Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to speak to you about the school playground in Fort Simpson. This fall, at the start of the school year, many parents and children at Bompas Elementary and Thomas Simpson School in Fort Simpson were concerned about the state of the schools’ playground. It seems that, especially over the summer months, the playground was used by drinkers, marked up by graffiti artists, and generally vandalized. There were broken liquor bottles on the ground and rude pictures marked on the buildings and equipment. There was litter and garbage everywhere.

Some...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to give my condolences to our cousins, family and friends who lost their loved ones in the Nahendeh riding over the summer and fall. In great sadness I want to say that it was a particularly difficult one for the communities as we lost a total of 11 this summer. I would like to note that nine were elders.

Most recently, Ms. Corinne Modeste from Fort Simpson passed away last week at the age of 81.

Bella Norwegian of Jean Marie River died on September 22nd at the age of 94. Ms. Norwegian had been a midwife and healer for many years. She was...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It takes a whole effort of the Assembly to work towards our capital budget. I am very pleased that we are able to get through it earlier, just because of timing in some of the communities that don’t have roads and have only access by winter roads. If you get the materials and supplies in at an earlier time, I am going to be pleased with that aspect of our capital estimates. As MLAs, we work hard in lobbying the Ministers, lobbying the government in writing or raising issues in the House and trying to get our fair share of resources for our constituency. I can say that...

Mr. Speaker, I, too, look for some success in this intake period during the fall time. However, those constituents that do have arrears, Mr. Speaker, still speak to me about their disputing how those arrears occurred, how they happened. Some of them are very old. I have raised continuously with the Minister and in this House about it and an appeal mechanism within the Housing Corporation. When is the Minister going to enact such a committee? Or, actually, it should be an independent committee, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. This question is for the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation. He actually preceded my Member’s statement which I had scheduled for next week on vacant housing. Nevertheless, it’s a serious concern in my riding and we’d still like to address it.

The Minister does say that the intake period ends today and I hope that many of my constituents did file applications and make the effort to get in. I’d just like to know, will the Minister be able to compile intake numbers and provide those numbers to myself?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the case of a community, if there are no eligible clients for a particular unit, what is the Minister’s plan to allocate for that particular unit in the community? Thank you.

During my constituency tour this fall many of my constituents continued to tell me that because they’re being in arrears, that they’re not eligible and they actually didn’t want to apply again this year. What kind of flexibility in terms of eligibility does the NWT Housing Corporation have when they are viewing a client’s application if they have some arrears or big arrears? How do they manage those?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Residents of Fort Liard often travel to Fort Nelson, like how Fort Simpson travels to Hay River for their shopping. Is there any way that the Minister can dedicate some resources to fixing the kilometre zero to kilometre 38, which is to Fort Liard, to a reasonable standard for next year? Up to and including chipseal.

Thank you very much. The Minister did raise something and I would like to thank him, yes, for being responsive and coming to Fort Liard immediately after I had a constituency meeting, to hear those concerns from residents. Can the Minister explain how will he ensure that the repairs to the highway are undertaken and completed so that next summer the highway is not labelled as “War Zone Road,” Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. You’ve recognized Mr. Sam Gargan as previous MLA, and I would like to recognize him as well, our grand chief of the Dehcho First Nations. Welcome to the Assembly, Sam.