Robert C. McLeod

The Member has pointed out quite well the benefits that will be in these two communities should they establish their own water treatment plant. Again, I say that our staff over at MACA are more than willing to meet with the community. As with a number of our programs that we do offer through the communities, the onus is on the community to make the decision to establish a water treatment plant – they have the authority – then our department will work closely with them to see how we can assist them in making these water treatment plants a reality.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are no barriers to establishing a water treatment plant in Kakisa. I noticed on their five-year capital plan they have identified some funding to go towards a water treatment plant. Again, we can work with the community. I’m not sure if their capital plan has changed, but we can work with the community and see what some of their priorities are and how we can make it happen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The contract tenders should have gone out and we anticipate some of the work being done on the foundation in late spring and construction in the summer and fall and scheduled for a spring opening of 2015. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, as we go further into the initiative and get some information, as we normally do, we will meet with committee and provide them an update and seek some input from them.

Again, we’re very early in the stages. We have to have a discussion with our colleagues over in the Yukon to see how their program is being rolled out and how it may be working. Again, everything that we do we share with committee and get some feedback from them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re quite proud of our athletes from the past and present. I think the athletes from the past have set the bar very high for our athletes coming along today. With the support that the athletes get from this government, they are able to develop. We have some fantastic sporting partners that bring all the games to the communities. With the support of this Assembly and Assemblies past, we have been able to increase the funding. We also have funding available for high performance athletes, those who are competing at a national and international level. We are quite proud...

Mr. Speaker, we will wait for the community to take the initiative. They know what their priorities are a lot better than we do. When the money was initially allocated to all the communities, they knew what their infrastructure needs were a lot better than we did, so communities have done quite well in that. We expect if the communities of Kakisa and Enterprise want to start the discussion on a water treatment plant, they will let us know and we’ll be there to start the discussion with them. We can provide them a lot of advice, technical advice and financing options. We’re more than willing to...

Again, I don’t see very many obstacles. Both communities are funded. We give them capital allocation and they can use that money towards a water treatment plant. As well, the gas tax money that the community has received, they can use that towards the construction of a water treatment plant. We’ve seen it in a number of cases in the past where communities have done a bundled project and got good value for the dollar, including water treatment plants in a number of communities at the same time. Again, there is another opportunity for our officials to meet with the community. Again, they have to...

Mr. Speaker, I’ll just work on the one question. We worked closely with the community in identifying a location for the Joe Greenland Centre and their preference was the existing location. So the demolition took place and the building is down. If all goes according to schedule, the elders should be able to move back in there in spring of 2015. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I believe the seed was planted a long time ago. I think we’ve been able to see what our athletes in the Northwest Territories are quite capable of doing with the proper mentoring, the proper training, the proper facilities, the proper funding, so it’s very important to us that we not only develop our athletes – I think it goes further than that – we develop them as people. I think we see that with a lot of the TEST ski program participants back in the day.

Again, we’re early in the stages. Any information that we do come up with and any feedback that we’re seeking, we will have a...

To the TEST program specifically, there has been no discussions; however, our colleagues over in the Yukon are tossing the idea around about a centre for sports excellence, and this is one initiative that we’ll be following quite closely to see if there are opportunities for us, as the Northwest Territories, to see if that would work here.

Again, I did have an opportunity to check out the Traditional Games; I had an opportunity to check out the NWT speed skating championships that were going on, and we have some fantastic speed skaters coming up. I understand there was also the territorial ski...