Statements in Debates
Mahsi, Mr. Chair. I will probably not even be voting on this motion. I haven’t really decided yet, but I would like to hear everybody’s arguments here. I know they are all good ones and they do all have a lot of weight that we have to consider. What I look at also is basically these are intervener positions and resource development impact advisor positions, pipeline positions, whatever you want to call them, whatever title you want to give them, basically they are all pipeline driven. To me, the pipeline is not anywhere in the near future anymore. It is a couple or three years down the...
My question is for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Can the Minister provide a copy of the legal opinion on income benefit agreement payments that stipulates IBA payments should be considered as earned Income for income security clients?
Was this an independent legal opinion or an opinion provided by GNWT legal counsel?
How do IBA distribution payments differ from the Inuvialuit regional agreement distribution payments?
Why is the IBA distribution payment not considered an integral part of the land claims process by income security?
Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess for the interest of the Akaitcho First Nations, the Lutselk’e First Nations and probably the Nunavut Government, could the Minister tell us who are these other interest groups and why do they want a seat on this management board all of a sudden? This has been in the works for 13 years and why are they only coming forward now when the plan is in next to the final stage of approval, Mr. Speaker? Why did we wait so long to hear from them and who are we waiting for? Thank you.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources with regards to an area just east of Lutselk’e that is a unique, sheltered oasis within the Arctic tundra region. It is rich in wildlife, contains the Beverly caribou calving grounds, it’s rich in fauna, and unfortunately it’s also rich in uranium. There’s also been a real long, 13-year, planning process that’s been in the works since October 1994 into a management plan. The area I’m talking about is the Thelon Game Sanctuary, Mr. Speaker. The Thelon Game Sanctuary Management Plan has...
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I stand in support of this motion also, Mr. Speaker, for all the reasons that all the Members have stated earlier in all our Members’ statements and all the reasons here that are stated in the motion, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we all know that all our social ills here in the NWT have derived from alcohol and I just want to point what the Member from Range Lake did, that it is kind of a public enemy number one. But I’d more or less like to term it as the aboriginal enemy number one, Mr. Speaker, because it is the aboriginals that are in our jails, it is the aboriginals...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can I get the Minister to come forward with some indication to the proponents who, to my knowledge, have already approved the plan in principle of who we are waiting for to come forward to give their interest or state what their claim and interest in this management area? If they are totally legitimate, I don’t see why not, but if they’re really not that legitimate and we’ve been working on this thing for 13 years now, Mr. Speaker, so you know, why can’t we just approve, because this is just a plan in principle. So why can’t we just move forward with that and move...
Marci, Mr. Speaker. I also rise in support of this Territorial Power Subsidy Program motion due to all the reasons that we’ve already heard here today, Mr. Speaker, but also because of the fact that this program is almost 20 years old. In any subsidy program, I think, that this government initiates, should be revisited bi-annually or every five years to ensure that all the public money that we give out as a subsidy is being used in the best interest and in the smartest way that this government can work with. I think residential and commercial rates here in the NWT are definitely exorbitant...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t see any legislation being a big roadblock to implementing any kind of toll fee on our highway system which really takes a lot of wear and tear over one year. We are just dishing out millions and millions of dollars to keep the highway open free of charge. I know that the mines charge companies roughly about $100,000 a year to use their ice roads. We don’t charge anybody any toll fee to use our ice bridges or any bridges that we have up and down the Mackenzie Valley, so why don’t we consider something like that? If we want to be smart businesspeople here...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I didn’t get any indication of why we are not charging a toll fee on tonnage in the operations of the ferry or even the operations of the highway. I know there is a fixed rate at the weigh scales that companies pay, but right now, before we hit them with the $6.50 in 2010 or $10 or whatever it may be when the bridge finally opens its gates, why can’t we just start charging them a toll right now? Then when it comes time to charge them a toll when the bridge is open, they won’t take it so harshly and won’t try to think of alternatives to work around it. Why can’t we...
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I just want to follow up with the Member’s statement on the Deh Cho Bridge project. I just have some questions for the honourable Premier, Mr. Handley, I think whose court that this bridge is in right now. I just want to talk about some cost recovery initiatives that this government could probably give the green light to and probably should seriously consider giving the green light to since the Deh Cho Bridge sounds like it’s a go ahead anyway. The $6 a ton fee that the Premier was talking about last week that the rates plus the cost of living that’s going to be charged to...