Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, I’ll get onto the other issue later on, the devolution and resource revenue sharing, but I want to talk about protection from this government in terms of the equality of services in our smaller communities. For example, Mr. Speaker, some of the communities do not have banking services. They only have the Northern Store or the Co-op store and when communities want to cash cheques, they’re charged an enormous fee to cash a cheque, which I don’t think they have those fees in Yellowknife or any other larger centres where there are banking services.

I wanted to ask the...

Mr. Speaker, certainly the Premier is correct in terms of some of the history of the Sahtu becoming its own region in terms of wanting independence in terms of coming into the realm of the system of government here. I want to ask the Premier in terms of the programs and services in the NWT.

We know that the Northwest Territories has 10 communities without RCMP services, just the access to that type of safety in our communities. Is his Cabinet and government going to allocate or look at simple, basic safety enforcement in our communities such as Colville Lake and other communities that do not...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a well-respected elder, Charlie Tobac from Fort Good Hope, passed away on July 10, 2010. Charlie was known as a strong believer in the Dene culture and healing traditions, as well as a strong voice for the Dene people on issues such as the proposed Mackenzie Valley Natural Gas Pipeline and, more importantly, learning the traditional values of Dene. On behalf of the Sahtu region constituents, we send our thoughts and our prayers to the Tobac family. Mahsi cho.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my seven years as the MLA for the Sahtu, I made some shocking discoveries about the electrical rates in the Northwest Territories, and now, finally, the lights are coming on. Mr. Speaker, communities are not being treated equally; plain and simple. However, with the new power rates offered by the lead Minister for the Ministerial Energy Coordinating Committee last week, there is hope, there is some light at the end of the tunnel. It took all of us to turn the heat up on this government to do something about the power rates.

I understand that the new...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Very briefly, I want to say how important the economy is in the Northwest Territories and the opportunities and benefits that this project will bring directly to the people in the Mackenzie Valley in the Northwest Territories in terms of moving the economy and that we certainly need, through this process, a need for a balance between the water, air and land and extracting resources from our land.

Mr. Chairman, this whole process is like a big octopus, there are so many legs all over you have to pull things together. What is more important, in terms of coordinating all...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to say briefly that I want to thank Mr. Krutko for bringing this motion forward. I realize the impact that it will have in the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, when we had a discussion earlier, I understood in the whole of Canada, the Northwest Territories had the highest number of residential school survivors in all of Canada. The Northwest Territories has a high percentage in terms of former survivors. Actually, right now, Mr. Speaker, there is about 80,000 survivors in Canada right now and the federal government needs to recognize the significance of the...

Would the Minister consider going beyond the monitoring of heating oil to regulate the Public Utilities Board to regulate the price of gas in Norman Wells to make it closer to the cost of production?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister of MACA, Mr. Bob McLeod, in terms of the new electrical rate review recommendations to this Assembly. I understand that with the town of Norman Wells, they were going to see an increase of 30 percent for the next two years by Imperial Oil. I think this announcement was a saving grace for the town of Norman Wells. I want to ask him in terms of future protection under the Public Utilities Board, can the town of Norman Wells turn to the Public Utilities Board for some protection in terms of the Norman Wells oilfield? Imperial Oil is increasing...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to say in my language... [English translation not provided]

I want to say in my language that, really, this person that we’re talking about is really good, Mr. Speaker. In my language that means a lot, that Mr. Whitford, Tony, when I became the MLA and I remember him telling me I’m going to visit each of the communities of the Northwest Territories. And I sat here and said, yeah, right. You know? Throughout the years Tony talked about different communities and when he’s going to come into the Sahtu. Then, lo and behold, one time last year, or I think it was the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll ask the Minister if he would pursue better pricing with the federal government so that we can improve the cost of living in Norman Wells.