Michael McLeod

Mr. Speaker, we will commit the money that would go to Yellowknife once we have that defined. We have yet to go and have the discussion with the NWT Association of Communities. We will look at the criteria that is required across the Territories. This is not Yellowknife money, as the Member has referenced these dollars for. There are a number of criteria possible. There is community vans, handy vans, bike lanes, intelligent transportation systems. There are a number of things that could qualify. That is something that is available to us to negotiate. There have been special provisions...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The discussion for the public transit funding came about in November of 2005. As Members will recall, the election was called shortly after that. There was no further discussion on this initiative. There was no negotiations, and negotiations only picked up as recently as March and we’ve had some initial discussions. What is holding us up from signing a deal is lack of an agreement at this point and the discussion over the allocation of the money. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, we did some additional studies over this past fiscal year. We have done an analysis in each community. We have also looked, as part of this analysis, to see what would be the best method of applying dust suppressant, whether it is chipsealing, calcium or others. I would not be able to speak specifically regarding what would be the best mode of applying dust suppressant in Good Hope, but I would say that, with all the new dollars that are available with what is currently in the community government’s budget, I would be very comfortable in saying, yes, there are adequate...

Mr. Speaker, yes, they are.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, travelling down the Mackenzie Valley in some of the communities, a wise man once told me that our common goal should be greater than our common enemy. With that being said, I would like to ask the Premier, is part of the delay the inability of the leadership of the Northwest Territories to get at the table and be on the same page? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess first thing we have to get clear is the NWT is made up of 33 communities and this initiative is geared towards the Northwest Territories. We will define what the criteria is through negotiations, through discussions with the NWT Association of Communities. If that does mean bike lanes and we would like to create bike lanes, then that’s what we will do. We have to have that discussion. We have not had the discussion with the NWT Association of Communities and set up a working group and have this talk to further define what will be allowed. We need to have the...

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the offer of the Member to straighten me out, but first he has to get his facts straight. Mr. Speaker, the definition of the public transit funding and what projects and programs can qualify under there has not been defined. There is a general terminology that has been used that allows a number of initiatives to qualify, but rapid transit, buses, intelligent transportation systems, bike lanes, these things are all general terms being used. However, in jurisdictions such as the Northwest Territories there is, in the agreement, the provision for greater flexibility....

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, June 5th is a significant day for the Inuvialuit. It was June 5, 1984, when they signed their land claims agreement and many Inuvialuit in the Inuvialuit settlement region are getting together today, enjoying a day off, but there’s three of us still working.

---Laughter

Since that day, Mr. Speaker, the Inuvialuit built their capacity and invested wisely, and many Inuvialuit have and will benefit from the investments that come from dividends they invest into the education and assisting harvesters and so on. Many Inuvialuit still continue to practice a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is a lot of new money that is flowing into the communities. Up to now the money that was earmarked for dust control was part of the formula that was calculated for community governments. The community had to set dust control as a priority. Since we have new funding this coming fiscal year, we have the community capacity fund that can be used for dust control, the gas tax, the definition in the agreement allows for greater flexibility, there’s allowance for this money to be used for chipseal or dust control. So there’s a lot of different things. There’s also the...

Mr. Speaker, the plans haven’t changed from last year, so I will repeat the answer I gave last year. Mr. Speaker, we had done design and drainage studies. We have embarked on doing the changing of the culverts and also providing the solid base for the community. I believe that is going to be upgraded and some of the areas that were not completed during that year will be finished off this year. We intend to move forward with the Chipsealing Program, providing the budgets are still sufficient to do all the communities that we had intended to do. Thank you.