Statements in Debates
Some of the people that have written to me asked what is the government doing in regard to the anti-fracking movement that seems to be gaining some, rallying around support for a moratorium or banning fracking in the North. So they’re asking what’s going on here, what is the government doing to deal with this, because it could be the death of our economic development in the Sahtu region.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of ITI. I want to ask the Minister of ITI questions for the people in the Sahtu region. What is this government doing to encourage the oil and gas activity in the Northwest Territories?
The department has a proposal that’s written with substantial numbers on there. It’s in front of the Minister. The two other ones the Minister talked about are from Tulita and Fort Good Hope. It’s a concept idea and they are hoping that their proposals will be on their way.
I’m asking the Minister, given that we have one substantial proposal from Norman Wells south on the Mackenzie Valley Highway to start preparing for the Mackenzie Valley Highway – it is coming – given this, hoping we get favourable responses to create a position in the Sahtu, that would be a start of having a regional office...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve talked about the Sahtu region and I want to follow up, and it’s in regard to the hopes and aspirations and visions of the Sahtu people. I want to ask questions to the Minister of Transportation in regard to doing the small steps for our region to look at, hopefully, one day becoming a stand-alone, breakaway region.
I want to ask the Minister of Transportation, given that we have a winter road and the airport is operating out of Inuvik and the winter road is operating out of Simpson, can the Minister look within his department to see if there is any way of creating...
Mr. Chair, that’s very strange. We were going in one direction and the Minister is talking about going in the other direction, training nurses for palliative care. I thought we were moving along there. Was this supported by the community of Deline to say, okay, we’re going to go through some training, and training the nurses to provide palliative care to the community nurses? Something has gone a little wacko here. Can I get the department to respond to this?
Mr. Chair, I want to ask the Minister on this page in regards to the therapeutic services to the regions, and I’ll speak for the Sahtu in regards to the speech-language specialist pathologist coming in. Is that program being utilized in the Sahtu? I understand that when a speech-language person comes into our region they’re well received by our people in that area. It seems like we need to have more of her or him come in to do some work with our students. Is there an evaluation as to being in our region that this is what they are finding, either to request more support or say we need a...
Mr. Chair, thank you. I’d like to ask the Minister how many children, if he can possibly be able to provide me with a breakdown of the Aboriginal children in foster care in the Northwest Territories. There might be different levels of care for the children, if he could somehow get that information to me.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At this time also, people want to know that since activity is not up to where we want it to be, is there opportunity, from the Minister’s point of view, to work with other departments in regard to a planning session to train our young workers to be ready when the activity happens so that they have qualified, skilled labour ready for the oil rigs and other spinoffs due to oil and gas exploration. Thank you.
The people also want to know what the government is doing to mitigate the operational cost of oil and gas activity. One of the people I did speak to said that if you had an all-weather road going into the Sahtu, you would cut down 30 percent of their operational expenses. That’s just one oil company. That is what some of the people in the Sahtu want to know. What are some of the things that this government is doing to lower the cost of business? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s discouraging to hear that from the government. It’s no different than me fighting for the residential school survivors to get some decent treatment in the North or for them.
We are penalized because we don’t have an all-weather road. When we did have heavy equipment going with the oil and gas, there was lots of activity, yet we’re still not having any type of support from this department or this government. I am asking if the department could think outside the box; create a position, even if it’s temporary. Don’t shut the door in our face and say no, not until you...