Daniel McNeely

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like some of my other colleagues, this is my first budget presentation to be a partner with. It saddened me to say here during our reception, I just found out from the Fort Good Hope leadership our elder, Bernadette Manuel, who is in the Stanton Yellowknife Hospital right now is going to be taken off life support, so I ask my colleagues for support so I can dismiss myself to be with the elder. In growing up, she was a great giver of hospitality and generosity, and I think it is only respectful that I show her the same, so I thank my colleagues. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It seems that there is a commitment there or a program that we're waiting for. In the meantime, in particular one community in Norman Wells is expecting the barge to land here momentarily and we'd like the ice to be cleared so if the Minister could elaborate and clarify when would this be reinstated and if the dock landing would be cleared prior to the barge landing momentarily.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too want to add to the atmosphere here today on welcoming everybody back from a lengthy break. I know there were a lot of visits going on with our community constituencies and organizations and groups and individuals. Also I look forward to the conclusion of our fiscal planning and in the process building commerce and investment confidence so that we can move on to the next phase of building during our 18th Legislative Assembly session. In closing, I’d like to welcome the two young individuals, the Pages here for the session; Madison Melnyk and John Lagare the two...

There is the secondary carrier in our barge landing schedule called Cooper Barging and they do sail before the lake ice allows NTCL to leave Hay River and that arrives in Norman Wells on a scheduled basis. They are actually going to be the first one, so if the Minister would elaborate a little bit more on an interim solution I would say incurred by this government rather than waiting for the federal response, in particular for the landing in Norman Wells.

Thank you. Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minster of DOT in regards to the marine landing in three of the Sahtu communities. We seen a significant amount of, I would say, left-behind ice in our three community dock landings, and my understanding there's an existing federal program in that jurisdiction. I'd like the Minister to elaborate if that exists on the clearing and maintenance of the barge landings. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My final question is: when can we expect the information, and how will it be passed on to the Members. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Could the Minister advise the House as to the application in some detail, how many units are being applied for, and which region they are going to?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to recognize it in my statement the youth of our territory and region. Today, the 21 students from the Chief T'selehye School in Fort Good Hope are coming back from their trip from Edmonton, back to their home community after experiencing and touring some of the institutions that offer education, such as Grant MacEwan and NAIT. The exposure and the recognition for these individuals, the parents, and the community leadership, as well as a school staff, I want to recognize their hard work and efforts to making this a reality.

Also, this previous weekend, we...

My question is: after the program is designed and the efforts of lobbying and the efforts of trying to secure funding for that program, is the Minister willing to share that information through a briefing?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I ask my question to the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation. As we all know from the information provided, this government is going through some difficulties with resources, and we all know there's a high demand for affordable housing all across our communities in the territory. My question is: in taking advantage of the new federal plan and announced infrastructure dollars available, is our Housing Corporation applying to access federal infrastructure social housing funding? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.