Sahtu

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 52)

I heard the Premier and the Minister also at some point, and probably some of the Ministers also at some forum and the Assembly, say that we need to keep the dollars in our communities to keep the economy going. Right now, because of the low oil prices, in the Sahtu there is really no racking up of the Husky’s or the Conoco’s, so right now most of the economy is driven by the government infrastructure. However, because of the prices that we are challenged with, is there a policy within the government that says northern contractors will be first priority so the dollars would stay in the Sahtu...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 52)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Finance, given the Budget Dialogue 2014 Taking Stock. In the report the Minister gives a good fiscal performance record. Moody’s has given us good rating and we have good fiscal policy.

In his report the Minister talks about the priorities, given the feedback from the people on the priorities, given the sombre realities of slow revenue growth.

Can the Minister tell the House what causes the slow revenue growth? What are the factors, knowing that we have some priorities in our communities? What does the revenue situation look like in the...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 52)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the other comments that the Minister talked about with the people and what I understood from the report is that we were going to have to do some tightening of our belts and taking some responsibility of our lifestyle and the way we live.

Is there any type of initiative from this government going forward to inform our people that there are some things we have to do now, such as stopping drinking, stopping smoking, in order to save money for the government so they can do other things because our health costs are going sky high and those things that people are doing...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 52)

The other comments I heard in the discussions in the Sahtu are that we need to do more for our economy. In the Sahtu we have world-class oil and gas there, and they have the technology now in today’s world on the hydraulic fracking and there’s potential there, but we don’t have the infrastructure to get to our oil and gas revenue.

I want to ask the Minister, what are some of the things that he’s doing to see how we can improve our revenue? We need to have the economy to do things like health and social services, hospitals, roads and schools. We need the money.

Can the Minister inform the House...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 52)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m going to just follow my colleague here. I too read the Budget Dialogue Taking Stock report, and the Minister certainly came into the Sahtu with having some of my people sit and listen to the Minister give the current fiscal realities of our government, giving us the realities of the size of our population and the fiscal picture if we don’t get any type of economic development moving in the Northwest Territories.

Some of our regions are wealthy in the resources, and like the Yellowknife area around here rich in diamond mines, there is lots of revenue royalty coming...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 51)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Next Tuesday is November 11th, Remembrance Day. The year of 2014 also marks the 100th Anniversary of the Great War, the war to end all wars is what they said back in the early 1900s. Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, they were wrong.

While we have no veterans from the First World War in the Sahtu, and few from the second, I wish to pay tribute to all the veterans and those who bravely served in the Canadian Armed Forces including people from the Sahtu: Swaine Bavard, Wilbert Cook, Darrel Cook, Wayne Lennie, Hughie Kenny, Stanley Cook, Tim Cook and countless others I have not...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 51)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The issue here is this is being planted as a seed. We had some discussions in the past, and like my other colleagues, when this came up I certainly did support the notion of an ombudsman in the Northwest Territories.

A couple days ago in the Members’ lounge, it’s been reported on the news and Mr. Bromley spoke about the sighting of a wolverine just past the Members’ lounge as we were having dinner with the Ontario ombudsman. The wolverine is a well-respected animal, fierce and with survival but also very feared by many people, any animal, and isn’t it a coincidence that...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 51)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know Veteran Affairs is a federal department. We should look into working with our vets, even those who are retired from peacetime or recent servants in Afghanistan.

Are there any educational credits for retired veterans that can apply to further their education?

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 51)

I’m certainly glad to hear that the Minister is thinking about expediting this process and speaking to the board chairs. The point that I got was making it visible in our schools.

I want to ask the Minister if his department could look at school projects across the Northwest Territories to research and document in our communities all the vets that have served in the past, future and current, serving in our Canadian Armed Forces. All the vets, so that there can be a designated spot in our schools so that this could be proudly displayed as the veterinary hall of fame for our veterinaries from our...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 51)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize the elder from Deline, Andrew John Kenny, known as the Don Cherry of Deline, coming from the birthplace of ice hockey in Canada. Welcome, Andrew John. Andrew John is also my constituency assistant as an elder in the Sahtu region. I would also like to say welcome to Josh Campbell, the CA for the Sahtu, to the office. Thank you.