Kevin A. Menicoche

The Minister is going to have to explain how her commitment translates into real resources for those communities. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Just a follow-up on my honourable colleague’s intensity with regard to his debate with Cabinet. He’s entirely right; our jobs as MLAs is to urge, influence and persuade government, and to that end we have many tools at our disposal. But the main thing that we do is to pursue the goals and interests of our constituents and communities. Just getting back to my Member’s statement, the goal of Wrigley and of mine is to see a resident nurse in Wrigley in the long term. However, I can see my way to relax this demand if at the minimum we enhance current services and...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I do have one more solution for the Minister. By having a dedicated nurse for Wrigley does improve the services for the rest of the communities in Nahendeh. Will the Minister work towards that and do that for our residents?

I’m glad to see there’s a bit of a plan in that strategy. However, as I indicated in my Member’s statement, when I first became MLA, to return nursing services to Wrigley was policing. Policing was the answer to returning nursing. That’s accomplished, Mr. Speaker. We’ve got dedicated RCMP; we’re looking forward to establishing a detachment by 2011. Yet I stand up here today and I still have no certainty on returning a nursing position to Wrigley. Can the Minister tell me why did we go through six years of establishing policing when, in fact, they will not follow up on the original commitment...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. You may have heard a report on the radio this morning about how there will be no nurse in the community of Wrigley this year. I had spoken earlier saying that there would be a return of the service to Wrigley and it gave me no pleasure to correct this publicly.

The road to returning nursing service to Wrigley is a challenging one. When I was first elected I was told that there would be no nurse for Wrigley until there is policing. So I worked hard in the last term to ensure the return of policing to Wrigley. The Minister of Justice then, Cabinet, and our...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just for clarification, did the Minister say there was going to be a dedicated position for Wrigley in Fort Simpson? Can she answer that? As well, again, I would like to get a commitment that services, nursing services will be enhanced at least in 2010 as we work towards this dedicated position? Thank you.

I am glad that something like this can be worked in the terms of reference for demolition of Deh Cho Hall. I’m glad that the department has not made a decision that no material can be salvaged. So once again, perhaps I’ll just ask the Minister what is the timeline for developing the terms of reference for demolition of the Deh Cho Hall.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to speak about the demolition of the Deh Cho Hall in Fort Simpson. This is slated to be done in the summer and completed by the fall time. I have been advised that nothing can be salvaged from the building for community use. Residents of Fort Simpson find that very hard to believe. Why would our government not allow residents and/or organizations an opportunity to use salvageable material for the benefit of residents or their organizations?

Mr. Speaker, I am in favour of coming to some kind of solution that will benefit the community. We have...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Just an opportunity to comment on the Department of Justice and most particularly policing. Not so much in this fiscal year’s budget, but in last year’s budget, in terms of community policing for smaller communities, I am very pleased that the House supported two positions for the community of Fort Simpson dedicated towards a long-term goal of establishing a detachment in the community of Wrigley. The increased patrols are welcome for the community. However, they are still supportive of a full-time detachment.

In the course of the discussion with the RCMP, there...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In my opening comments I indicated the frustration of the people in my constituency about the increasing costs and they actually asked the question, why are we paying over here in Nahendeh when we will hardly be using the bridge. They actually brought up the fact that many other large infrastructure projects in other jurisdictions it is a full toll system for everybody, and one of the fellows brought up the Coquilhalla Highway and it actually pays for itself.

In this case, we are talking about a toll for only 18-wheel trucks or a certain amount of axels, but in other...