Kevin A. Menicoche

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Just with the grants and contributions for ground ambulance and highway rescue, the Village of Fort Simpson has been asking about this line item for some time now and of course the concern is that if there is an incident on the highway system, then the fire department has to leave the community with the only fire truck that is available, leaving the community at risk for a little while there. That’s a concern. I think the Minister is on the working group for the ground ambulance and highway rescue and did indicate it would be in the millions of dollars...

Thank you very much. On this page here, Mr. Chair, it talks about Extraordinary Funding Policy. Can the Minister provide me with examples with some of his emergency funding that he provided in 2010-11?

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I know that myself as MLA and Regular Members on this side want a strong North for all Northerners and I think one of the best ways we can do it is to try to be flexible, go to our Aboriginal organizations, provide some resources without actually having them sign on board, so that they can have an independent look at the AIP to address all of the concerns that they’ve been saying for the past month.

The Premier can correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought funding and resources available for discussions with devolution was tied to actually signing on board with the GNWT with regard to the agreement-in-principle.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will be speaking today on the devolution agreement-in-principle, specifically on the way in which it was signed by the Premier and the INAC Minister. I raised this at the start of this session.

Although the Premier points out that the AIP has been years in the making, from the perspective of the Dehcho leadership, the signing of the AIP was still done too quickly and without adequate consultation. The Dehcho and other Dene leaders feel it is the great big giveaway by the feds and a great big land grab by the GNWT.

Leaderships do not feel that their concerns were heard...

That is what I expected. It is a little bit more technical in nature and I will be glad to provide a written internal memorandum to the Ministers’ office. Thank you.

I’d like to thank Mr. Aumond for that response. I think if there’s a way to work with the Village of Fort Simpson and to work with MACA to go to the bank and say there’s a contribution here that won’t impact their budget too much, I’d certainly like to see that kind of dialogue and I’d certainly like to facilitate that kind of dialogue as well. I’ll take that into consideration. I do have a trip planned to Fort Simpson by the week’s end. I’ll certainly raise it with Mr. Mayor and his council and see if they’ve had any more thinking around this. The other fact is, is that opportunity still...

I see that the amount stays the same for 2011-12, which is good to see. Just in terms of the Extraordinary Funding Policy, what are some of the guidelines that surround that policy?

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I just wanted this opportunity to comment on a few of the initiatives and a few of the issues in my communities that were raised with me during the course of my community tours. I think the biggest one is that as I tour all the smaller communities, they continue to raise the issues with the New Deal and capacity. They still really do not find that there’s enough money there to run their communities. One of the communities, the cost of street lighting alone far exceeds what was budgeted by the New Deal formula system. I think it was, like, $10,000 or $12,000 a...

I think the Aboriginal groups are looking at what they want is the resources to have a real good look at the agreement-in-principle to see if it’s something that’s consistent with their priorities and principles, yet they have to sign on board to access those resources. Has the Premier given any thought of any other way of assisting our Aboriginal governments to review the agreement-in-principle other than by signing on board?