Norman Yakeleya

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...

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...

Would the Minister also look at preventative measures next year for the Department of Transportation as advising these hotshot rookie drivers of semi-trucks that you need to listen to the people in the North, maybe put on chains and then the tires on some of them? I’m not too familiar with the Sahtu hills and driving through this region here. Can the Minister put together a policy that all drivers would know when they come into the Sahtu, driver beware?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday my colleague Mr. Menicoche and I talked about the Mackenzie Valley proposed highway up from Wrigley to Norman Wells. We did talk about the exploration that is happening in the Sahtu. There is not only tens of millions but hundreds of millions of dollars being invested into that area. We talked about the infrastructure such as the Mackenzie Valley winter road.

I want to ask the Minister, because of all the recent reports and community concerns in light of all the investment going into the Sahtu region, and going through the Nahendeh region, is the Minister...

Some time ago the community of Deline asked for this bottled water concept and they were told to come up with $200,000 or $300,000. Small communities like that just don’t have that kind of extra change in their pockets. I’m hoping the Minister would again look at that and see if that’s a possibility.

Another thing I want to ask the Minister, in terms of the potato spud captain of Norman Wells, how he’s helping small entrepreneurial people look at commercial ventures such as having some of those potatoes in some of our communities. I’m looking for the Minister to come forward to our committees...

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?

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.

It is our hope in the Sahtu and other communities around the Sahtu that are working in the Sahtu and want to see this oilfield possibly go to production and development stages.

I want to ask the Minister, has his department looked at other models in Canada, specifically the Voisey’s Bay model, where the federal government stepped in to help out those communities up in the Labrador area. Is that something that can be considered with the Sahtu should the proven resources be at a point where saying, yes, this oil’s got to go? It’s there for production and that’s something that this government can...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of ITI. I talked about, in my Member’s statement, the Sahtu’s potential for the oil and gas activity and billions of barrels that are on reserves and untapped in the Sahtu.

I want to ask the Minister of ITI if our assessments of the Sahtu Canol shale play is coming to fruition with the amount of activity going on in the Sahtu, and what is his department doing to deal with the impacts of that type of activity that could be happening in the next 25 or 30 years.

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...