Kevin A. Menicoche

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]

Today I would like to raise my concerns with regard to Aboriginal employment and representation in our Government of the Northwest Territories. We have an Affirmative Action Plan that government employees should have a representative workforce, which means half our workers should be Aboriginal. Our population is 51 percent Aboriginal. The most recent Public Service Annual Report indicates that indigenous Aboriginals, P1s, who have the highest hiring priority represent only 31 percent of our Government of the Northwest Territories...

Thank you very much. Should this bill pass, what would be the benefits to our Territory as a whole? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister of Finance questions on my Member’s statement on our Member of Parliament’s private member’s bill, C-530. What is our government’s position on this current legislation that is before the House of Commons? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. This bill will also be long term. I would presume it would necessarily cancel out our previous agreement with the federal government of a borrowing limit. Thank you.

Thank you. I’d just like to ask the Minister maybe if he can explain that to the public that’s out there. What exactly composes our current debt limit? I think it was about almost $500 million right now. Thank you.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. On March 8th the House of Commons Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development will begin hearings into our Member of Parliament’s Bill C-530 which changes the way the Northwest Territories borrowing limit is determined.

As all Members of this House know, right now in order to increase a borrowing limit we have to lobby Ottawa for years, a process which is unacceptable for a mature jurisdiction and a government like ours. Under Mr. Bevington’s bill, this would change to a straightforward formula of 70 percent of all estimated revenues. This process...

Thank you very much. Also, just given the importance of the power outages for the residents of Jean Marie, I’d like to ask the Minister if he could come up with a plan and have his staff get over there and come up with at least an interim solution to all those power outages and monitor their generators. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation some questions with regard to Jean Marie River. The chief had called me today and they’re really having issues with a lot of power outages in that community with the generators. I’d just like to ask the Minister if he’s aware of it and what exactly is going on with these generators. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Does the Minister know if it’s still in the capital plan then, and if so, is it slated for replacement this year? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to speak about the Fort Simpson Army Cadet Corps and how proud I am of them.

Congratulations to the cadets and staff of the 2860 Royal Canadian Army Cadet Corps of Fort Simpson on their recent Interprovincial Cadet Exchange trip to Hamilton, Ontario. An Interprovincial Cadet Exchange is an activity in which one cadet corps visits another corp from another area of Canada. The aims of the exchange are to expose cadets to the multicultural composition of Canada and to promote active living. The exchanges are fully funded by the regional cadet support unit...