Norman Yakeleya

Mr. Speaker, certainly I agree with the Minister, because the Minister, in his exchange with me yesterday, said he has heard the arguments and I think he said something like look at improving some of the way they do the rental scale. I think that is a good start in terms of how we start making some of these improvements. I hope with that type of discussion here that the Minister will look at ways to reduce the cost of living for public housing tenants. Will the Minister commit to finalizing the report and the recommendations early in the spring so that changes can be made sooner than later?

The work that they are doing to support the initiatives of the proponents to build the pipeline, these are positions that people here do go into the various other regions that the pipeline will be impacting, the communities that will be impacted by the potential pipeline.

I think that will be something that’s good for our drivers on the winter roads as they need to continue doing the road improvements on all the winter roads here.

I wanted to ask the Minister about bridges. Is the department looking at considering the Oscar Creek Bridge just outside of Norman Wells? It’s on target for some different opinions as to the bridge, but the main question I have is: will this bridge be up and running? Right now it’s not being utilized. When can we see this bridge in operation, Mr. Chair?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister of Housing advised the Members that he is undertaking a review of the maximum rent charged to tenants in public housing across the Northwest Territories. I think that it is a good start, but I urge the Minister to be careful about the purpose of the review and to get it done quickly. I also think that the Members should be given an opportunity to provide their views and concerns well before a report is prepared.

Personally, I don’t think the maximum rent charged to a public housing tenant has to be full cost recovery amount. I think when the local housing...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Community Access Program, in terms of the program funding going out to the communities, it looks like it is fairly wide range of criteria to access these dollars for these projects here. I just want to look at the gravel resources here. I am just making my case now and probably in the next couple of months in terms of the gravel source for Tulita. They are looking for a gravel source. This would be similar to the scenario of the Tuktoyaktuk-Inuvik road in terms of their access to the gravel source, which happens to be on the proposed Mackenzie Valley Highway. The...

I do apologize if I’ve made a suggestion that it hasn’t been done. I will wait for the evidence to see. I was there about a month ago and I didn’t see anything. I stand to be corrected. I just want to make sure we have a facility for the elders and that it’s done. I will be happy. I will be happy if this is a reality in the Norman Wells Airport.

I want to say to the Minister and staff that people in my region, specifically Colville Lake, are very happy about the airport relocation. They’ve done some good work there. It worked really good this department with the cooperation of the Colville Lake...

Mr. Chairman, I think that is all I have for the Minister. I do want to thank him and to take him up on his offer in terms of getting some specifics on this issue here. I will see where I go from there. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, fair enough. I want to move on to the airport land development plan. Yellowknife being the busiest airport, in past stats that Yellowknife being the busiest airport followed by Norman Wells and Inuvik. I want to focus on the Norman Wells land development plan in terms of I know companies that want to come into the Sahtu and start businesses, such as Buffalo Airways. I know they want to set up a hangar so they can bring their plane there and have it there overnight. It would be easier and more cost efficient for them and easier for the people who are receiving the goods flown in...

Thank you. I can feel the excitement by Members here in terms of going through this detail. Mr. Chair, I want to thank the Minister for the Trapper Training Program that we have in our region in terms of helping out with our people there. I want to say that certainly this government does support the traditional economy and that we certainly appreciate the work that he’s done. So I just wanted to make a comment in regard to our appreciation on behalf of all the good trappers in the Sahtu that access this program.

The Minister is correct that NTCL and Cooper Barging do provide the service; however, it’s whenever the barges are loaded up and it’s economical and feasible for them to make a trip up the north or a trip down the south. It’s all based on the number of loads and what they can carry. Cooper Barging does do it. NTCL does do it. This one here, I’m looking at a government service that can bring maybe once a week or twice a week, something like that, twice a month or whatever. I’m looking at the economic feasibility. Maybe people have to pay. I’m not too sure in terms of this here, but can they...