Deh Cho

Statements in Debates

Debates of , (day 14)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I did hear the Member’s comments during Members' statements yesterday. I did take the opportunity to check the act. There are requirements that the Public Utilities Board has to follow. It is the responsibility of the Public Utilities Board to provide information to the general public. However, the utility company that also is requesting an increase has responsibilities, that is to inform the municipality, and those things have been done in this case. There have been issues raised by some of the Members regarding increase request and also the...

Debates of , (day 14)

Well, I’m hoping Ottawa listens to us. Ottawa, are you listening?

---Laughter

I’d like to see our government send them a real strong message because it’s the people of the Northwest Territories that elected this government and we should be looking out for their best interest instead of having our strings pulled from Ottawa. I do not like the fact that they do make a lot of the decisions for the Northwest Territories. I am not a puppet and I don’t think this government should be. So I think it’s time we took a strong stand and maybe told Ottawa that enough’s enough. We want what’s rightfully...

Debates of , (day 14)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to provide an update on the status of the $35 million community capacity building fund established by the Government of the Northwest Territories from funding made available by the Government of Canada under the Northern Strategy.

The community capacity building fund provides significant one-time funding to communities to allow them to advance their unique priorities. One of the key features of the fund is that all local governing bodies in a community must agree on priorities before a proposal can be submitted. Starting November 1, 2005...

Debates of , (day 14)

Our history has shown that court has resolved these issues for us. My position is that we look at redrafting the boundaries rather than adding new Members. I don’t know how stable that is going to be. I am sure it will be a challenge. I would also look at making a recommendation if you have to do this, that we certainly provide some kind of guidance, some kind of criteria for our commission members to look at. If the concern was the number of Members increasing, then we should look at giving them strict direction and criteria. So those are my comments. I would like to see it next time around...

Debates of , (day 14)

I really can't see adding two extra seats. You know we go around and we say, well, we're not going to give you any more money for your transition house, or we're cutting your money for this. Oh and by the way, we're adding two seats and $1 million. People don't like that. I mean we're constantly saying we're going to cut programs and cut your funding or make them wait for their funding, and to add two seats…Now, I respect the work that the commission had to do. In the case of the riding in Inuvik, I don't really think that they've done their homework. I don't agree with the lines that...

Debates of , (day 14)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm glad to have this opportunity to make some comments towards this bill. I look at the numbers on here and I see an overall population of 42,810. That's one riding for a lot of MLAs south. If you look at some of the numbers here, 2,800, 1,700, the numbers are low and for us to say that they're under-represented, if they're under-represented they're not getting adequate representation and we're not doing our job. That's the way I look at it.

I fully respect the people from the Monfwi's lobbying to get another seat, but I have to say that if the people from the...

Debates of , (day 13)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have already had some early discussion on this. We’ve had some face-to-face meetings with industry. We have had some discussions on some of the options with different stakeholders. So we have already embarked on looking at how we can deal with some of these initiatives. Of course, this coming winter is going to give us a better understanding of what we are really up against. Are there ways we can look at alternate routes? Are there ways we can consider some other options is something we will have to decide.

I want to point out though that we have already, along with...

Debates of , (day 13)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t have a firm number on what it would cost to build an all-weather road. We have been working with a joint venture company, stakeholders that utilize this winter road and had looked at a number of options including an all-weather road. I think there were 18 different scenarios that we were looking at as options. They narrowed it down to two or three. We haven’t scoped it all out. An engineering firm has been hired to do some of the early assessments. We certainly will work with them and support them, but I don’t have a firm number at this point. Thank you, Mr...

Debates of , (day 13)

Mr. Speaker, we certainly will involve our regional staff in our discussions with parks. We will also consult with them as to any prior discussion that may have been held and be able to relay that information to the Member. Thank you.

Debates of , (day 13)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the department does have a condition rating of all the highways in the Northwest Territories including Highway No. 5. In our rating, Highway No. 5 has come back as a highway that is safe and reliable. There are some areas that we have included for attention in terms of chipseal. There are two sections is particular that we are looking at. We will certainly take the recommendation from the honourable Member to speak to the parks people and see if we can look at some cost-sharing initiatives. Thank you.