Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, some of the responses from the other Ministers in terms of the work that we want to do in the Sahtu, we want to ask this Minister what would it take for them, for this department to say this is urgent, this is a need that needs to be happening right away in the Sahtu in terms of establishing a wellness centre? What does it take from the Sahtu people to say we want something like the Deh Cho, something in the South Slave, something they can…(inaudible)…to say we want a regional wellness centre, also? What will it take, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Roland. In terms of the Sahtu’s wish to…I don’t know how you interpret the patient wait time guarantee in terms of what does it take in terms of our board, our community here, communities in the Sahtu, to look at the possibility of having a regional wellness centre in the planning stages of the upcoming government in terms of we want to have regional wellness centres?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think we’re going to change the name of the Bear River Bridge to the Red Flag Bridge. You got red flagging going on on that side of the government here, Mr. Speaker. On this specific issue on the Bear River Bridge, the Deh Cho Bridge is going ahead. Why not the Sahtu? Certainly someone has taken our money from the Bear River Bridge and put it somewhere else.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell me that the plans that are going forward to the federal government for whatever plans they are making, why doesn’t it include the Sahtu people in terms of looking at some real solutions in terms of building this bridge? Can the Minister commit to this House here, this day here, that the Bear River Bridge is a high priority as he said it is -- it is on the shelves -- to take it off the shelves to be constructed just like the Deh Cho Bridge project?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in light of that, getting the process in place with the department and the Sahtu regional health board, would the Minister look at committing to put together a feasibility study in terms of looking at a regional wellness centre and putting that on the agenda with the next government?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, would the department look at an initiative brought by the Sahtu leadership in terms of looking at a P3 model in terms of helping out with this government? We want to be part of the government. Would something like that be feasible by this government to look at a P3 model in terms of building a regional wellness centre?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, several months or weeks ago, I heard the federal government make an announcement on the patient wait guarantee time in Canada. I was quite delighted to hear about this, Mr. Speaker. I wasn’t too sure how the interpretation was going to be interpreted or how it was to be translated into our region. The way I looked at it is this region here I am talking about is the Sahtu region. Patients are guaranteed to wait for health services, Mr. Speaker. Patient wait guarantee time for us. We are asking again in terms of like the highway, in terms of other...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to raise some questions with the Premier on the Mackenzie Valley highway and the discussion he may have with the Prime Minister or he maybe had some discussions with his fellow Premiers across Canada, especially the western part, in terms of really pushing for the Mackenzie Highway to come through the south to the north here, or from the north down to the south. Can the Premier tell me, is it in the federal government's eyes right now to put the Mackenzie Valley highway down the valley? Can we just do it? Enough talking.

…from the isolation, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the rest of the Northwest Territories, except for Nunakput, and my honourable colleague from Nunakput and other areas in the Tlicho area are also isolated; more importantly, in the Sahtu and up in Nunakput. Other communities enjoy discussions of paved roads, fixing the bumps here and there, putting a bridge here and putting a bridge there. We talk about the cost of living, Mr. Speaker. People in the Sahtu dream of your discussions.

Mr. Chair, the comments are probably similar to mine and Mr. Ramsay's. The trade mission is with Industry, Tourism and Investment. I, myself, don’t have enough information in terms of this trade mission. You know Husky Energy has invested in the Sahtu region. Husky Energy is closely related to the productions in China. There is tourism in our region that needs to be looked at.

I don’t know. I don’t have the information. I don’t know who is going or for how long. This is new. I am having a very difficult time supporting this here. I am going to have to support the motion as we go forward. So...