Tom Beaulieu

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I have questions for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. I’ve been a bit concerned about the contaminated sites and waste sites in Tu Nedhe. I want to know what the plan is for this government, GNWT, to work with the federal government in cleaning up the contaminated waste sites in the NWT. Thank you.

There seems to be a bit of a difference between what the community thinks the clean-up should be and what the government thinks the clean-up should be. The community in Lutselk’e feels that the one contaminated site that’s been a bit of an issue is more contaminated than the government feels. I was wondering if the Minister could ensure that the officials from ENR do a bit of a community consultation, at least with Lutselk’e, before they do the complete scope of work on the clean-up.

Thank you. I think that would be a good start, to have the Department of Environment and Natural Resources look at the sites that the GNWT is responsible for. I think if we start there and recognize a shared responsibility between the federal government and the GNWT on contaminated sites that may be outside the community, some of them, maybe not all of them, but there are also contaminated sites that are the responsibility of the GNWT. To identify those and determine what the plan is I guess is what I’m asking the Minister. Thank you.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to pay tribute to three elders in Fort Resolution who have recently passed away.

Mr. James Fabien passed away Saturday, May 7, 2011, at the age of 71. James spent many years in the hospital in Hay River before his passing. James was known to have a very good singing voice, and entertained his friends and family for years. My condolences go out to the Fabien family. Mr. Fabien will be buried today, in fact, May 11, 2011. Mr. Fabien lived in Yellowknife for many years and worked at Giant Mine. He still has...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’m just looking for a little clarification on this page in relation to the career and technology studies. I’m wondering if that’s an increase. I’m still not 100 percent clear on these if they’re carry-overs, increases or whatnot. Did the budget go from 6 to 90 or is it from 850 to 1,241?

Can the Minister tell me when the department plans to start the process of cleaning up those seven sites for now? Although my understanding from the community is there are more contaminated sites than that, but that would be, like I said, a good start. What’s the plan to start?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too am looking forward to this bill getting through second reading, ready for committee, going to committee to do the public consultation so that the bill can be brought out to the people by the committee so MLAs can hear first-hand from the communities if they do have issues with the changes to the Wildlife Act with the new Wildlife Act. Give them assurances at the community level that this Wildlife Act is not going to adversely affect their ability as they manage their wildlife and give them some assurances, especially assurances to non-settled areas. In the...

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I have spoken in this House in the past about absenteeism and the great cost of absenteeism to the education system and the great cost of absenteeism to our society and to our government. The one thing that I have been told in Tu Nedhe is that this Food First Program is something that actually had the kids come to school. We had kids that were absent on a regular basis that were now coming to school. Another thing that the Food First Program has done is that it allowed a lot of the students to show up on time because the kids knew that there was a certain window in the...

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Monfwi, that Bill 1, An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act, be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I second the motion. I am aware that we have had passed, this would be the fourth motion of this type concerning this area. The problems are huge. It’s not equitable as it currently stands. The rents in communities where there’s few public housing, pay a lot more of their gross income if they get jobs. Right now, as it stands, this motion recommends an equalization across the board of people that go to work, go into a certain size house, they pay a certain amount across the board. It doesn’t matter if you live in a community where there are 300 public housing units or...