Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question today is to the Minister of RWED. My Member’s statement was about the federal government’s unacceptable delay in dealing with the radioactive, contaminated soil mountain in Tulita, as well as other contaminated soil mountains in the Northwest Territories. I find it infuriating and I’m upset that the federal government has taken this long to deal with the issue and take action on it. Mr. Speaker, it’s well past its time that this issue should be resolved. My question to the Minister is will the Minister approach the federal government...

Mr. Speaker, I ask for unanimous consent to conclude my Member’s statement.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if a favourable response is not received from the federal government within a reasonable time, will the Minister consider legal action to force the federal government to fulfill its legal obligations and to do something for the people of the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Mr. Minister. The temporary solutions; I don’t know the definition of the federal government’s meaning of temporary. It’s been 10 years we’ve stored it in Tulita and finally the Minister is willing to look at this on behalf of the people in the Northwest Territories. I want to ask the Minister when will he approach these federal agencies. Can he give me a specific time when he will approach the federal agencies to start the action to clean up the mess as he said? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. I urge the Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development to do all that is within his power to push the federal government to clean up the contaminated soil mound in Tulita as well as other contaminated mounds in the Northwest Territories once and for all and as soon as possible. I will have questions for the Minister at the appropriate time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to make a statement about the radioactive contaminated soil mound in Tulita. To be more specific, Mr. Speaker, what I will speak to today is the infuriating federal bureaucracy that can’t seem to get it together to take action on this issue.

From the 1930s to the 1950s, a 2,200 kilometre water transportation route was being used to move uranium and radium ore from Port Radium mine on the Great Bear, down the Bear River, up the Mackenzie River to Fort McMurray where it was shipped by rail to Ontario. The waterway system was called...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question today is to address the trappers’ process facility that was announced sometime this last summer. My question is to the Minister of RWED. In light of the announcement of the trappers’ facility, what has the Minister done to help the trappers of the Northwest Territories in light of the announcement by the federal department? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Minister. Would the Minister commit to a time frame that we could work with the other regions in the Mackenzie Valley? I’m going to be asking this on behalf of the Sahtu, that we could come together and look at the possibility of looking at a mobile treatment program that they could foresee sometime in the Sahtu region in light of the potential of the Mackenzie Valley pipeline coming down. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement earlier today I spoke about the issue of drug and alcohol treatment in the region. There are a number of unacceptable shortcomings in the way that addictions treatment is currently being carried out in the Sahtu; for example, the delay of allocating space for the community wellness workers in Deline and Fort Good Hope. My question to the Minister of Health and Social Services today is will the Minister of Health and Social Services provide this House and the Assembly with an update of the space allocation of community wellness...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is the chair’s comments on Bill 12, An Act to Amend the Education Act. The Standing Committee on Social Programs conducted its public review of Bill 12, An Act to Amend the Education Act, on October 12, 2004. The committee would like to thank the Sahtu Divisional Education Council for its written submission, and the Minister and his staff for presenting the bill. The bill will amend the Education Act and make consequential amendments to the Public Service Act to provide that superintendents are not members of the public service.

The Sahtu Divisional Education...