Robert C. McLeod

Mr. Speaker, all winter, we have been encouraging our departments to try to hire as many summer students as possible. I think it is a priority of this government to try to get as many of our young people out in the work force as we can, to help them get through school, and I can say that the departments have responded very well.

Right now, I think the Department of Infrastructure has the most summer students, followed closely by ENR, but I am told we just hired two, so I think we just passed them. I would be glad to share these numbers so that we know exactly which departments are hiring summer...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the Member for that very positive question. I can inform this House that we are projected to be ahead of last year's numbers. I think, last year, we had 306 summer students who were hired. My understanding is we have 272 who have been hired so far this year, and I think we have another 50 job offers that are awaiting signatures. We are well ahead of last year's numbers, and I think we have heard the concerns from Members of the House.

As far as the advertising goes, a lot of the kids who go to school or come on as summer students are well...

I know there are a lot of exciting things coming forward with the marine transportation thing now in the hands of the Government of Northwest Territories, and we are proceeding on a number of these fronts. Like I said, we are concentrating on getting the shipping season out in front of us and getting stuff to the communities, which is the most important thing.

We are working alongside with my colleague beside me, the Minister of ENR, on a phase 2 environmental assessment of all of the properties that are in Hay River and identifying any hazardous material that is on these potential properties...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our projections for the work force coming this year are roughly around 145 employees, and I can actually update the House a little bit. So far, to date, our work force is probably about halfway to where it needs to be to get up to full operation, but, up to date, 34 millers have been hired, as well.

Mr. Speaker, ENR is part of a project team that has been leading the development of the human health monitoring program, and I believe Dr. Rory Chan is working on this. An advisory committee was established, and GNWT's Health and Social Services office of the public health representative sits as a member of the advisory committee providing expert advice and direction.

The Giant Mine Remediation Project team, we're going to be putting together a socio-economic strategy. Its implementation is being designed to address socio-economic impact from the Giant Mine Project, and the upcoming study will...

Mr. Speaker, first of all we are supportive of the surplus funds going to research programs. I'm not sure if there was a mechanism in the agreement that had allowed for that, and I will raise that again. We do have some FPTs that are coming up this summer. We have the Finance Ministers' FPT, as well as the Ministers of the Environment. It is our understanding, though, that INAC is actively working on a solution to address the concerns that were raised, but, again, at the earliest opportunity, I will raise these issues with my federal counterparts.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, no, I am not going to commit to doing that, but I am going to commit to encouraging our departments to try to bring on as many summer students as possible. I think, in the Member's riding alone, with the amalgamation of the new departments, there were an additional 24 positions being brought on into the Sahtu, so the Member has done quite well representing his riding.

We will continue to encourage our departments to try to bring on as many summer students as possible. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct. We currently have two, but, as I said, we have 50 more that are outstanding, awaiting signatures. I am not quite sure where those are. I can find out and see how many we put into the Member's riding. As I said before, I will have to get the exact details on the actual advertising for summer students, but this is a program that has been going on for a while, as the Member has said. The numbers are improving this year. Two years ago, the numbers were 341. We are hoping to exceed those numbers.

If you count the other agencies that are funded by the Government of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following four documents entitled "Additional Information for Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 606-18(2): Status of Transboundary Water Management Agreements;" "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 650-18(2): Hiring Candidates under the Affirmative Action Policy;" "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 676-18(2): Diamond Mine Environmental Agreements;" and "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 680-18(2): Giant Mine Oversight Board Research Funding." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We are planning a workshop in every region during this fire season. We have had one that was conducted in North Slave already, and that may be the one Member we spoke of. We have had two conducted in South Slave already so far this year. We are planning a FireSmart representative workshop this fall, so that all the regions will be able to conduct their own workshops in the future. We continue to work with individual value-at-risk owners in communities to protect their values at risk from lowland fire. We also have identified four communities that could be at extreme risk this coming fire...