Michael Miltenberger

As we continue to evolve as a government on the program delivery side and mature as a jurisdiction, clearly, standards become more and more pressing in a number of program areas, including the ones mentioned by the Member. That will be pursued as you move forward. There’s a new strategic plan coming out of Health and Social Services, and as the 17th Assembly is set up, elected, and picks their government, those items I’m sure will be on their list of to do things. Thanks.

I was under the assumption you never asked a question you didn’t know the answer to. I’m trying to fill the Member in on issues that I know she’s asked questions about, she’s very conversant on.

In regard to the idea of a secretariat and the issue of homelessness, that will be, I believe, contained in the broader transition document within the seven days left that we have as sitting days and to the 4th when we are dissolved. There are no plans to move on any kind of setting up of any kind of secretariat. Thank you.

Yes, we will be leaving the detailed fiscal update. We’ll be leaving details in all the program areas. We have to keep in mind, as well, as we look around the world, that we’re now once again into very shaky, uncertain economic times with growth projections in some cases on the negative side. There’s still trouble in the United States. There’s trouble in Europe. We are not immune to those, so as we look at our own business, we have things we can look at. Some of the things we have to keep a very close eye on, of course, is the revenue side, where we have lots of multi-nationals that do...

Thank you. Because at this point they are the landlords, it’s Crown land. Should the day come with devolution, that site and its remediation would be dealt with through the devolution process, but at this point they are the landowner and responsible. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the goals of this Assembly is healthy, educated people. Preventing rather than treating illness and disease is the real key to achieving that goal. Encouraging our residents to make healthy choices is one of the most important things the Government of the Northwest Territories can do to help.

Through the Healthy Choices Framework, several GNWT departments have been successfully working together to make it easier for our residents to make better choices in their daily lives. Healthy Choices is our approach to encouraging and supporting NWT residents to make healthy...

I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Monfwi, that Bill 20, Vital Statistics Act, be read for the second time.

Mr. Speaker, this bill replaces the existing Vital Statistics Act that provides a comprehensive framework for the registration of birth, adoptions, stillbirth, marriages and deaths in the Northwest Territories.

Transitional matters are provided for, and the Children’s Law Act and the Marriage Act are consequentially amended. Thank you.

Thank you. We played a major role as a government back when the town was in existence. As they dismantled the town and shut down the mine site and people were relocated or left, we played a role in that capacity. The actual clean-up of the site, with the huge pits and the tailings ponds and all the other attendant problems were the responsibility of the federal government. We had a role where we made sure and encouraged them to complete it and conclude it. I flew over there a few years ago and it is still a very visible work in progress, with the pits wide open and work still being done in the...

The federal government, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. In the agreement-in-principle for devolution there’s a specific clause in part of the agreement that deals with the whole area of contaminated sites, ones that are currently in existence, ones that may come into existence. There’s been significant work on inventory. There’s hundreds and hundreds of contaminated sites that have to be cleaned up. Many, or most, are on Crown land, some on territorial land, which we are responsible for. Pine Point is on that list, and once again, it’s a list that far exceeds the resources available to remediate all of the sites. So it will be on the...

Thank you. My list tells me there was seven that have been hired for this year, keeping in mind that every authority and the department, every department of government has been asked to manage their dollars in the most efficient way possible and it reflects some of those pressures, but seven is on the list I have here. Thank you.