Michael Miltenberger

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to thank my colleague from Mackenzie Delta for seconding this motion. There is an interest on the part of the government to be able to support the motion and the intent of the motion recognizing the long history that the Member for Nahendeh has discussed by these amendments that don’t provide direction to government.

We believe, if it’s passed, then we’re in a position to have the whole entire Legislature aboard and vote in support of this motion.

Motion to amend Motion 4-16(2) carried.

Sorry. Minister of Health. We were engaged in an initiative called harmonization, which carried on until the 14th Assembly, with a certain number of fits and starts, and then further into the 15th, where it was put into place with the one-window approach.

Mr. Speaker, I’ve been an MLA now for over 12 years. Housing has always been the major issue in my community in terms of concerns. One of the reasons we moved to harmonization and the one-window approach was because of the extreme dissatisfaction with the then-current system or the system of the old days, when there were a number of doors to...

Mr. Speaker, I want to cite our rules, under 23(k), “uses abusive or insulting language of a nature likely to create a disorder” and (m), “introduces any matter in debate that offends the practices and precedents of this Assembly.”

Mr. Speaker, this is my first opportunity after the debate in the House yesterday to review Hansard, in specific, Mr. Hawkins’s Member’s statement and the subsequent question, the entire tone of which, I believe, contravenes those two clauses that I mentioned.

Specifically, on page 7 of unedited Hansard, Mr. Hawkins, in speaking about his concerns about the college...

Mr. Chairman, of all the projects there are a number that are essential, but the ability to have this lightning detection system that gives us early warning where there are forest fires allows us to mobilize sooner to better protect our communities and a lot of the assets that we have. These are a critical piece of infrastructure to be maintained, and I would ask the MLAs to consider that all of us, except my honourable colleague from Nunakput, live in the boreal forest and recognize the issue of forest fires. This is a very important piece, so I would ask that we consider that, because fire...

There is an existing system. The objective of this project is to maintain the current capacity of the G.N.W.T. Lightning Location System. To ensure its capacity, regular replacement of sensors and systems is required. For anybody who has been to the fire centre in Fort Smith, they have these sensors set up across the North that allow you to triangulate every lightning strike that hits the Territory to see where there is potential fire and determine how to respond. We provide information to ENR, to Power Corp, to Parks Canada, and in Alberta as well, where we have a Memorandum of Agreement...

I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, that Motion 4-16(2) be amended as follows: by deleting the words “international legal instrument” found in paragraph 6, immediately after the words “this declaration is now an,” and adding in their place the words, “aspirational document,” and further, that the last paragraph in the motion be deleted in its entirety.

I’d like to speak to the motion as well. I want to speak in support of some of the comments that Minister Lafferty made. We’ve now been in office about four and a half months, since mid-October. We’ve put a lot of time and effort into coming up with ways to deal with the one issue of assessments and timeliness. We believe we have, as we have indicated to committee, come up with a plan to do that. We’ve got a number of very specific ways we want to do that, tailor-made, hopefully, to the community on a community-by-community basis.

I also would like to point out that in terms of just the rental...

Mr. Chairman, the intent of this project or capital is to replace the boat that is currently 13 years old with a 50-horsepower outboard. The preferred craft for this low-draft and silty water is a jet boat. This will be a 20-foot jet boat that will allow us to increase our capacity and range of enforcement and have that added safety on the water. The other thing I’m informed is that any repairs, given the age, almost exceed the cost of the current asset, so it’s not worth fixing.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document, entitled Framework for Action 2005-2008: Status Report to November 30, 2007.

Document 22-16(2), Framework for Action 2005-2008: Status Report to November 30, 2007, tabled.

Mr. Chairman, I could provide some information, since I was involved in this going right back to 2000 or thereabouts. With the integrated service delivery model there is one territorial facility, which is Stanton. There is one regional hospital, which is Inuvik, and it services mainly the Mackenzie Delta area. They can do a more minor level of surgery and do C-sections and that type of surgery.

All the other health centres in the Northwest Territories are level C or less. Hay River and Fort Smith are what are considered level C facilities. We provide community care beds, where people are...