Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have quite a list of people to recognize in the gallery, so bear with me. First of all, I’d like to say congratulations to the Hall of Fame education recipients. From the Sahtu, Beverly Masuzumi. I’d like to congratulate her. She and I went to high school together and now she’s in the Hall of Fame and I’m in the hall of… Well, I can’t really say, Mr. Speaker.

---Laughter

And all the other deputies. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to recognize former Premier Handley, the Canol hiker who did the whole 222 miles on the Canol hike. I’d also like to recognize Rory Campbell, also a...

I welcome the assurance by the Minister of Finance, and certainly we have to work with the Minister of the Department of Transportation and I know that he’s pretty excited about seeing what’s happening in the Sahtu. We certainly want to support not only industry but support the communities along the Mackenzie Valley winter road. So I look forward to what the Minister, through this type of infrastructure or discussion, would say that the Sahtu will one day have a Department of Transportation office in the Sahtu where they can make some decisions in regard to this type of work. We’ve been too...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to ask the Minister in regard to the carry-overs and the incompletion of some of the bridges in the Sahtu. I want to ask the Minister whether there were sticker points that didn’t allow the department to say completion of this bridge or this bridge or this portion of the winter road. I’m speaking about some of the bridges, some pieces of road realignment that possibly we are looking forward to. What were some of those sticker points? Was it due to unforeseen circumstances or is it due to staff being overworked or are organizations not also being in line with plans...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to talk about the amount of activity that happened on the winter roads, and of course myself and the Minister have personally experienced that 701-kilometre road trip from Fort Good Hope to Fort Simpson. The Minister was appreciated by the Sahtu people.

I wanted to ask about the capital infrastructure on what he has on the books. It’s something that would help with our safety in the Sahtu region. Would the bridge – and the bridge specifically that the Minister and I talked about – the bridge between Fort Good Hope and Norman Wells… The Minister, in his papers...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over the last month I’ve been to the Aurora College grad ceremony in Fort Smith and I’ve been to the one here in Yellowknife, and my hat’s off to the graduates, the instructors and to the Aurora College institution for graduating a fine round of people who are going to make a difference in their lives in the Northwest Territories.

As I sat there in the graduation, I was just imagining what it would be like to have a graduation at that type of magnitude in the Sahtu region for our own people. This is what I want to talk about.

The Sahtu needs a training centre now because...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to deal with the deputy chair of Committee of the Whole motion I gave notice of earlier today.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Friday, May 31, 2013, I will move the following motion: Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that the honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Robert Bouchard, be appointed as a deputy chairperson of Committee of the Whole.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. How is his department working with the oil companies to identify and meet the training needs for local workers? I have been voicing with the oil companies. Unfortunately, I am not in the position to make that kind of final decision to say yes, we will commit. The Minister can do that. He’s in that position. So I want to ask the Minister for his direction and leadership. How can you tell me you’re working with the oil companies and they can commit to a Sahtu needs training centre?

Husky is building an all-weather road for $30 million/$45 million. The application for Conoco through the hydraulic fracking is going for a review, and if that application is approved, certainly you’re going to see an increase in employment activities in the Sahtu.

If that continues with the potential of billions of barrels of oil that needs to be extracted from the Sahtu lands, in light of this, can the Minister give me a commitment to say that yes, we will start working on a capital plan infrastructure so at the end of this Assembly we should be looking at the training needs assessment, the...

Can you imagine a community that is self-sustaining and self-determining in its own right? Anything is possible when we believe in our people.

Our people are ready. We need to be ready. There are some great opportunities in the North. We’ve got to get a trade centre in the Sahtu now because we support our vision, a vision of the territory where strong individuals, families and communities share the benefits and responsibilities of a unified, environmentally sustaining and prosperous territory. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.