Michael McLeod

Mr. Speaker, that is a hypothetical situation and question, and a loaded one at that. Mr. Speaker, we’ve indicated to the host society that we’re dealing with the issue right now. Hopefully we’ll have an answer as soon as possible; early in December. They’ve conveyed that they need an answer and we hope that the results of our discussions is not going to result in them cutting back programs. But at this point I can’t confirm that we will be providing the money; we’re having those discussions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the host society for the Arctic Winter Games has been doing a very good job and they’ve done a good job in raising a lot of the funding that’s been required. A request has come forward, as the Member has indicated, in the latter part of the summer. We are now bringing it forward to my Cabinet colleagues for discussion and we will be reporting back to the host society sometime in early December. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to provide Members of the Legislative Assembly with information on a new youth program in the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs.

In August 2007, the Youth Centres Initiative was created to provide financial support to assist with operating costs of youth centres and community-based facilities offering positive youth programs in the Northwest Territories. This program was made possible by $250,000 in new funding that was included in the department’s budget through the last supplementary appropriation.

Through this initiative, the department will...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have committed at the stakeholder committee that we will work with them. We have not committed to supply any dollars. We are certainly willing to undertake some of the research. We will be willing to supply some of our staff to make some time to it. Until we know what the options are, it is very difficult to be able to agree at this point, as the Member is asking, to invest and pay for some of this service. Four hundred thousand dollars that the city has identified came out of the community capacity fund. We would like to be able to expand on what...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a number of things we would have to look at in order to start putting the plan on how to deliver 911 services to the Northwest Territories and also to even deliver it to one of the communities is probably closer to being ready than the rest, and that is the city of Yellowknife. Of course, that is looking at the technical challenges that are in front of us. NorthwesTel has been communicating with us. We can’t identify a system right now to support delivery to all of the communities. There are also a number of logistical challenges that we need to identify...

Thank you. I would beg to differ that that stuff is not being done. I would also commit to having our staff going and looking at what the minor repairs that may be being neglected, as the Member has indicated. If there is anything that is minor repair that we can do through Public Works, we will do it. However, the major retrofit has to go through the capital plan and that’s what this facility needs, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we did do a technical review and identified a number of areas that there are deficiencies on this infrastructure piece in Hay River. We’ve scoped out the project; we’ve put a price tag in 2006 dollars at $22.5 million. That information has been passed on to the Department of Education. This is a fairly old building. It was built in 1972. There has been a number of renovations since then. The latest one was in 1995 where we replaced the roof and did some work in the student service area and home economics room and resource centre. So we’re doing ongoing...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Obviously, this is a priority for the Member and I think we’ve heard the same radio, CBC Radio report and we can probably contact those people that spoke. Our office has not had any complaints along full disclosure. I’d certainly be willing to sit down and have more discussion with the Member. We need to hear from the Members of this House where the priorities are in terms of investment. This is going to require new legislation, new investment, new resources, and an ability to police it. So we need to have that all packaged so that the Members could understand it and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not sure if I was part of the Ministerial denial program that existed. I must have been bypassed by that. Mr. Speaker, there’s a number of areas that need to be improved in the area of consumer protection and we are looking at how we can provide better services, improve our services and improve our resources. The Real Estate Agents Licensing Act does have a statutory provision for disclosure that only applies to the salespeople and the agents. It doesn’t trickle down to the private sales. We need to improve in that area. We have to look at how we can do that. It’s...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’ve had that discussion with the host society. We have indicated to them that we will respond early in December and we’re having those discussions ongoing right now as we speak, Mr. Speaker.