Michael McLeod

Mr. Speaker, we do a lot of work in the area of volunteering and volunteerism. Historically, we have worked very closely with Volunteer NWT. The decision of the federal government to pull the financing has made it very difficult for that organization. They are looking at ways to acquire some support and have had contact with us.

We have had a lot of discussion around that issue, looking at ways to maybe find outside sources or within our own government to help them. But we do, as the Member indicated, provide the volunteer awards program. We also provide through our department the Fire Service...

Mr. Speaker, I’m pleased to announce that nominations are being sought for the 2008 N.W.T. Outstanding Volunteer Awards. This program was developed in 1991 as a way to celebrate outstanding volunteers in the Northwest Territories and to highlight the importance of volunteers to Northwest Territories residents.

The Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, in partnership with Volunteer NWT, is pleased to support this important initiative and jointly invite all residents to nominate that special volunteer in their community.

Volunteers are the key building blocks of healthy communities and...

Mr. Speaker, the question, of course, is hypothetical. The Member is asking me for information that may influence the outcome of our negotiations, and I can’t respond to that.

Mr. Speaker, the only person pretending here is the Member. He’s pretending not to hear my answers.

Laughter.

Mr. Speaker, any time we work with a company or a company has been involved with some of the earlier stages, whether it’s a feasibility study or other studies, we ensure that the information that goes out is equal to all parties involved.

In this case, and in most cases, we will enlist the help of a fairness commissioner or somebody of equal stature. We also set up committees or independent bodies or hire independent evaluators to work with us. That usually gives comfort to everybody that this is a fair process.

Once again, I can certainly relate to the Member’s messages and some of his recommendations. We have had all the communities make those points and reaffirm those points on a number of occasions. We’ll do what we can. We are quite concerned about where we are with replacing water plants. This is a possible remedy to that, though. We’ll follow it up.

The policy that we follow and abide by is the Business Incentive Policy. In this case it was applied.

Mr. Speaker, we have been consulting with everybody involved. For a number of years now, the concept of vulnerable water, vulnerable projects and one contract was something we wanted to do. We’ve spoken with the Association of Communities; we’ve spoken with the local government administrators of the Northwest Territories; we’ve spoken with every community that’s involved in this proposal. We will continue to do so.

I by no means want to have the Members expect that I would speak to one before the other. If there is going to be a briefing on what has transpired here, I’ll offer it to all the...

I don’t think it’s fair for the Member to state that the stomach cancer is a direct result of our water. Our water’s been tested. The H. pylori virus is of concern, of course, but the treatment through the current facility deals with that. The medical officer has indicated that it’s not related to the water or the water plants.

Mr. Speaker, we do take water and water quality very seriously, and it’s a high priority. We’re doing everything we can to move that forward as fast as we can.

Mr. Speaker, the Member is asking as to the contract details, and I can’t provide that at this time.