Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to provide the opening comments on Bill 34, 2015 Polling Day Act.

Mr. Chair, the general election for the 18th Legislative Assembly is currently scheduled to take place on Monday, October 5, 2015. Prior to the passage of fixed election date legislation in the Northwest Territories, the timing of our elections was a moving target. Subsequently, the Parliament of Canada adopted similar legislation establishing the third Monday in October every four years as the date fixed for federal elections. This has resulted in an overlap in the campaign period for the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to waive Rule 69(2), and have Bill 34, 2015 Polling Day Act, moved into Committee of the Whole for today.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I look forward to the response from the Minister. Certainly this would help the trappers all down the Mackenzie Valley up to the Beaufort Sea. If the trappers can get some relief, get some support, because the fuel is something that is detrimental to their way of life, unless there’s a program to get the dog teams back in place so they can be used in the communities again. So can the Minister do this within the next three months?

The Minister of Public Works gave me a very interesting fact sheet. The last paragraph in the fact sheet talks about the CHAP program. Through the CHAP program with the registered hunters and trappers in the communities, can they take this fund, walk down the street with their jerry can, go to the gas station, would they be able to, through this program, pay for the fuel that the petroleum products sells through their community government clients? They pay a lower price than the regular clients. Can that happen?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to hold this government to account. In the CBC report this month, the government said people in Fort Good Hope would pay less to fill up their vehicles. Someone told the community of Fort Good Hope they would pay less to fill up their vehicles in the community.

Who said that? Which department? Which staff? If that’s not true, then they’ve got to be held accountable, and that’s what I’m saying. Can you say, I’m sorry, this is what we’ll do for this mistake?

It takes a real government to own up to that responsibility and that’s what I’m asking this government, in its...

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the Minister for sharing some of the information and the costs sheets with me. You know there is a gas war happening in Edmonton. It’s $1 per litre.

Would the Minister entertain giving customers, hunters and trappers in the communities like Fort Good Hope, a six-month grace period by selling fuel at the former rate of $1.80? Would he do that?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Did you see the ghost of the family past or just a portrait of past Premiers on your way to the Chamber? On this Halloween I wish to go over some spooky details. Well, they’re not that scary. No Grudges or Annabelles here, just some cold hard facts.

Right now we have 79 students attending Aurora College or are enrolled in courses at the community learning centres. After reviewing the Sahtu oil and gas needs assessment like a treasure map, 68 percent of those positions for this industry are tied to some form of transportation work. Either heavy equipment or truck driving...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The bill speaks to a number of points I have listened to from my colleagues and to the Minister. It certainly raises the questions on the appointments by this government for employees. Certainly for us in the Sahtu region, we have a different perspective. We are looking at the percentage of representation by this government of the people they serve into those higher levels of management.

Recently, I’ve been very pleased with the increase of northern Aboriginal people who are qualified who are now taking senior management positions. I believe that many of them have won...

I would certainly hope the Minister would be in contact with NTCL to say, listen, we have an issue here. The government supplies, we don’t know if they all got in. Private industry supplies didn’t get in. Homeowner supplies didn’t get in. Things that didn’t get into the Sahtu certainly affect our people, so I would strongly suggest that the Minister have a conversation with NTCL and say, who’s driving this ship here?

My question is: Is NTCL paying for the freight costs that are affecting my people that have to come in because the ship didn’t go up the Mackenzie River? Our highway was closed.

That is good news. I want to know if the Minister, along with NTCL, will have a meeting with the people in the Sahtu on the solutions that they’re talking about, some of the agreements that he’s talked about on the multi-modal of transportation, because people in the Sahtu would certainly be willing to listen and we want to know who’s driving this ship here. Certainly I would welcome the Minister if he can schedule a meeting in the Sahtu with the Sahtu people to talk about the NTCL issues.

More specifically, what are the solutions so that people will not have to have their materials shipped up...