Norman Yakeleya

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...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was thinking last night and this morning what to say in making a Member's statement. Last night, my little boy and my wife came from Tulita, a 17-hour drive, and I was thinking about my appreciation for the role of our families in the life of an MLA. When I left here last night, I met them on the road going home and my little boy was happy to see me. He looked at me and said, "Daddy's ears are cold." He had a little red toque on and he said, "Here, Dad, use these." It's things like that that make it worthwhile, and I want to express appreciation to the families...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On page 2-39 of the main estimates in the budget summary, I want to ask the Minister and his staff, Mr. Chairman, about the 2002-2003 actuals. It seems like under the line of grants and contributions that we’re in a wave. It starts in 2002-2003 at $936,000, then in 2003-2004 main estimates go up to $1.2 million, then the revised estimates for 2003-2004 go to $3.3 million and then this year, 2004-2005, we’re back into $1.2 million. It seems like we’re riding a wave here and I want to ask the Minister and his staff, Mr. Chairman, why is that wave there? Can you explain...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the re-jigging the Minister has to do on an annual basis. Looking at the situation in the Sahtu, I think that the Sahtu is large enough and needs to be seriously considered as almost a stand-alone region. We’ve always been under the arm of the Inuvik region and the Inuvik region is a big region. It’s almost 14 communities and sometimes we don’t feel in the Sahtu that we receive the quality of service that we deserve. That’s why we ask in the Sahtu that we have a stand-alone region. The creation of the Sahtu health board is one step to that process.

With...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Minister. The Sahtu region got together on March 2nd, 3rd and 4th. One of the themes that came out of that leaders meeting for our future government in Norman Wells was the social impact of potential resources that may happen down the Mackenzie Valley. I would like to ask the Minister if he would work with the other Ministers in terms of preparing for the potential development in the Mackenzie Valley, especially the Sahtu region where they voiced a lot of concern in regard to preparing for some potential development in the region. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank God it is Friday.

---Laughter

Mr. Speaker, it was interesting hearing from the Minister of Health and Social Services on the aspect of the Nechi training. I am also a product of the Nechi training that was held in the Northwest Territories. I would like to ask the question to the Minister, would he continue his support for the Nechi training, especially in the Sahtu region, in light of the potential impacts that may happen down the Mackenzie Valley? My question is to the Minister of Health and Social Services. Would he continue on with the Nechi training in the...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I guess I take the opinion that I hope we can bring it back to life again. That’s another forum we can talk about. I guess what I’m alluding to, Mr. Chairman, is that what happens with this budget today in the process that we’re going through over the next couple of weeks is unusual. However, as Members we took it on as our own, as Mr. Ramsay alluded, that we went right into the budget without the business plans. That’s our responsibility and we did that. We’re learning here, Mr. Chairman.

I found that after a while it was strange not having a business plan and going...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Encouraging words from the Minister. That’s the point that I also wanted to talk about, is preparing the Sahtu region in terms of becoming a sustainable region. I know the federal government is a key component to helping us out here. If there’s any mechanism or way that we can work closely with this department and the Sahtu people and put pressure on the federal government in terms of owning up to their obligations in terms of the land claims and self-government agreements and the ability to have the Sahtu region become a stand-alone region, I know it’s going to come...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to speak to the way the trend is going in the Sahtu region. In the Minister’s opening remarks, we see the funding of staffing of 103 in headquarters, presumably Yellowknife, and 27 in the regions. I would like to ask the Minister about the reallocations. The Sahtu is in the Inuvik region but slowly, with the creation of the Sahtu health board and some other things coming in, we are becoming a region ourselves. There are many government departments in the Sahtu. I think it would be very effective if the presence of the Financial Management Board was in the...