Michael McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Of course, we will agree particularly with the Member’s comments. I will forward them on to the committee for consideration. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, tires have been raised as one of the considerations that we have to look at. We are also working with communities to look at mobile equipment. We recently had a number of workshops and had some companies from Alberta come and talk about being able to recycle some of the scrap metals. As part of those discussions, several communities got together and are exploring the different ways they can deal with the bulkier products in their landfill, such as tires and mobile tire shredding is something we are considering. We are also going to be working with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, within the next few weeks we’ll have high school students graduating from Grade 12. The past couple weeks we’ve had Aurora College convocations, and we’ve got some students graduating from southern institutions. First, I want to congratulate all these grads and wish them nothing but the best in their future goals.

We continue, Mr. Speaker, to have one of the best systems for post-secondary education in the country, but there still needs to be some work done on the Student Financial Assistance Program. Imagine how many more students, Mr. Speaker, we may be...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The New Deal initiative has been undertaken and it’s all been handled with funding from within up until now. We have never requested any additional resources to implement this whole initiative. Things have been going very well. However, it’s taken up the dedication from a lot of our staff people. There are a number of projects that have been deferred and delayed because of that. The trans fund didn’t move forward as fast as we would like it to happen because we needed the resources to work on a New Deal. That’s the same with the discussion paper on the Planning Act...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to advise my colleagues that on May 15th, the Minister of Health and Social Service and the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment will join me in the Great Hall of the Legislative Assembly to launch the 2007 Get Active NWT summer campaign.

The 2007 Get Active event is a friendly challenge to residents of the Northwest Territories to register the time they spend being physically active for a chance to win a $5,000 grant to support their community recreation program, a $500 grant for the most active groups and airline tickets to Edmonton.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to close with the fact that none of us on this side of House is questioning the importance of all the work that these folks out there do. None of us would ever do that. In my particular case, I try to make sure as much funds as possible reach the people on the front line because they are the ones that are providing the service. I have had the opportunity to deal with a few of them. I know some of the stresses that they are under. A lot of it is financially related. So that is the point in my asking the questions on these particular issues, Madam Chair...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have done some researching, too. Students say it does cost less to go to school south than it does in Inuvik. That is all the research you need, is what they tell us and that is what we should be listening to. The $1,925 per semester, is that figure also going to be adjusted when they redo their rates? The cost of tuition in some of the institutions is going up but I don’t know if our rates have increased at all, so I would like to ask the Minister if that cost will be increasing also. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a single student going to school gets $700. If you go to school in Lethbridge, you get $700. If you go to school in Inuvik, you get $700. The cost of living, Mr. Speaker, between Lethbridge and Inuvik, I am sure is just a little bit different, slightly different. You would need at least $1,260 to offset the difference in the cost. And heaven forbid if you are a young mother from one of the communities with two kids, goes into Inuvik, wants to take nursing access so you can make a better life. Heaven forbid. It is difficult on these people that try...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t know what I have to do to impress the Member.

---Laughter

Mr. Speaker, if the Member’s referring to the city of Yellowknife moving forward, that’s something that’s their decision. We certainly can work with them to implement such a service and try to locate some resources to help them along. However, at the cost factor or the estimates that are provided to us, it’s not something we can resource at this point. Communications is something we’d like to have more discussion on with other departments, Public Works and Services, regarding which step do you take first....

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories, through MACA and Public Works and Services, along with the RCMP and the city have looked at the issue. The biggest barrier for going forward right now is the lack of communication infrastructure in our communities. I guess following that, the big barrier is the cost of implementing such a service. We are looking at roughly $26 million or more to have it within the Northwest Territories and to have the service in all the communities. That is something that we are facing, are the resources required to...