Sahtu

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 3)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I spoke about the issues that are important to the Sahtu. I want to ask the Minister of ITI regarding the bottled water issue we have in our communities.

We have bottled water that is flown from outside of Canada and within Canada. We have some wonderful, great lakes here, some big lakes here. Has the Minister, through his tenure as Minister of ITI, looked at how the Northwest Territories could capture this market to have bottled water in the Northwest Territories to sell in each community and each store in the North?

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 3)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Also part of the planning is the safety of the roads. I want to ask the Minister if he would seriously consider looking at some routes in the Sahtu where there would only be a one lane section, because these roads are really, some of the areas are real goat trails and we need to really put some strong safety issues into those areas. I ask the Minister if he would consider looking at the route also for safety measures.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 3)

I certainly am up for the challenge. If the Minister wants to go for a ride, let’s go for a ride.

I want to ask the Minister, I appreciate your response and want to ask, the oil companies in the next five or six years are spending hundreds of millions of dollars in the Sahtu. I’m not too sure what else we need to prove that, hey, let’s start building a road here. I mean, we have some other projects, but this is where we’re spending the money in the Northwest Territories, which can come into billions of dollars.

I want to ask the Minister, part of our trip to the Sahtu, that we sit down with the...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 3)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Would the Minister come forward with the openness to supporting our northern people in the products that we have, such as, you know, Great Slave Lake is one of the best places to get fish. Bring that forward to our discussion that we can support the fishermen around Great Slave Lake to bring their product into our homes and institutions. Have a government policy stating that’s the way we want to do business from here on in.

Can the Minister look at some type of creative policy that would support our people?

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 3)

Sometimes being in the south feels like a dragon’s den. It gets pretty hot in here.

I want to ask the Minister, other than the bottled water concept, I know that the community of Deline really wants to move on this issue; however, there were a number of barriers for them to hook up this new water plant system to look at a bottled water system and they just didn’t get the support they thought they could get from this government. I want to ask the Minister, if other initiatives in the North can have such as the eggs in Hay River, those eggs should be in each of our stores in our communities. That...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 3)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have my Member’s statement on the update of the key issues in the Sahtu that I want to talk about in the next five weeks. We just heard the budget and we’re certainly asking questions regarding the needs in the Sahtu.

I want to talk about some of the things that are happening in my region. I’m asking questions on why. Why wait? Why can’t we do things differently in the Sahtu region? For example, in the Sahtu there is a real high interest of oil and gas. Oil is booming in the Sahtu. Why are we waiting to put in an all-weather road in the Sahtu? What else do we have to...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 2)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the Sahtu we have always known there would be another oil strike, a big boom. The only question was when. Now we believe that the time is here. Unprecedented, record-setting, record breaking amounts of money is being spent in the Sahtu, and is being committed in the Sahtu has begun. Now it is our time. Over the last two seasons we have seen work ramping up. All you need to know is the recent traffic jam we had on our winter roads, and the number of people working and all the activity that’s been happening in the Sahtu.

While this has brought a lot of benefits to the...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 2)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister, due to the amount of winter road jamming of the semi-trucks, I want to ask the Minister, is he asking the GNWT Cabinet Ministers to look at some more investments into the Mackenzie Valley winter road, or even to looking at advancing the Mackenzie Valley Highway because of the potential that’s happening in the Sahtu.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 2)

According to some of the geologists and some of the preliminary work that’s been done in the Sahtu and the Sahtu Canol shale play, the similarities to the Sahtu Canol shale play is similar to the Bakken fields in North Dakota or Eagle Ford in Texas. The Bakken fields in North Dakota are estimated at about 20 billion barrels of oil. That’s a similar type of play that’s going to happen in the Sahtu, again, depending on more work that has to be done.

I want to ask the Minister, is his department looking at some special considerations in terms of the infrastructure for the Sahtu, if that type of...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 2)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d also like to recognize a former colleague, Mr. Krutko, in the gallery. I also recognize the hard work of the NWT Tourism that had a great display in Ottawa. Thank you very much. Also the crew from Mackenzie Delta, Joe and wife Lisa and my former schoolmate at Samuel Hearne Topsy Cockney, and Ms. Jenni Bruce from Tsiigehtchic, and the Chief Lloyd Chicot from Kakisa.