staff that might indicate if they had been exposed to any kind of asbestos contamination. Is the Minister aware of any such medical test?

Mr. Speaker, we learned of the urgent matter of the possible contamination of the air quality in Hay River’s Diamond Jenness school. I’m very upset to hear that our students may have been subjected to harm. We’ve been raising concerns about the air handling and air quality for a number of years, but I had no idea that asbestos particles might have even been a possibility.

During the last government I learned of a technical review that had taken place on the school. I was unable to get a copy of it because it was confidential. In the closing days of the last government, Mr. Krutko, then Minister...

Check the attendance record? I think I was there.

Thirty-five years is a long time. There was a cost-benefit analysis done. There are projections. It’s a business case based on volumes of traffic that will go over the bridge that will pay a commercial toll, which will in turn help the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation make the payments on the construction of the bridge.

I would like to know if the G.N.W.T. is going to guarantee the bridge construction loan.

I’d like to know when was the most recent communication the Minister has had with the APG and the producers group and the proponents of the pipeline. When was the most recent communication that he had with them that causes him to still feel optimistic, and what is that vehicle for ongoing communication with our government and the business components of the pipeline?