Robert C. McLeod

Mr. Speaker, washing our hands of anything is not something that we do. We provide money to the communities to look after their infrastructure. They have that authority. It is an authority that a lot of communities have wanted. We will work with the communities as far as coming up with the plan. We are always willing to work with the communities, Mr. Speaker. For us to come back and say, well, we are going to do this, I think it defeats the purpose of devolving a lot of responsibility on to the community. So, Mr. Speaker, the communities have it within their means to implement 911 service when...

Mr. Speaker, in a lot of jurisdictions across the country it is the municipal government that provides the 911 service and funds it themselves. That is a position that we have taken, is that the communities have the financial ability to implement 911 if they choose to do so. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this whole situation has left a bad taste in all of our mouths and a bad taste across the Northwest Territories and it’s unfortunate. As much as we have our views on certain things and as much as we don’t like the situation, Mr. Hughes is a man of great integrity in my opinion. Therefore, the motion is very simple. It just says that the report of the sole adjudicator be accepted and that’s what I intend to do today, is vote for the report of the sole adjudicator to be accepted. Thank you.

Most communities do have an action plan and, as I said, we are always willing to work with the communities. If the communities came to us and said we need help in trying to develop something, we are willing to go there and work with them. But for us to go and say you are going to do this and you are going to do that, we always leave the onus up to the community and then we will work with any community that requires our assistance. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do know that there is some funding available to some of the communities that do provide emergency services. We always want to improve the services that are delivered and if communities come forward with a good action plan, then we are always willing to sit down and hear what the communities are saying.

As far as the funding goes, that’s an issue that is going to need to be worked out if it falls within their community. I spoke to the Member previous. There is the gas tax money. Disaster mitigation is one of the criteria that is allowed under this pot of...

Mr. Speaker, we do take the safety of the residents in the Northwest Territories very seriously. I’ll make that point quite clear. The seven communities that are in question here, there are a couple of them that have said that they’re not planning on 911 at this particular time. The one I spoke to in particular said they’re looking to enhance their own emergency services before they go to the next step of implementing 911.

The communities have it within their means to provide this service. Obviously it’s an important service for the city, because they initiated the report -- and I commend them...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it’s 873-1111 and 873-2222. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I’m not aware of the particular situation the Member is speaking of, but I will commit to the Member that I will look into it. If a contract has been signed with a contractor, then he would be asked to honour that contract and if he doesn’t, then other alternate arrangements will be made and if there are some costs to be borne, they would be borne by the contractor. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a concern that I’ve had raised to me personally by some contractors on the delivery of the contracting and how he thought if they had the contracts out sooner, they’d get a better delivery time. This is a discussion that I’ll commit to the Member that I will have with the department and we’ll see if we can work it out so it’s all in line with the capital process that we go through in the fall time so the contracts and materials can be let a lot sooner than they are now. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, that Bill 5, An Act to Amend the Commissioner’s Land Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.