Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my statement today, I spoke about the tremendous oil and gas development in the Sahtu. I explained how much our people need help in negotiating with the oil and gas companies in forming joint ventures and assessing and creating opportunities so that we can build that pipeline and get all the benefits we can from exploration and development. Will our Minister commit to working with the organizations in the Sahtu to determine what assistance they need in negotiations and how the department can assist them and when? Minister of RWED.

My questions are for the Minister of RWED.

In their budget, the federal government has put $75 million for northern oil and gas development. There is also another $10 million for 2004-2005 in the northern economic development strategy. Can the Minister please provide the details that explain the following?

What this funding is for?

Who can access this funding

How you can access this funding?

When this funding will be available?

What other programs does the Government of the Northwest Territories have to help the Sahtu take advantage of oil and gas development and what is the best way for...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Mr. Premier. In light of the Bear River hydro potential for power in the Sahtu, and the rest of the Northwest Territories, between now and whenever that project comes to reality, what can we tell the people in Colville Lake and other communities like Colville Lake in terms of how to reduce the cost of power in their communities? I understand that the Bear River could be a significant benefit to a lot of people in the Northwest Territories, but between now and then I would like to know what type of plans the NWTPC has in terms of reducing the cost of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Minister, for one of the biggest forces in getting the pipeline off the ground and working through the Mackenzie Valley, the Treaty needs of the people in the local communities in the regions. The Minister informed the House as to what steps he will take with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment in terms of assessing the Treaty rights in their regions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to hear about the initiative of the joint committee on oil and gas. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit to working with the organizations in the Sahtu to determine the assistance they need in forming joint ventures and how he can assist and when?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’m here to tell you today that the Sahtu is open for business. There were four wells being drilled near Colville Lake and two wells drilled just south of Tulita from this past winter’s drilling season. Altogether, that makes six exploration wells and geographical programs running for a total of $56 million and 200 hundred jobs that have been created as a result of this exploration. This doesn’t even begin to recognize the potential, Mr. Speaker.

It is estimated that by the year 2009, if all goes well, more than 6,000 jobs will be created during the three...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That was what I was alluding to, to give some hope to the people of Norman Wells and all the people in the Northwest Territories. I just wanted to say that to the Minister, and I did my job with asking these questions. So I'll follow Sandy's suit; that's it, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Minister. The reason I ask is because education and the curriculum from K to 12 is important. The people in the small communities have a lot of things happening and there are a lot of things that need to be taught to kids in schools such as the land claim agreements that we settled in the Sahtu in 1993. That’s a living document that’s going to be used by future generations and parents are talking about how the land claims document needs to be taught in our school. We need to start educating our children on what it says in that document because that’s...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I know I have about 40 seconds, so I'm going to make a really short comment here in terms of helping families who are on income support programs, that we could look at the ways of supporting families to be more self-reliant in the communities that would be more productive in the communities to look at other areas that this department has been doing. I lost my train of thought, Mr. Chair, so I'm just going to leave it at that. Trying to ask my question in 40 seconds just doesn't do it, so I'm going to leave it and put some more thought to it, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to ask the department a question in terms of advanced education and careers. In the last couple of months I have been in some of the communities in the Sahtu and they asked about the initiative of this department in terms of helping the young people for preparing them for oil and gas training. We have the highway there and a lot of people want to work on the highway. One of the issues they have talked about is having Aurora College come into the communities and start training them to help them obtain a class I driver's licence, or as mechanics or on...