Michael McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, during our tour this summer with the communities in Nahendeh, we had discussed this issue. We had committed that we would work with them to see what is available. The issue of a gymnasium and a standard across the board, I am not sure how many other communities don’t have gymnasiums. In some communities, it is attached to the school. In this case, there is no intention for a facility to be attached to the school. There are only 25 students in the school. We would like to sit down and talk to the community about a multi-purpose hall as soon as we get...

Mr. Speaker, October 4th to 10th was National Fire Prevention Week, so this is a fitting time to announce the recipients of this year's Northwest Territories Fire Service Merit Awards program.

In 2002, our government established the Fire Service Merit Awards, a new program to recognize the contribution of individual firefighters and fire departments in the Northwest Territories.

This year, the department once again sought nominations to recognize the special contribution of individual firefighters. Individual nominations are assessed by a panel of local and territorial fire service officials...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is quite right. There has been a fairly short notice in terms of the airport development that is currently taking place. Our intention was to have a full study completed, an airport development package ready for presentation for down the road, several years before we had any improvements made to the airport facility here in Yellowknife. However, because of the 9-11 incident, many measures were brought forward including baggage handling and security in that area, which has forced us to accelerate the development of the facility in terms of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our airport development plan is in the completion stage. We are right now doing some reviews on the whole package. We will have that available for the Members. We have offered it to the members of the GED committee as soon as it is ready. We will provide that in writing. We can have that discussion at that time with that presentation and also with other issues that the Members have agreed to.

Mr. Speaker, we would be happy to work with the people that have to renew their licences. We have to recognize we only have so much we can do in terms of accepting and moving people forward. There has to be some responsibility taken by the people who have a driver's licence and the people that have to renew them. So there is a very clear process on how and when you should renew your licence and people have to take responsibility. However, we can try to accommodate as we usually do with people that have to go through the process. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the improvements were made as a result of the CATSA security requirements. It has gone to Cabinet. It is in the supp and there will be opportunities to discuss that at that time. Thank you. It is coming.

Mr. Speaker, I’m not making any commitment for special accommodations here. We have a process and if we can in any way be more accommodating with those recommendations by the Member, we would certainly be willing to make that, but we are not looking at incorporating anything special for people that forgot to renew their licence at this point. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, last session Mr. Hawkins raised concern around the security of the driver's licence and I’m happy to say that in the last while, we’ve had a lot of discussion with the national organizations regarding the security of drivers’ licences and how we can move forward with incorporating a licence that would be used across different jurisdictions. We are anticipating doing that over this coming year. At that time, we certainly looked at a number of different things: the cost it would take to incorporate this into our system, the equipment that we’d need here...

Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I rise in the House today to inform Members that June 3-12, 2004, is National Transportation Week in Canada. The first week of June is designated annually as a time to recognize and celebrate the contributions that one million Canadians make to a transportation system that is recognized as one of the best and most competitive in the world.

The theme for this year's observance is "Transportation Innovation and Accessibility." It is a fitting focus for an industry where innovation has always been its hallmark. Canada has been at the forefront with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our affordable housing program receives $7.5 million, 1.1 percent of the government’s budget of $320 million, which was announced some time ago. This program was started in 2002-2003, and our investment under this program is geared towards the independent housing program, or the IHP, and also our public housing units. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.