Robert C. McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister has reached out to take the lead in this. We, as I mentioned to Member Bromley, have had good discussions with the YKDFN. We met with them out in Detah. The Member makes a good point that there is strength in numbers, if we can all relay our concerns to the federal government as to the number of leases that were let out there. The majority of them, there are 122 and I think 35 of them are here in the capital. There are a few out in the other areas of the Northwest Territories, but the issue is not as problematic there as it is here because there is a lot of...

We were doing all the work because we knew that devolution was coming and we would have to have responsibility for all Crown land that is transferred over to Commissioner’s land. We had updated our regulations. We had done a lot of good density study work, and our regulations would have applied to any new leases that may be coming.

I do tend to agree with the Member that with devolution coming we would have assumed that they would have put any new leases on hold until after devolution, and then those applications could then come to the Commissioner and be regulated under our Commissioner’s Land...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We were unaware that they were going to be putting these leases out. Of course, we were quite concerned with all the work that we were doing, as far as the density study goes, around those areas. As far as the public process, I mean, I can’t speak to how AANDC does their business, but I think we would have all known in this building today if there was a public process as to the leasing of their lots. I can’t speak to what they were doing. I can only speak to what we knew and what we didn’t know.

Thank you. I would have to have discussions with my colleagues on any potential pots of money that might be available. Again, I reiterate the fact that we do provide a lot of infrastructure money to the communities and the Member raises the point about the emergency side of it.

Again, there was an old federal program where we were able to access some kind of money for that. That’s gone now. We’ll wait and see what the rules are on the new pot of money that the feds are coming out and exactly what our share may be. So there may be opportunities there for that too.

I think, at the end of the day...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My understanding is that I think there were issues with that particular radio station before with the towers or the infrastructure before the flood and I’m not sure if there was a claim made, but the Member’s second part of his question he asked how we can assist. They are able to use some of their O and M funding for infrastructure. However, if the costs are quite high, then they can use some of their infrastructure money to assist with the infrastructure for radio delivery. As well, my understanding is that there is some monies available through ECE to assist with the...

Mr. Speaker, addressing housing needs is a priority of the 17th Legislative Assembly, and the NWT Housing Corporation offers a range of programs along the housing continuum to help residents meet their shelter needs. Public housing, supports to third-party organizations that provide low-cost housing, rent supplements, home ownership repair programs, and subsidies to help low and modest income purchase homes all help residents depending on their needs. But there is more work to do and homelessness is another of the important housing issues in the Northwest Territories.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We all in here I think appreciate the value of this type of service. However, there are a number of things we need to look at. I think a couple of Members have pointed out some of the challenges we face. One of the therefores in the motion is that we update the Fire Prevention Act. The Fire Prevention Act regulates the investigation, reporting of fire hazards. It does not address ground ambulance or highway rescue in the Northwest Territories. We’re working on updating the Fire Prevention Act right now and we need to keep that work going to ensure that that act is… If...

Thank you. The Member is correct; we do have an interdepartmental working team, and one of their duties is to identify all types of services that might be available in the communities as far as emergency goes. A radio station would fit under that, but they are looking at all the different types of emergencies and how we can assist communities. Once we come up with our initial findings, we’ll be sharing them with standing committee and then we’ll get some input from them, and we’ll go from there on a go forward basis. Thank you very much.

Thank you. As far as capital dollars go, MACA has absolutely no capital funding dollars. We give all the capital funding dollars to the community and they can make a determination. If they want to spend the $6,500 on this particular piece of infrastructure, then they have the ability to do that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My colleague from Boot Lake said it well, before me, when he said we have to thank our families for all the time we’re down here. I’ve got my wife, Judy, up in the gallery. I thank her for her support. I’ve also got up in the gallery, my sister-in-law Debbie. Welcome to the Assembly. We also have Ellen McDonald and Melissa McDonald, both from Inuvik.

We have been here for a long time. We’ve been here for six weeks and my grandchildren are watching. I’m coming home tomorrow and, yes, I bought you something.