Robert C. McLeod

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I have to commend the leadership of Norman Wells. They acted very swiftly when the situation arose there. I have to commend them for that. They had a plan in place. I believe they were probably a couple of hours from evacuation, but they mobilized very quickly with the help of the municipal government and our folks on the ground there. That situation was handled very well. They had an emergency plan. They implemented it and it went very well. It went a long ways to preventing further disaster there. As far as the Behchoko situation goes, I think the lesson that came...

Planning now is already underway for the 2014-2015 budget. We will be glad to look at a proposal. There is opportunity for an investment from this government and something that we would have to look at. We’d work very closely with committee and we’d work very closely with communities to see if there are opportunities for them to use some of the infrastructure money they get.

The Members in this House are well aware that MACA really doesn’t have very much money, where 78 percent of our money goes out to the communities in the forms of infrastructure and O and M. There are opportunities there...

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.

I think we learned a very valuable lesson in the Behchoko situation. First of all, there should be a central contact number, central contact point. There was a bit of confusion there. That’s one of the reasons that we encourage our communities to come up with an emergency action plan. Most of our communities, I have to admit, have an emergency plan and a lot of them, from past experience, have learned some lessons and made some changes. This is one, again, that we will take some valuable information away from and to ensure that hopefully doesn’t happen. But if another situation like this...

I do champion the needs of the communities within the Cabinet table as well as my colleagues championing the needs of the communities that they represent. I have to tell the Member, if there is a proposal that comes forward, we have to seriously have a look at it, understanding that technology is changing. Again, we have to work very closely with the communities, because this is not going to be a system that would apply to all 33 communities that we represent.

If the city wants to come forward or any other jurisdiction wants to come forward with a proposal, we will have a look at it and see if...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I believe we also partnered with the city when they were doing the report. The Member is correct; there have been a number of things that have improved since then. What I said at the time was that we do provide a lot of infrastructure money to the municipalities, and if they wanted to use that for implementation of 911, then that would be a decision that they would make. However, looking at the overall picture, maybe there is an opportunity now to sit down and review a proposal that the city may want to put together. Short answer the long way was yes, we will be glad...

Mr. Speaker, we will commit to the Members that we will do a bit of research. If there is a slight upgrade we need to make, I think this is a good idea that would work for those out there. I do pay taxes, too, and I don’t have an opportunity to see what I was assessed at last year. We will explore that, and do a little bit of research and see if we can implement it here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

I would like to welcome Sheila Nasogaluak, a constituent of Inuvik Twin Lakes, I believe. Welcome to the gallery. And to all the court workers up there, welcome