Kevin A. Menicoche

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommend the Government of the Northwest Territories conduct a review of its Web site policies and report back on whether the Web site policies comply with the Official Languages policies, guidelines and legislation.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommend that the Housing Corporation include a risk-management component and a strategic plan that identifies and analyzes the risk for the NWT Housing Corporation’s plan for specific actions with details addressing the identified risks, include measures to report on the success of the action plan, and evaluate how the risks are mitigated in a timely fashion.

The committee also recommends that a program evaluation of home ownership programs be carried out to verify how much existing programs can contribute toward the goal of self-reliance and...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I think the course of action here is that there were up to seven recommendations, and they will become committee motions. I will begin with the first one here, Mr. Chair.

I’d like to thank the Minister for a much better answer. The intent of question period is not to get the short answers. I didn’t like the tone of that. The intent is to inform me and the public and our communities that the government is here to provide services for our communities. Safety is one of them. Once again, I’d like to tell the Minister that my communities feel that not having these runway lights installed is a safety issue, and I’d like him to do something about it.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just want to follow up on my Member’s statement to the Minister of Transportation. Recently I was flying over the communities of Nahanni Butte and Jean Marie, and I noticed there were no runway lights there. I’d just like to ask the Minister: is purchasing of these lights or fixing them up being planned for this fiscal year?

I’d like to thank the Minister for the brevity of that answer and his efficiency there. I thought in the budget cycle previous to this there was a line item specifically referring to repairs to runway lights in Jean Marie and even in Nahanni Butte, I believe. I’d like to ask the Minister if there are plans this coming year to at least assess them and evaluate the repairs to those lights.

[English translation not provided].

Mr. Speaker, because of the long distances between our communities in the NWT, air travel has become an essential service for our residents. Most community airports across the NWT are equipped with basic infrastructure, such as adequate runways, navigational aids and runway lighting. This ensures that communities can be safely accessed by air 24 hours a day.

Unfortunately, that is not the case for two communities in my riding. The airports in the communities of Jean Marie River and Nahanni Butte do not have runway lights. The lack of runway lights makes it...

Mr. Speaker, our Health and Social Services authorities have been getting heightened profile and press coverage because of cost overruns, and I, too, am concerned. Firstly though, I want to commend all our hard-working staff — the doctors, the nurses and the many health professionals who serve us in our communities throughout the North. I also wish to extend my appreciation to the Deh Cho Health and Social Services Authority in my riding for their due diligence and hard work.

I do also recognize that differences exist and that each authority may have other unique challenges. I’m not intending...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Stephen King began one of his books by saying, “He wasn’t a good boy, but he wasn’t a bad boy either.” So what we have is…. That’s how I’d like to talk about the budget: it’s not a bad budget, but it’s not a good budget either.

It took a lot of hard work to get to where we are today. It took the power of the 11. It had a big impact, working with Cabinet, because when we first started the process so many months ago, we had our input, and for whatever reason it didn’t seem like we had our footprint. I mentioned it several times that it didn’t have the impact that our...

Once again, the bypass road has got to be part of the reconstruction plans. I would like to know when they will be building and constructing the bypass road. Failing that, Mr. Speaker, can we get a bridge?