Kevin A. Menicoche

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just one final, short question. Given the tragedy and the accident on Highway No. 1 last week, the Member for Deh Cho actually said it was a Health and Social Services van that went out there and took the injured person back to Fort Providence.

Does this kind of incident highlight the importance of a ground ambulance support system throughout the Northwest Territories with the Minister and this government? Thank you.

I know that in past Assemblies we were working on, I think it was the ambulance committee. Maybe the Minister can clarify exactly what committee that was. I thought we had some discussions about actually reactivating that committee. I think it was Health and Social Services, MACA and one other department. Anyway, can the Minister identify that committee again, and see if it will be activated for this Assembly, because we really have to address those gaps in our highway systems and saving people’s lives.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. It is my pleasure to recognize Ms. Stella Nadia, the deputy mayor of the Village of Fort Simpson, up in the gallery here today. I just want to say that she is a champion of the new pool in Fort Simpson as well as a tireless volunteer in Fort Simpson. Welcome and enjoy the proceedings this afternoon.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I would like to highlight some of the issues I have been challenged with, with regard to Education, Culture and Employment one more time, I guess.

One of the big issues this term, as MLA for Nahendeh, is to champion the small schools in our small communities, most particularly creating a new Trout Lake school. If anything, if the Minister could respond to general comments to what kind of plan he has moving forward, that would be great. I have the documentation for 2018, et cetera, but that’s not something that the leadership and myself want to hear. We’d really...

Of course one, of the ways that we could explore other ways of doing it is… Because I know that each community has a different rate for the fuel that’s delivered to the community, which is kind of like the experience we had with NWT Power Corporation where we had specific community-based rates.

Is there a way to spread this cost out over all the communities where we have economies of scale so that the delivery costs are spread out throughout the whole remote communities that we serve?

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. The committee wishes to consider Tabled Document 9-17(4), NWT Main Estimates, 2013-2014, and the continuation of Health and Social Services, and as well as Public Works and Services. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. The Minister mentioned that the smaller remote communities, too, even though they are much smaller, they do need assistance with the clients filling out the application, meeting the deadlines. I would like to ask the Minister if part of the strategy is to be aware of that. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, so the Minister was talking about the intake cycle. Is that complete now? Are they currently evaluating all of the clients to see if they can match them to the home ownership programs such as HELP and PATH right now? Thank you.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I just want to speak about the vacancy rates throughout the Northwest Territories and particularly my riding of Nahendeh. There is some recent documentation, I believe my colleague Mr. Bromley received, that shows that there's a 32 percent vacancy rate in our home ownership units throughout the Northwest Territories. That means that one out of every three homes that we’ve built remains empty. With respect to my constituency of Nahendeh, the vacancy rate is actually 25 percent, so one out of four homes that we built in Nahendeh remains empty to this day.

Especially with...

Thank you, Madam Chair. This motion is as a result of committee deliberations that we never felt the government really achieved the 3 percent expenditures for mental health and addictions prevention and promotion, and this is one aspect of it. As well, I am pleased to move this motion because during my recent constituency tour in January, many of the community wellness plans were being approved by the communities of Nahanni Butte, Trout Lake, Wrigley, Jean Marie and, for the most part, Fort Liard as well. What this spoke to me about was that they’re very pleased, they worked so hard and worked...