Norman Yakeleya

We had a very good presentation this afternoon from the Pembina Institute. It actually brought up some pretty good points. I thought it was very objective and I thought that the points that they brought out gave me some ideas and maybe other Members too as to how do we, if they are going to do hydraulic fracking then we want to make sure that it’s done in a responsible and environmentally safe way that we can have the best of both worlds so to speak. That’s the type of information I got this afternoon from that presentation. It made some really good points. We could have the hydraulic fracking...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Minister has a very important department that deals with the basics of our land, water, air, life, and the way we look at things. It’s very important. I’m not very pleased that his budget is being reduced. It actually should be going up. I’m not the one to make that decision. This budget here is low. The Minister has some very key initiatives that need to be looked at.

The Minister talked about the Mackenzie River Basin and the quality and quantity of water entering the Northwest Territories from neighbouring jurisdictions. In our land claim agreement it states, in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I got up early this morning, picked up my pen and paper and had my good cup of coffee and I started writing down my notes on what I wanted to say about this motion. The first thing I did was get a list of the energy priorities investment for 2010. The last government committed $60 million to the projects. Mr. Hawkins has made several references to this priority list.

I looked at it and I put it on the floor, and said this is where the regions are getting the projects. This is where we committed $60 million, and that money just came out of the air. This is where we’re...

When these phone calls came from the leadership in the Sahtu… I want to ask the Minister to provide me what it costs the Housing Corporation to keep them operating and functional and how long they’ve been vacant and how can we work together to hope to get my people into these housing units.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of the NWT Housing Corporation. I want to ask you how many vacant units are in the Sahtu.

I want to ask the Minister who in this government would need to be convinced when you go to Colville Lake. I challenge any Member here to bring their students to Colville Lake, attend the school in Colville Lake, and see if that will help them get a new school. There are four classrooms in one building. There’s no privacy. Even though that number is there the Minister is rattling off, doesn’t quite fit the people in Colville Lake. Who within the longest system needs to tell the Minister that we need a new school in Colville Lake? This is not acceptable. Who do we need to convince?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to recognize my colleague from Tulita and Kelsi Taylor, two Pages here. I forgot to say that. I want to ask the Minister of Education questions on the Colville Lake School. I want to ask the Minister where within his department, how soon could the people in Colville Lake look at the possibility, amongst the many other projects that we have in the Northwest Territories, that they can look at maybe a planning or discussions on building a new school for Colville Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

My last question to the Minister has to do with the waste management and waste reduction. Certainly when the Minister of Health and Social Services and possibly the Minister of Justice, Mr. Abernethy and I went over to Fort Good Hope, they talked somewhat of the water quality, the water waste coming from the Norman Wells oilfield. I’m not too sure if we got too far into that discussion, but I remember clearly Minister Beaulieu and I talked about the water and the source. Maybe one factor that may be causing some cancerous sickness in that community could be – I’m not saying it is, but could be...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Climate Change Program, I want to look at the environmental protection section, to work to prevent and reduce impact on activity. I want to ask the Minister if he will be coming forward with some plans as to this program that’s responsible in the area of the Tulita district where there’s possibly some work that’s going to be happening over there in the next couple of years, maybe longer. What kind of plans is he going to support the people in the Sahtu and in the North here on recovery of air quality and contaminated sites and hazardous substances? How is the...