Norman Yakeleya

The Minister indicated there were several new personalities within NTPC. Hopefully this will satisfy residents in the Sahtu, especially the community of Norman Wells.

I want to ask the Minister if his office is going to respond in terms of having a meeting between himself and the town council of Norman Wells to look at some of the issues that were raised in the January 7th letter addressed to him about the response and role of NTPC.

Mr. Speaker, I’m seeking unanimous consent to return to item 7, oral questions, on the orders of the day.

---Unanimous consent granted

Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement I also mentioned about the regional gaps between the regions here. I want to ask the Minister here in terms of I am very disappointed not to see any mention in terms of justice in terms of RCMP in the communities where they do not have a detachment in the seven years since I have been asking this government here and the government before in terms of asking for an RCMP in our communities. Yet when we go back to our communities, that is one of the questions they ask. When are we going to get an RCMP detachment? We hear the same old, same old. I want to ask...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I mentioned about the economic forecast in the Northwest Territories and some of the things that are going to be pressuring this government, pressuring the new government. I want to ask the Minister of Finance in terms of the go-ahead basis in terms of the fiscal forecast in the new coming years. Is the government looking at programs that could be decentralized, taking away things in the region to save on dollars to make things efficient and effective? That is the word that is being used around this table here to ensure that this government here...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to tell the Minister, in terms of the budget, there are some good things in the budget that I’m very happy to see in the budget, specifically that speak to the smaller communities and the challenges that they have to deal with day to day and some of the things that would be improving their lives, such as the Small Communities Employment Program, increasing the CHAP -- Community Harvesters Assistance Program -- the education program. Things like that will make a difference in my people’s lives.

I’m really glad to see that this government has implemented a...

Mr. Speaker, in the budget I noticed that there is going to be $300,000 a year towards program performance review of GNWT’s policies on provisions for adequate, suitable and affordable housing in the Northwest Territories. I am not too sure how that money is going to be used in the performance review. I am wondering how this funding here is justified in terms of people are now being asked to be moved out of the house.

There are a lot of empty houses in the Sahtu. I went to Colville Lake, Fort Good Hope and Tulita. There are empty houses there. Here we are spending $300,000 to do a performance...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. February is Heart Month across Canada. People are raising awareness about our health, Mr. Speaker. I think our government is on the brink of a massive heart attack. Mr. Speaker, there are warning signs that a heart attack is coming, like chest pains, discomfort in other parts of the upper body, shortness of breath and other signs that I can compare to what I see going on right here.

I will explain, Mr. Speaker. Let’s start with chest pains. People are leaving the Northwest Territories. There are a lot of heavy hearts. This means less funding from the federal government...

I consulted with some of the self-government governments in the Sahtu and I would agree to disagree with the Premier’s comment in terms of taking away some of the existing land claims agreements or self-government issues here. I’ve not yet completed my analysis, but I’m hoping to bring it up sometime within the next couple of days to have a debate with the Minister.

I want to ask the Minister again in terms of bringing forward this and building a relationship with the Aboriginal governments in terms of is the Minister looking at, say, for example, the Dene Nation are going to be having a chiefs...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up with MLA Bromley’s question in terms of the impact of this initial signing of the AIP and the impact on the relationship with the Aboriginal governments. As I’ve witnessed on TV, while I was in Deline, seeing the initial and the amount of Aboriginal governments with the protestors out there to not have this go forward until some more work should be done on it, I want to ask the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs why they rushed in terms of initiating this agreement. There was some talk about waiting until May or something like that. Why did they rush...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister about releasing the document. I understand it’s going to be released shortly. I want to ask the Minister why it’s taking so long to release this document. It’s so important. I’ve asked before that it should have been released before. It looked like such a secretive document. Just now, because of the initialling, it will be released to the public. Now even one of the leaders in the Sahtu is saying that we don’t understand this document. I’m wondering why it’s taking so long to be released to the public here.