Joe Handley

Mr. Speaker, I would like to give the Assembly a status report on the progress of the Deh Cho Bridge project.

It was a little over three years ago, in February 2002, when the Fort Providence Combined Council Alliance first brought forward its proposal to form a public/private partnership that would build a bridge across the Mackenzie River near Fort Providence. The government of the 14th Assembly gave the proposal a careful review and found that the proposal was not only feasible but, in many ways, quite attractive. First and foremost was the prospect of a permanent, all-weather highway link...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I am very interested in who the new ambassador will be. The announcement is, I understand, to be made in the next week or two and I have been working very closely with the Consul General. I might add that this is the second trip that the Consul General has made since his appointment several months ago. He was here in November and he is back here again, so there is definitely very much interest by the American government in the potential for tourism, mining, diamonds, oil and gas and so on in the Northwest Territories. We want to keep up that relationship....

Mr. Speaker, I would be pleased to do that and in fact Mr. Speaker, I did go over to Sir John Franklin High School yesterday to take part in the orientation for the students and the introduction of this virtual consulate. I did take the opportunity, even though I didn’t want to hone in on the students' projects too much, to send a message to Ambassador Cellucci and I did, while waiting there, get a reply from him, as did a number of students.

Mr. Speaker, I think all northerners, if they have questions and they want to make their views known, should access the site; it is there. I don’t have...

Mr. Speaker, I will certainly talk to the Members about that and consider doing a letter which either I would send or could be sent by all Members. This cannot continue to happen, Mr. Speaker. This is why we have to have devolution, because we cannot have these kinds of decisions being made in Ottawa and us finding out after the fact that the decision was made, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, fortunately, Minister Scott is going to be here next week. I think all of us will have an opportunity to speak with him. I certainly will speak with him about the way this was handled. Thank you, Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let me say first of all, that the appointment of the chair for either of the boards under the Mackenzie Valley Management Act is the responsibility of the federal government. So, Mr. Speaker, having said that, as I said yesterday, I have communicated my preferences to Minister Scott in the past, I have written a letter to him, and last week I attempted to contact him -- I believe it was on Thursday -- and waited for his call. Yesterday I tried to contact him. I did not get to speak to him. I was told that he's in Edmonton or in Alberta today for the memorial for...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I will and I believe there was a recommendation to that effect to bring it back, so it will be brought back. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not going to sing. I’d like to, but I won’t. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to congratulate an aboriginal owned corporation with their offices in Weledeh. This afternoon I was told that because of the efforts of this company, that all communities in the NWT will, by the end of this year, have broadband Internet services.

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Mr. Speaker, the Denendeh Development Corporation is a community champion of the Broadband Business Alliance, and will be signing a contribution agreement with Industry Canada as part of an overall project worth $16.7 million. This...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that Bill 20, Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 3, 2004-2005, be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I am sure we can, because it is open and…Of course, the communications are through the embassy, but I am sure that they would, at our request, forward these on to other people who may have interest in it as well.

Mr. Speaker, it’s a good tool to use. I think that one drawback that I saw yesterday is that anyone else who wants to log on can also view your dialogue that is taking place. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I can’t speak for the consulate general or for the ambassador and their motivation setting up the virtual consulate. They do, I assume, want to share information and be able to communicate. Mr. Speaker, in my view, we are clearly not part of American foreign policy. We have our own views, our own government and federal government. That is where our interests and our loyalty lie.

Mr. Speaker, we do have issues though, that we must deal with, with our neighbours. Those are issues like climate change, environment and, as the Member has said, caribou migrations and sovereignty and...