Michael McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There’s a number of representatives that come to the table to discuss this plan and that includes the governments that the Member has mentioned: the Lutselk’e council and the Akaitcho territory and Deninu Kue First Nations. There’s other jurisdictions in Saskatchewan and there’s also the NWT Metis that have indicated they want to speak to this issue. So there are a number of things that we’re looking at so that before we can vote on it, we need to make sure we have all the information. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Thelon Management Plan is something that has been supported by this government. There’s been a lot of work that’s been done, as the Member has indicated. There’s been consultations with many parties, many governments that are impacted by this plan and that support it or, in some cases, there’s governments that are requesting to have a seat at the table for discussion. Some requests have come forward recently that we’re considering and we’re having those discussions and we’ll decide how to move forward following that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, during the winter session of the 15th Legislative Assembly this year, the issue of water took a very prominent role and some direction was provided to play a more prominent role in the whole area of water issues and transboundary issues. Up to now, we have had half a PY, half a policy analyst position that was assuming all the water management activities. The issue of water has certainly been cranked up the last while and there is a need now to work with other Government of the Northwest Territories departments to deal with the drinking water strategy and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again I’d like to say we have to listen to the people that live it front line and deal with it, and those are the people we should be listening to. The Gwich’in and the Nihtat Gwich’in have been putting together a camp to identify and deal with the problem. I’d like to ask the Minister, what would they have to do to secure some program dollars from the government? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I notice under the Health Services Program, Dialysis Program in the Stanton Territorial Hospital for $96,000. Are there any plans to bring the Dialysis Program up to the Beaufort-Delta? We don’t have it right now. My understanding is that we may need it soon. Are there any plans to start investing some money into the Dialysis Program for the Beaufort-Delta?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask my questions to the Minister of Health and Social Services. I spoke a couple times talking about investing in people. Investing in people could also mean investing into a proper treatment centre with some good aftercare programs. I’d like to ask the Minister if he’s aware of any long-term plans to establish treatment centres in some of the regions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The intention of this program is to support the community operated youth centres. This pot of money would be targeted towards those youth centres on an application basis. With the maximum being $30,000, any one community could apply for it and only one organization within that community. Right now, we are anticipating there are probably around nine youth centres that would be applying. If we have an intake of more than nine, then we would have to decrease the cap of $30,000. That is what we are intending to do. It is really intended to supplement some of the...

It is a camp, Mr. Speaker, that has a tremendous amount of potential for the people wanting to deal with their alcohol addiction and deal with it close to home. There are some people without that support group that may find it easier to go south, but there are also a lot of people that want that support group with them. I commend the Nihtat and the Gwich’in Tribal Council for seeing that there is a problem and not just talking about it. We talk all we want. They see a problem there and they want to do something about it. Mr. Speaker, alcohol is a killer. Today, it is no accident that I...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I spoke to this yesterday and I wanted to say a few more comments, make a few more comments. This is a continuation of positions that were allocated a couple of years ago on term, four positions, that have sunsetted now. The idea was to have some bodies in the communities that were impacted by, first of all, the pipeline project and other resource development that is going on. A lot of work has been done. Yesterday, there were comments a made that MACA should have all the baseline information that the communities have in terms of infrastructure and capacity. That...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I moved that $291,000 be deleted from the activity regional operations under the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs operations expenditures, not previously authorized, on page 11, for the provision of funding for two regional resource development impact advisor positions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.