Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In July of this year I heard a news report about the difficulties surrounding the cleanup of the old Treminco mine site outside of Yellowknife. I have some questions today for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs under whose watch this falls.

The gist of the news report was that Treminco had gone bankrupt and that our government could end up paying completely for the cost to clean up the site. This was after the government had auctioned off the buildings and equipment that were out at the mine site in order to try and defray the cost of cleanup. Contractors...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister for his comments and I appreciate that he’s saying it’s going to be at minimal cost to us as a government. We’ve already incurred some costs; we’re going to incur more, from the sounds of things. I guess I would like to know from the Minister that should we not find a company who can remove these buildings for us, the bottom line is, is the government on the hook to pay for the cleanup of this particular mine site? Thank you.

I appreciate that the Minister is saying that this government would provide some assistance to the City of Yellowknife if such a situation were to occur. I think it’s important to note that Northland is a neighbourhood of about 1,100 people, which is about 2.6 percent of our whole NWT population. To the Minister, should the city all of a sudden have to find accommodations for some 1,100 people, what will our government do to assist them?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. I have spoken before about a portion of my riding where the residents are facing huge infrastructure replacement costs. The Northland residents are still struggling to finalize a plan for the project to replace their aging and decrepit infrastructure. They’re trying to find a way to finance this plan. Recently the City of Yellowknife submitted a proposal to the federal government for some funding through the GNWT. I particularly want to thank the GNWT and especially MACA for their...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I continue my efforts to convince NWT residents and some MLAs, unfortunately, that driving a car and using a cell phone are not compatible. I will put some more info out there and add to the public information, which apparently is necessary to make NWT drivers realize the dangers of distracted driving.

Someone on a cell phone while driving is four times more likely to have a collision than a not-on-the-phone driver. That increase is compared to the risk of collision when driving with normal background distractions, not compared to ideal circumstances where there...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have to totally agree with the Minister. I absolutely hope we never get there. But almost every day, every month that this infrastructure doesn’t get replaced the potential for a major sewer break looms larger and larger.

The Minister says that this government will do what they can. That doesn’t really satisfy me in terms of details. One of the things that would be needed is that once this catastrophic sewer failure has occurred -- and the city is going to be on the hook for it probably -- what would the GNWT do to assist the city to get these major infrastructure...

Thanks to the Minister for that update. I appreciate the efforts that this government is making towards trying to get some answer out of the federal government. I expect there’s as much frustration on the part of MACA as there is on the part of the Northland residents with regard to the proposal.

If the situation should occur where Northland has a major and sudden and serious sewer infrastructure failure, I’d like to know from the Minister whether or not there are any protocols, policies, guidelines that exist within this government that would govern GNWT actions in such a case; actions that...

Lastly, Mr. Speaker, a local travel agency has an ongoing challenge to NWT residents and businesses challenging us to make our cars a safe cell phone zone; no use of a cell phone in the car. So far nine businesses have taken up the challenge, but that only means there’s so many more who could join up. I’m hopeful my statement today will encourage more individuals and businesses to take up this challenge. It’s easy. Just go to www.topofworldtravel.com, fill out the form and send it in. I dare everyone who is listening to do it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess I will have to figure out what document we’re talking about there.

My concern with the capital needs assessment for the capital planning process is that it only looks at existing buildings, and my concern is with the need to fill in this gap for assisted living as there is no indication in this document for any accommodation of persons who need assisted living with supervision.

I agree with the Minister that institutions should be the last place that people go, but certainly there should be some planning, in my mind, for homes, whether they be homes that are owned...