Norman Yakeleya

With regard to the question I am going to ask the Minister, this person does not qualify for low cost housing because their income is $5,000 too much. They probably won’t get a low cost housing unit. So this person has to go from pay cheque to pay cheque, paying $1,700 a month for rent, fuel is about $300 -- probably a little more in the small, isolated communities -- power is about $200, water is about $100, phone is about $40 and food and all that. How can we help a person like this, a mother of three daughters, with the example of low cost housing units?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Mr. Speaker, I applaud the Minister in terms of the announcement of increasing the minimum wage in the Northwest Territories. However, the next day, Mr. Speaker, I had a question from a single mother of three. She has young daughters. She was reading the press release and had some concerns. They wanted to ask the question in terms of the wage increasing, the cost of living increasing. Are the income thresholds going to increase with the GNWT programs that he administers?

Mr. Speaker, that’s a very disturbing answer from the Minister in terms of banning caribou. This is right down the Northwest Territories. We certainly have agreements that speak to the authority and the management of caribou. Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the Minister, through his wisdom, in terms of we passed a motion to consult. How come he didn’t come to us to talk about we want to have this discussion and pose the questions to the Supreme Court of Canada? I never had him once come to us and ask us. You are putting a question that is going to be fighting our people. How come he didn’t come to...

Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the Minister of Justice some questions in regard to a tabled document he had on February 8, in terms of he’s going to ask the Supreme Court of Canada some questions. I’m not too clear in terms of what this Minister is asking, because in the tabled document he indicated the Bathurst caribou herd and later on in the document he talked about the barren-ground caribou in the Northwest Territories. I want to ask for clarification from the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The mine industry and the oil and gas industry have a huge potential in the Mackenzie Valley. I ask the Premier in terms of his discussions with the proponents of the Mackenzie Gas Project, proponents who are drilling in the Northwest Territories, mining companies, in terms of them lending him a hand in terms of going to Ottawa and forcing the government to sit down and have a good resource package for the people in the Northwest Territories. Has the Premier approached our partners in those areas?

Mr. Speaker, has the Premier had any discussions with the federal government in terms of, for example, just even the discussion with the Norman Wells oilfield? The Norman Wells oilfield portion of percentage is owned by the federal government in terms of making this issue a priority with the federal government in terms of keeping our resource revenue in the Northwest Territories rather than every year we hand a cheque over to the federal government. Later on they give us another cheque, an income support cheque to keep us busy here. Has the Premier had any type of creative solutions in terms...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My Member’s statement is on the wealth of the Northwest Territories, the wealth of enriching culture and resources, non-renewable resources.

When I was looking at the Sahtu atlas the other day, again I was looking at the amount of resources the Sahtu have to offer to the people of Canada and the Northwest Territories. I was thinking about this. How could such a rich country as the Northwest Territories, or even the region of the Sahtu or any other region in the Northwest Territories, how could we be so poor? We fight hard for people. How could we be so poor? We ask for...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to continue working with the Minister on this issue and probably many other issues or situations like this in the Northwest Territories. In terms of a situation like this, can he work with his counterpart Minister Robert C. McLeod and look at low cost housing units and their thresholds to help a person like this make a living in the North?

I go back to the specific questions on increasing thresholds on GNWT programs, specifically to low cost housing. It’s staying the same and I’m not sure if this Minister can answer for another Minister. However, programs like that, Legal Aid, child support payments, those types of programs certainly help single parents out there. Is there some general type of communication plan that this Minister will put out in terms of thresholds of programs in the GNWT?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You go back into communities. This question always comes up to us as Members in terms of the authority of the federal government, the authority of the territorial government, even the authority of the federal government in the region. I guess I want to ask how come, instead of going to the Members across here, this government decides to go to the courts and look to seek authority? Certainly they could have come to us, consulted with the Members and talked about this issue here. Now it is fighting our people. I am not here to fight my people. I am here to support my...