Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, first I’d like to acknowledge the key role the Member for Nunakput played in helping orchestrate this meeting where we had an opportunity, myself and Minister Bell as the Minister of Justice, to sit down with the people that my colleague mentioned to talk about the Species at Risk Act and the Wildlife Act.

I followed up on that meeting with a letter on May 18th to all of the involved parties. In that letter, I committed to three things. We committed to setting up a meeting in June, hopefully early June, but it looks like we might slip it into later June...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, if the test results come back negative and everything is okay, then we have to go through the process to regain the disease-free status from Agriculture Canada, which is an important first step. If we’re going to move the herd, there are other issues we have to look at as the Member has indicated: the possibility of relocating on a temporary basis some animals to the University of Saskatchewan; the potential of entering into discussions with people from Providence about the Mackenzie sanctuary herd and possibly increasing their genetic diversity in...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, for that question, you’d have to talk to the airlines, I can assure you.

---Applause

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, there has been some preliminary work done on that request but, as the Member knows, the herd is currently under quarantine and we’re waiting for some secondary test results to come back so that we can determine the future of the herd more definitively. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, this is a very thinly veiled discussion of a very personal issue involving a specific individual that the Member has done everything but name, and it’s not appropriate for me to comment in this House. I would be more than happy to talk to her about what is transpiring in this particular situation, but it is not appropriate to discuss it in this House. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, we always put people first, and this program delivered by Bosco Homes is going to be relocated to Hay River to provide the same service. We will have the same expertise that we currently have with Bosco Homes, the folks they can tie into with their broad network outside of the Northwest Territories. So there is no diminishment, in my opinion, in the program quality. We would definitely not jeopardize any northerner, any child, in care for any reason. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I will go back and talk to the department to make sure they’ve taken every reasonable step, and then some, to talk to all the communities about putting in a proposal to access the resources to get a recycling plant going in the communities and look at what other options there are. If it’s not a full-blown recycling operation, maybe there is a first step required. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, dialysis is a requirement when you have been diagnosed with that need and it tends to be there for the rest of your life unless you get a kidney transplant. That’s somewhat different than the assessment and treatment services that TTC provides or Bosco provides through TTC, which are assessment and up to two years of possible treatment in a residential setting.

Madam Speaker, you can also look at the numbers in the North in a number of ways. Between 30 to 40 percent or 60 to 70 percent of those accessing the program were from communities outside of...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, we have a recycling initiative that’s going to be taking effect November 1st. I share the Member’s concern that littering in our communities is probably one of the most unsightly and stoppable issues that are before us and it’s a personal choice and an education issue. It’s an issue that plagues every community I’ve been in, my own included, where no matter how often cleanup is done, the next day there are bottles and cans and plastic bags and wrappers. It’s something that communities have responsibility for and that every person has a responsibility...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, they know what is happening. Unfortunately I don't have the current briefing note in my book, so I am unable to provide the level of detail that the Member would like. I have the staff looking for the most current information that I received from Stanton and will be happy to share that with the Member when I get it. Thank you.