Norman Yakeleya

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 Yellowknife Centre, that the Legislative Assembly calls on the Auditor General of Canada to undertake a comprehensive performance audit of the Nutrition North Canada Program, and to report his office’s findings and recommendations to the Parliament of Canada and the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, my written questions are directed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Would the Minister provide the Sahtu Regional Training Partnership five-year plan and the milestones that have been accomplished to date?

Would the Minister provide details on how the senior officials from the departments of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Environment and Natural Resources, Transportation, and Education, Culture and Employment plan to work together to meet the people’s training needs in the Sahtu region?

Would the Minister provide the final copy of the skilled workforce needs...

The Sahtu has been committed to spend over $635 million, close to $700 million. This year there’s more lands coming up, and we decided on September 17th there will possibly be more money spent in there. So this is telling us that this government needs to look at a trades centre. We need to get these learning centres into more than upgrading. We have to have cooking, welding, carpentry.

Can the Minister give a commitment to say we are in competition with maybe the Yellowknife Campus here for schooling? We have to look outside the box. I want to ask the Minister, can he provide an overview as to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about the Sahtu being at a critical point in training its workforce. I want to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment about the opportunity to get a Sahtu training centre in our region, due to the increase of oil and gas exploration. Last year there were 150 workers that were hired outside of our communities to come in and do work there, and also there are more and more people now taking advantage of these training opportunities.

Can we have something like a larger centre like Smith, Yellowknife and Inuvik, where now we...

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. My question is to the Premier of the Northwest Territories. I want to ask the Premier some questions around the Norman Wells proven area. Specifically, I want to target on the resource revenue issue with the Government of Canada. I want to ask the Premier, in regard to this issue here, if the Government of Canada is holding firm on their stance that this area here is not a resource revenue sharing deal other than they have other interests, such as a commercial venture, and if there are any other type of discussions to see if they will move away from that definition.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to use my last Member’s statement of this long winter session to pay tribute to a Canadian icon who died recently – as my friend Mr. Bouchard also did – the one and only Stompin’ Tom Connors.

Stompin’ Tom was a friend to all Canadians and wrote timeless songs about our great country from sea to sea. In his honour, I’d like to perform my own version of a song he didn’t write but often performed.

I was walking the winter road from Tulita to Norman Wells

when along came a trucker like a bat out of hell.

If you’re going to The Wells, he says,

with me you can ride.

I...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Democracy means many things to many different people. Democracy is certainly a form of government where people rule through their elected MLAs. The people are the absolute and supreme form of political authority. As we, as legislators, from time to time vote on behalf of our people, such as the budget process or the motions brought up in this Assembly, we are the people’s voice. We were put here by the very fact that we will represent our people in these legislative halls of government.

We stand today on new ground with the old ways of doing things. We achieved a new...

Mr. Speaker, I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that, notwithstanding Rule 4, when this House adjourns on March 14, 2013, it shall be adjourned until Wednesday, May 29, 2013;

AND FURTHER, that any time prior to May 29, 2013, if the Speaker is satisfied, after consultation with the Executive Council and Members of the Legislative Assembly, that the public interest requires that the House should meet at an earlier time during the adjournment, the Speaker may give notice and thereupon the House shall meet at the time stated in such notice and shall transact its business as it...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I say, because, again, in my research, there were regulations, a management regime, and in the time when they were making the deal, Aboriginal people didn’t even have the right to vote in Canada. These were all being done on Aboriginal lands that we’re supposed to have a treaty. Now we’re taking over devolution, and part of taking over devolution is the 24 acts, regulations and legislation that we’re going to take over. One of them is the Canadian Petroleum Act, I think, and I want to make sure that we are set and the federal government is not going to interfere with...