Robert C. McLeod

I can assure the Member, and all Members of the House, that we will do whatever it takes to try and ensure that all our residents across the Northwest Territories are covered. The National Building Code that I pointed out before does apply to residents also. That protection is there. We are monitoring the legislation that the Yukon is planning to enact and see if there’s opportunity for us to enact the same type of legislation. We’re monitoring that quite closely. Once that’s all done, we will have discussions with committee and Members of the Assembly.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to take this opportunity to recognize former Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Floyd Roland. With him is Mr. Grant Hood, SAO, Town of Inuvik and a constituent of Inuvik Twin Lakes. Welcome, gentlemen.

We will. Thank you.

Absolutely, we would like to hear from consumers out there. We do know that some consumers have some issues with some of the services they are getting. I think we have to recognize, too, that with the cell phone service capabilities in the Northwest Territories expanding, then there is going to be a need to have a look at something. We’re not quite sure what it is yet, but I can assure the Member that we are working on this issue and we will come up with something that protects consumers across the Northwest Territories.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec currently legislate contract requirements for cellular phones and so we follow that quite closely. I do know that CRTC does regulate the telecommunications in the country and they have initiated a consultation process to see if the telecommunications sector is getting to the point where they may need some intervention from the commission. Thank you.

Other than trying to wear public awareness and that, I suppose we would have to look at trying to work out some regulations. I do note that if they are renovating a home that was built prior to 2008, then the new requirements would take place where they need to install a CO2 detector. If renovations are being done, then it would be mandatory to install CO2 detectors.

Again, I can assure all Members that we will do whatever we can to ensure all members of the public are aware of the dangers of carbon monoxide and work with the public in any way that we can. If it means handing out CO2 detectors...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The National Building Code requires that all structures built from 2008 now have to have CO2 detectors. Any structures built prior to then, it wasn’t a requirement at the time. However, with the incidents that took place in the Yukon I think there are a lot of people who are starting to install CO2 detectors.

The department, working with the NWT Fire Chiefs Association, had a very good awareness campaign and I believe they were even handing out free detectors to those who wanted them. We are trying to raise public awareness. There are some requirements for it in the...

The Minister is very well aware of his authority on this issue and he continues to try to monitor, tries to protect the consumers out there. I think it’s something we as MLAs, not only Ministers, have to do. We have to make them aware, we have to make industry aware, we have to do our due diligence, do our homework to see if they are being charged fair market value. So the Minister is well aware of the authority he has not only in this portfolio but his other portfolios and we will exercise it when we have to. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Minister McLeod. The honourable Member for...

I think through the petition that the Member has started, we’ll probably get a lot of concerns about the price of gas not only from Yellowknife. I’m sure there are residents across the Northwest Territories, Inuvik for example. I think we’re very low today. I think it might be $1.87. That’s not too bad. I’m sure they will have some concerns with that too. So it’s an issue that affects residents all across the Northwest Territories. I know some would love to pay the price they pay in some of the larger centres but, unfortunately, that doesn’t happen. I’m sure through the petition, that will be...

I know we do work with a number of the communities to update their emergency plans. For the actual number and which communities, I don’t have that information right now. However, I will commit to the Members that I’ll compile a list of communities that don’t have emergency plans, but I don’t think there are very many. I think they all understand the importance of having emergency plans, and they’re working on those and updating ones that haven’t been updated for a while. But I’ll get the numbers and I will share them with the Members. Thank you, Madam Speaker.