Members, pursuant to Motion 15-17(1) adopted by the House on Wednesday, December 7, 2011, you have agreed to interrupt our proceedings to receive the Address of His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada. Mr. Clerk, please escort His Excellency into the Chamber.
Members and honoured guests, welcome to the Legislative Assembly. When we rise for the entrance of Their Excellencies, please remain standing for a drum prayer by the Detah Drummers and singing of the national anthem by Mr. John Escalante.
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---Singing of O Canada
I’d like to take a moment during the proceedings to thank the Detah Drummers for their drum prayer and Mr. John Escalante for his beautiful rendition of our national anthem.
We have many special guests joining us today and I extend my warm welcome to all. In particular, I would like to welcome the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories, the Honourable George Tuccaro. Welcome to the House.
I’d like to also acknowledge the presence of my wife, Jenny, and Mr. Tony Whitford, former Commissioner, Speaker, Member of the Legislative Assembly and now Honourary Table Officer –
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– joining us for the first time on the floor of the Chamber. I also welcome Tlicho Grand Chief Erasmus, Dehcho Grand Chief Gargan, and Mervin Gruben, IRC representative today. Welcome to the House.
I would like now to invite His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston to address the Legislative Assembly.
Mr. Speaker, Premier McLeod, Members of the
Legislative Assembly, grand chiefs and chiefs, dear friends... [English translation not provided.]
We are simply delighted to be with you, my wife and myself. This is one of I hope many visits. As I will mention in a moment, my first visit here was almost 30 years ago. If you remember nothing of what I say today, I’d like you to remember two things: First of all, this is a part of Canada where we don’t speak about either/or, we speak about both/and. I’d like to give you some illustrations of both/and.
Secondly, there may be a tradition in the South of thinking of ideas and movements and technologies and people moving from south to north, but what I have to say to you is there’s a remarkable movement of ideas and influences from north to south. The contribution of the Northwest Territories to the makeup of Canada in a north to south learning curve is valuable. So those two things: a territory of both/and, and a movement of ideas for the good from north to south. [English translation not provided.]
This is the 13th of 13 official visits. We had hoped we would complete all of them in the first 12 months, but there were two elections that interrupted the visit here. One was the federal election last spring, which made it impossible for me to travel – the Governor General is not supposed to be involved in official visits during an election period – and then there was the election here. But here we are. This is a formal visit. Our first visit here was informal and that is the first of the both/ands that I want to speak about.
The circumstances were very interesting. I served on a committee in Ottawa with a name some of you will know: Max Ward – the great Max Ward, larger than life Canadian with extraordinary airlines, beginning as a bush pilot in the North. We were sitting around the table one day – it was January – and Max said to the group and to me, now, you’re a teacher, you’re a professor, have you ever been north of 60? I said, I haven’t. He said, how on earth can you be a teacher of important things in Canada and you haven’t been north of 60? He said, we will remedy that. Nothing more was said. Unbeknownst to me, Max got hold of Sharon and arranged that the last week in August of that particular year we would block off a week’s holidays, and about a week before the last week in August I realized that we were not going to the usual summer cottage that we rent, but we were going to Max’s wilderness camp on the Coppermine River with our three youngest children. And it was, in a word, magical.
I could talk for days about that experience, but one was a day when we set out in Max’s Twin Otter, went some distances, landed on a little lake and then went to a meadow where we saw some caribou moving towards us. We got up on a large rock and for all that day the caribou were moving through, and our children, eyes wide open, mesmerized, watched a day’s movement of a caribou.
They’ve never forgotten that. So, here we are flash forward with an official visit, but it reinforces those informal, unofficial, very personal, extraordinary memories that I have and my children have of our first visit here.
I have just come from the Caucus Room where I saw the largest display of A.Y. Jackson paintings that exist in one room anywhere in the country. This is a both/and experience for me, because in my office in Montreal, I was the principal at McGill University for 15 years and in my office was a wonderful A.Y. Jackson painting of the North. I can’t tell you how many people would come into my office and they’d be mesmerized in front of that painting and they’d say the colours are surreal. It’s a bit like the impressionists in France 100 years ago. Somehow this artist has done something with the colours that make them dazzling, inviting and penetrating, but it can’t be real. Then, of course, I made my first trip to the North and those colours were real. What Jackson captured was the unusual colouration of the North, which is unlike anything in the South and unlike anywhere in the world. That’s the both/and movement. This great painter who came north in 1948 was able to capture the realistic beauty of the place and present it to eyes in the South that saw it as something surreal, both/and.
One of my favourite writers is a writer by the name of E.B. White. My grandchildren call me Grandpa Book because I always read books to them and I’m now reading books for the second time. I’ve read the Narnia series five times to our five daughters and now with eight grandchildren going through it again. E.B. White wrote books like “Charlotte’s Web,” “Stuart Little;” wonderful stories that were for children, but they were for everybody. And he spoke about seeing things whole, connected one with the other. I think that’s what you do in the North. That’s what I mean by the both/and. You don’t divide things up into a compartment; you put them together in a context and they fit.
I see that in learning. One of the great lessons that the North has to teach the South is when we marry the old and the new, we marry traditional cultures and languages and customers and bring in the new that help us advance in a variety of ways, learning, economically, et cetera. We don’t drive a wedge between them. It’s not either/or. It’s this both/and marriage from those traditions from our past that are valuable and important and molded into new fashions of life that permit us to build more prosperous, healthy communities.
It’s true of new technology and old customs. I’m wearing this beautiful gift the Speaker has given me. It is a scarf, and a hat and a mitten set made of muskox hair and I learned just a moment ago that this is muskox hair that is collected from the muskox on Banks Island, temperatures going down to minus 60 degrees below zero. The fibre is remarkable in terms of its ability to store heat, to breathe. I was told by one of the experts that it’s even being used in Italy today for people with very severe burns. Somehow it can close those burns and permit them to breathe and heal, at the same time providing warmth. This is a beautiful sense of traditional clothing that was used for people in the North and now becoming a deluxe item in the South.
I learned just a moment ago in your Caucus Room that you speak 11 official languages. You know, we Canadians are told that we have a challenge of bilingualism, a country with two official languages. How do you make that work? In Belgium they’ve gone, I think, some 16 or 18 months unable to form a government because they have not been able to make two official languages work.
I’ve often said our problem in Canada is not bilingualism, it’s multilingualism. It’s how do we embrace more than one? How do we have the both/and? Here in the North, somehow you make 11 official languages work and somehow you understand one another and somehow we get on to build communities very well.
Darwin once said it’s not the most powerful or expeditious of the species that survives, it’s the most resilient. That resilience of being able to combine the old and new together, the both/and, I think is the magic that comes from the North.
I had the honour of being the founding chair of the National Roundtable on the Environment and Economy back how many years ago – 25 or so – when the notion of sustainable development first came into our lexicon. How do we have economic development that still respects and preserves the environment so it’s there intact for our children and grandchildren? Here in the North you are practising sustainable development every day. You are combining the both/and. You are developing economically, but you’re doing it with an enormous respect for the environment around, and you’re doing it with that inclusiveness where there are voices for all to contribute their learning, and out of it to come through with these solutions that permit us to have the economic advances that we wish, but ensure that we hand on this precious land to our children because we were simply stewards for a time for them.
In Yellowknife last evening the mayor and some of his colleagues were explaining why Yellowknife for three years in a row has been voted as the most sustainable community in the country. Because you’ve learned about recycling; you’ve learned about using biomass; you’ve learned about taking advantage of taking local materials and putting them to work and, above all, being enormously respectful to the land around us.
This morning we spent a little time with my great friend General Guy Hamel and his colleagues in the Joint Task Force North, and again saw this wonderful combination of old and new, of traditional military responsibility and embracing new members, the Rangers, both adult Rangers and the junior Rangers, which is a wonderful example of how our military brings local knowledge into military operations in a way that permits our communities to be safe and our country to be safe, and those Rangers with the enormous pride they have in what it is they do in their traditional past applied in a modern setting for the protection of Canada.
We see the both/and in the forms of government. Mr. Speaker, here we are in a round room where everyone can see one another when they speak. It’s a wonderful way to communicate, not a long, long room where you have to look around corners, et cetera. Looking one another face to face you operate by consensus. You haven’t found it necessary to break up into parties and factions and count votes down to the last decimal place, et cetera. Somehow you have a form of government that’s very attractive and the form of government that I also think focuses on consensus, because you can bring traditions of the past with new opportunities, new challenges and find that consensus.
Of course, we are forging new forms of government here in recognizing Aboriginal rights and responsibilities, forms of government that marry those different traditions and somehow find an accommodation which is a peculiar genius of Canada. Those are wonderful lessons that we need to transmit from north to south. Those are wonderful lessons that we need to transmit from Canada to around the world. You think of the root of so many of our problems. It’s the inability of people from different traditions to be able to sit down with one another and solve their problems with a common kind of consensus. It’s being done in the North, translated to the South and translated around the world.
This is not new. Let me just leave you with some thoughts from one of my favourite authors. [English translation not provided.]
David Fisher is a Pulitzer Prize winning author who writes a book called “Champlain’s Dream.” In it he says that our understanding of Champlain was greatly mistaken. I learned about Champlain in an English speaking school system as a French hero, not an English hero. New France, a conquistador came and conquered lands, explored lands, planted the French flag, demoted the Roman Catholic religion and then went back to France and that was it. If that was Champlain, it was a very small part of Champlain.
What Fisher explains is Champlain was baptized as a Protestant Christian, became a Catholic as a young man because he had to convert to survive in a difficult situation at that time. He was always someone at odds with the French monarchy because he was sent out to be a conquistador, but what he was was a builder of permanent settlements. He was a man of inclusivity. He was a man who believed in the rule of law. He was a man who believed that you build settlements around community consensus and always looking to leave that community better for our children and grandchildren. Champlain spoke many of the languages of the Indian tribes in his area. He made friends with all the Indian tribes save the Iroquois. The only reason he didn’t make friends with the Iroquois is they were the enemy of all the other Indian tribes and for a short period of time he actually arranged a truce. He established the rule of law in Canada. He had a great dream, did Champlain. That dream was that we would put behind us some of the quarrels and the dissentions and the inability for different cultures to live together that was Europe, and in this new land, Canada, build communities that were permanent based on inclusivity, based on great understanding, based on constant working with our neighbours, no matter what culture, colour, creed, language they spoke, so the land and the place would be better for our children.
So that is what the Northwest Territories means to me. [English translation not provided.]
We have here the concept of both/and putting things together and we have a great tradition of learning which should go from north to south.
Thank you so much, Mr. Speaker. A wonderful delight to be with you today.
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Thank you, Your Excellency. I will now turn to the Honourable Robert R. McLeod, Premier of the Northwest Territories, for a few comments.
Your Excellencies, colleagues, leaders, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the people of the Northwest Territories, I would like to thank you and Mrs. Johnston for visiting the Legislative Assembly and our territory.
As Premier of the Northwest Territories and on behalf of all of those gathered here today, I would like to wish you all the very best for your visit to this unique region of Canada, fundamental to this country’s past and its future.
We have a rich and diverse heritage, the heritage that is reflected here today and the circle of leaders that you see before you. Our cultural heritage and values have brought us to this place today where representatives from the Aboriginal governments are present on the floor of this House with Members of the elected public government.
This is the first time that we have gathered together on the floor of this House in a historic moment for the Northwest Territories. I am pleased that we are able to demonstrate our collective commitment to the people we serve. Together, we are building on our diverse strengths as we strive for the authority and autonomy to make decisions for all the people we serve. Your visit will give new symbolism and add further substance for our vision for a sustainable and prosperous Northwest Territories.
As you can see, we do not sit two sword lengths apart in the Northwest Territories; we sit in a circle and we talk. This Chamber is where we, the representatives of the people, debate issues and determine how we can move forward together. This is consensus government.
As you stated, there are no parties, no opposition, all Members vote on legislation and budgets. This is truly our government.
This is the only place in Canada with 11 official languages. In addition to French and English, there are nine Aboriginal languages still spoken in our territory today. Each of those languages has a unique culture and community-based life.
Earlier today Your Excellencies met with the representatives of the Federation Franco TeNOise and toured Ecole Allain St. Cyr. I’m sure you were struck by the vitality of the francophone community.
During your trip south of the lake you will learn more of our distinct cultures, including an opportunity to meet with the people of the K’atlodeeche First Nation and enjoy their excellent hospitality. I know the people of Hay River are looking forward to taking you dog mushing and ice fishing. Our beautiful Northern Life Museum in Fort Smith holds thousands of artifacts collected by the oblate fathers and Grey Nuns during their missionary work in the North that will provide you with a glimpse into the rich heritage of that community and region.
Your Excellencies are focused on learning and innovation, so it is very fitting that later this afternoon you will open an exhibit highlighting northern innovation at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre. Aboriginal elders, archaeologists, biologists, geologists and educators were all involved in developing this project. The depth and breadth of northern culture will be very apparent as you tour this exhibit.
As a territory, we share your vision of an intelligent and compassionate nation where families and children are supported. To mark your visit, we are making a donation of $5,000 in your name to Breakfast for Learning Northwest Territories.
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This charity funds school-based healthy breakfasts, lunch and healthy snack programs in communities all over the Northwest Territories, to enhance learning and the healthy development of children and youth. We are pleased that our support of such important projects can be highlighted at this time.
On behalf of the people of the Northwest Territories, welcome to Yellowknife, the Legislative Assembly. Mahsi, merci, quannamiik, thank you.
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Thank you, Mr. Premier. Thank you, once again, Your Excellency. It’s an honour to have you address this Assembly.
The House will now recess and we invite all our guests to remain and join us for a reception in the Great Hall and a special presentation of the Massey Medal.
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Good afternoon, colleagues. Before we get started today I’d like to send some condolences out to Marlene Edgi, who lost her husband, Louis, who passed away last week. I went to high school with Louis in Grollier Hall for three years and he was a good friend and one of my distant relatives. Thoughts and prayers are with Marlene and her three children, Megan, Colby and Lucas. He’s going to be sadly missed by all.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise on a point of order under Section 23(k) where it speaks to the use of abusive or insulting language of a nature likely to create disorder. Section 23(l) speaks disrespectfully of Her Majesty, any member of the Royal Family, His Excellency the Governor General, the Commissioner, the Assembly, or any Member. Section 23(m) introduces any matter in debate that offends the practices and precedence of this Assembly.
Yesterday during the debate in this House during Members’ statements as well as during question period, Mr. Bromley used the term that I think contravenes those sections. I would like to draw Members’ attention to unofficial Hansard page 12, “According to our Greenhouse Gas Strategy, the GNWT is prepared to allow our emissions to surge by almost 100 percent above 1990 levels by 2020. Given what we know, such policy followed through by any jurisdiction would constitute a crime against humanity.”
In addition, during question period, on page 19 of unedited Hansard, Mr. Bromley in one of his questions said the following: “…what words does the Minister have to explain our policies, which essentially amount to a crime against humanity…?” I indicated in my response to him that I took some exception to that and I went upstairs and I got a definition of crimes against humanity. A crime against humanity is an international criminal justice offence, the perpetration of acts of war, a pawn, a civilian, a non-soldier populace, a term used by, within and so defined by the International Criminal Court Treaty and including any of the following acts: murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, or forcible transfer of population, imprisonment, or other severe deprivation of physical liberty, torture, rape, persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic and religious grounds. The list goes on.
I believe that those words uttered by Mr. Bromley in this House contravene our rules; they bring disrespect to this Assembly; they bring this Assembly into disrepute; it lowers the level of debate; it casts egregious and invidious implications on this Assembly, this Cabinet, all of us Members present and past who have agreed to and supported the work of this government. It definitely calls into question and colours and brings disrespect to the members of the government, the thousands of good employees we have who work hard on behalf of the people of the Northwest Territories.
I think these words are unacceptable. I find them deeply offensive to us, to myself personally and to all the Members of this House. I would ask that you review Hansard and that Mr. Bromley withdraw those comments and should apologize to this House.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. I’d allow some debate on the point of order. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m glad to hear those comments from the Minister that are brought to the floor of the House. In fact, I was planning on tabling today a definition of the crimes against humanity as defined by the International Criminal Court. Indeed, as the Minister left off, there are other details to the definition. I’d like to just read into the record, if I may, some of those details on which my remarks were based.
The definition includes under Section (k) of the definition, “Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health.” The Rome Statute Explanatory Memorandum states: “The crimes against humanity are particularly odious offences in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity, or grave humiliation, or a degradation of one or more human beings. They are not isolated or sporadic events, but are part either of a government policy – although the perpetrators need not identify themselves with this policy – or of a wide practice of atrocities tolerated or condoned by a government or defacto authority.
The definition goes on to include: “Humane acts reach the threshold of crimes against humanity only if they are part of a widespread or systematic practice.” It was within that context that I was saying this government, if we allow our greenhouse gas emissions to increase by 100 percent from 1990 levels or 66 percent above 2005 as stated in our Greenhouse Gas Strategy, that we are in fact participating in a series of events in a policy and actions that are equivalent to crimes against humanity.
It is well documented that if you look on the World Health Organization recent estimate was 150,000 deaths per year as a result of climate change. Other estimates are immediately available in the order of 300,000 to 315,000 in 2009 per year. Millions of people have died of government policies that have allowed, despite their knowledge, we know what is needed to achieve an end to this policy that is killing people, and species, and the future of our children and ourselves. It’s happening right now as we speak.
I also want to note that they have a clause in there that provided those offences are part of a consistent pattern of misbehaviour by a number of persons linked to that offender. I’ll leave it at that. I’ll look forward to your judgment.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. To the point of order. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll just be very brief. I understand that Mr. Bromley feels very, very passionately about the environment and this is something that we have come to know is very dear to his heart. I do applaud his efforts and representations on behalf of the protection of the environment.
Crimes against humanity, as they are understood by the average person without these extensive explanations, are things that we see that occur in countries where they have civil war and all kinds of very direct attacks on human people. There are sins of omission and there are sins of commission. Maybe this government and maybe the Canadian government has not done as much as they could, and been as proactive as they could, but to make the leap from not doing that to saying that this is crimes against humanity and targeting a specific government, vis-à-vis our government, I think is an exaggeration.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. To the point of order. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I had heard the same words spoken in the House yesterday and it, too, did draw my attention to the concern of using the phrase “crimes against humanity.” At the time I actually reached for my trusty green book of Beauchesne’s Rules of Order to think is this proper language in this type of conduct.
I think Mrs. Groenewegen described the circumstances quite right: The everyday person would define crimes against humanity in the context of genocide and other types of horrific crimes that have happened in places like Rwanda that are terribly shameful and are a stain on humanity.
That said, I do agree with the assertion that this is offensive to the House under 23(k), in my opinion, and certainly under 23(m). I support the point of order.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was offended, I guess, when Mr. Bromley lumped us all together as being somebody like Hitler or Pol Pot or General Radek because he doesn’t like our Greenhouse Gas Policy. I think if he doesn’t like our policy, I’m sure he could have voiced his displeasure in other ways rather than likening us to some of these despots that have murdered millions of people.
On that note, I think that’s very inflammatory language and goes against the rules of this House.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. To the point of order. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate this opportunity. The only thing I would add is that an important part of it is that we do so knowledgably. This government is a very educated government. We are a very privileged nation and a very rich nation and our emissions are obviously off the scale in terms of a global comparison. I hope that you will include consideration of the millions and millions of families who are suffering as a result of government policies that allow our emissions to cause such climate change, including our youth delegation in Durban.
On the comment about emission and commission, I think the most important point there is that we know exactly what’s needed to prevent climate change and yet our policy here is going in exactly the opposite direction. What I’m talking about is the deaths and suffering and the loss of our future for our people. If that is not a crime against humanity I do not know what is.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. On the point of order. Thank you, Members. I’ll take this matter under advisement and report back to the House at a later date.
Thank you. Mr. Speaker, it would be nice to be able to announce that we are starting the 17th Legislative Assembly with a booming economy and enough fiscal resources to make all the strategic investments we need to further strengthen the economy.
Such is not the case. We have recently weathered one recessionary storm and another one is looming. While our economy is showing some signs of recovery, stimulus spending has left us with limited funds for new programs and services. As we approach the federally imposed borrowing limit, we have little room left to adjust for revenue or expenditure shocks.
As we move into 2012, there are signs that some parts of the NWT economy are beginning a modest recovery from the financial and economic crisis that struck four years ago. Our economy has stabilized one-fifth below its pre-crisis peak. Some sectors have done better than others. Our wholesalers have recovered half of their losses and our retailers have recovered one-third of their lost sales. On a more positive note, the number of people employed has almost fully recovered.
Over the course of 2011, forecasters have revised their economic outlooks downward for many countries, including Canada. Economic uncertainty is a global reality at the moment with the debt crises in Europe and the ongoing fiscal and economic challenges in the United States.
Exports of non-renewable resources make up almost half of our economy, which means that international economic events have a major impact on the NWT. Right now we are experiencing economic uncertainty because of the fragility of the international financial system, the high value of the Canadian dollar and limited access to international markets. These factors all have negative implications for our exporting industries and, therefore, for NWT businesses and employment.
The GNWT entered the global economic slowdown in 2008 in a stable fiscal situation and through strict control of expenditures was able to maintain our fiscal position while making significant infrastructure investments. These investments helped to partially offset the slowdown in the private sector activity and at a lower cost than would have been possible in a booming economy.
This does not mean that we can relax. Careful control of our expenditures is necessary to ensure that our operations remain sustainable, especially given the uncertainty with respect to our revenues and our closeness to the federally imposed borrowing limit.
Major pressures like the completion of the Deh Cho Bridge, cost pressures faced by NTPC, the potential impact of federal Justice crime legislation and the negotiation of four collective bargaining agreements add significantly to this challenge.
While our revenue forecasts to 2015-16 have not changed materially since the 2011-12 budget, we are forecasting that the growth in revenues will be less than we were forecasting last February. The slowdown in our economy could slow population growth and, therefore, has an impact on Territorial Formula Financing and tax revenues.
Our current budget planning horizon was developed using three assumptions:
Expenditure growth will be tightly managed this year. This means that only $32 million a year is available to address increased program costs and demands and any new spending.
Planning for capital investment in core GNWT, community and housing infrastructure will be reduced but stabilized at approximately $137.5 million per year, starting in 2012-13.
Short-term debt will need to be used until the government starts recovering its cash resources in the next few years.
Our fiscal situation is tight and we are keenly aware of the risks to our forecast and economic uncertainty in the world at large. We are currently managing within our fiscal resources but we need to remain committed to this principle in order to continue to prudently manage our budget, should, as some suggest, our economy recover slower than anticipated.
The 17th Legislative Assembly has a fiscal strategy that will gradually add more space between our ability to borrow and the borrowing limit. We are building fiscal room so that we can start to address the inadequacy of our capital budget without compromising our existing programs and services or revenue increases.
Minister Flaherty has proposed a new definition for the territorial borrowing limits to be described in federal regulations, which provides more clarity to what is considered borrowing for the purposes of the limit. The current limit will be adjusted to recognize the new borrowing instruments identified by these regulations.
The proposed new limit does not address the adequacy of the current borrowing limit. We have long argued that the borrowing limit should be based on the principle of affordability as we have conservatively defined it in our Fiscal Responsibility Policy. We are working with the federal government in a reassessment of the current limit and expect resolution by the end of this fiscal year.
If we achieve a satisfactory increase in the borrowing limit, we will be able to make some additional, but targeted, strategic infrastructure investments to build a strong and sustainable economic future for the territory. To be clear, we must still manage our expenditures on programs and services within our existing resources. We do not intend to borrow from the future to pay for the services that we use today. An increased limit, however, will allow us to make the strategic infrastructure investments that will help achieve success in the specific priorities that this Assembly has developed.
The success of this Assembly to realize our vision will require that we find the means to make investments in key priority areas such as transportation, health and social services, alternative energy and housing. The proposed fibre optic cable from Fort Simpson to Inuvik is another exciting opportunity that will allow us to diversify into new knowledge-based industries at the same time we improve community connectivity along the Mackenzie Valley.
Our fiscal challenges are not unique and we are not shrinking from them. We have built a sustainable operation and are aware of our fiscal risks. We are managing those risks and are prepared as can be, given the fragile state of the global economy and the many things we do not control.
This government and the Legislative Assembly are dedicated to a vision of strong individuals, and families and communities sharing the benefits and responsibilities of a unified, environmentally sustainable and prosperous Northwest Territories. We will maintain a stable fiscal environment that will allow us to make the necessary decisions to turn this vision into a reality. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The traditional economy plays a key role in diversifying our territorial economy and providing all communities and regions with opportunities and choices, a goal of the 17th Legislative Assembly.
Through the Genuine Mackenzie Valley Furs Program, the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment works in partnership with Northwest Territories trappers, the fur industry and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to support the territory’s traditional fur economy. The NWT is well known for its quality furs and I am pleased to report that the current market for our northern furs and the prices they are commanding is excellent.
This year the Government of the Northwest Territories is doubling the number of fur pelts trappers can claim under the Grubstake Program, from 200 to 400 pelts per trapper. The program offsets a portion of trappers’ start-up costs at the beginning of the next season.
This increase is in direct response to requests from our productive trappers. Not only will it provide them with additional start-up funds, it will also stimulate increased production of wild fur.
Grubstake funds are in addition to the guaranteed advance payment and the prime fur bonus payment.
Trappers who ship their well-handled fur through the Genuine Mackenzie Valley Furs Program will receive a guaranteed advance payment. If the fur sells for less than the advance, the program absorbs the costs. However, if the fur sells for more than the advance, the trapper receives additional money plus a prime fur bonus payment as an incentive to deliver high quality, well-handled fur pelts. The program’s guaranteed advance for seal skins is especially important in the Beaufort-Delta communities since the European Union banned their import.
Training is vital to ensure continued success in the international fur market. This December, trapper workshops will be held throughout the North Slave region. Workshops demonstrate industry best practices in pelt handling and fur grading and help to ensure the wild fur harvest in the NWT remains of the highest quality.
I also want to take this opportunity to recognize the recipients of the Trapper Recognition Awards. Awards are given to the top senior and junior trappers, as well as the trapper with the most pelts and the most market sales in each region.
For the first time, this year the top Youth Trapper Award went to a female: Ms. Marilyn Maring of Inuvik. Congratulations to all the winners on their well-deserved awards.
By continuing to work with communities and through the responsible development of natural resources in the NWT, we will continue to work towards creating a prosperous, diverse and sustainable economy that will benefit NWT trappers, their families and their communities for years to come. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Premier, Bob McLeod.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to announce the appointment of Ms. Tina Gargan as the president of the Status of Women Council Board. Ms. Gargan is serving her second term on the council as the Deh Cho representative. She is a recipient of the 2006 Wise Women Award, fluent in her own language, the recently acclaimed mayor of Fort Providence and a proud mother of two children.
She will be joined by the new representative for the Sahtu, Ms. Pauline Roche, and the new representative for the South Slave, Ms. Doris Camsell. I welcome them to the board and thank them for accepting this important role.
I would also like to thank outgoing President Therese (Dollie) Simon, who served as the council president for many years. Ms. Simon is an inspiration and a role model, and her dedication and hard work are greatly appreciated. I am confident she will continue to use her considerable skills to play a leadership role in her own community and communities across the Northwest Territories.
The Status of Women Council plays an important role in developing awareness of issues affecting the women and to promote changes so those women are able to take advantage of the many opportunities available in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. The honourable Premier, Bob McLeod.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Jackson Lafferty will be absent from the House today for a portion of the proceedings to participate in the Governor General’s official opening of the new Hunters of the Alpine Ice Exhibition at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centres. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to address an issue that is prominent within the Northwest Territories: mental health and addictions.
At the beginning of this Assembly, Members received a transition presentation from the Department of Health and Social Services. It was presented that their number one key strategic health status driver was, indeed, mental health and addictions. During my campaign I was asked what I thought was the number one concern in the Northwest Territories and in Inuvik, and after considerable thinking about what it would be, the conclusion was mental health and addictions. All the issues that we do face in the Northwest Territories all lead to some type of mental instability that can lead to further issues within our communities. It is no surprise that this is the number one concern within our communities across the North and contributes to the largest department budget within our government.
Currently, in the community of Inuvik, the waiting list to get into counselling is very long. Although I cannot speak for other communities, I’m sure it is the same. In some cases, individuals who need the counselling are put on a waiting list that can take up to three months. In that time most people will give up on themselves, give up on the process and give up on the government. Mr. Speaker, this needs to change.
With program requirements through Housing and ECE, clients are asked to seek counselling in order to be eligible for certain programs. However, not all people who need that counselling are going through the process just to access assistance. This puts a backlog on the people who truly need those services. When people are not getting the counselling that they need at an appropriate time, often it results in addiction use, increased mental health issues in the home and in the community, and in most cases, more serious cases, it can lead to suicide. With the Truth and Reconciliation Commission coming to the North there also has been an increase in counselling services that, honestly, are already being over exhausted. We, as a government, cannot continue to neglect those needing counselling services and, at the same time, burning out our own human resources.
The government needs to take a collaborative approach that includes Health and Social Services, Justice, Housing and ECE to address this problem.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
Mr. Speaker, we cannot continue to band-aid the issue. We need to identify the underlying issues and fix them now in this government. Our greatest resource in the NWT is our people. It is time that we take the appropriate actions and invest in the future of the North by investing in our people in our communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up on my colleague Mr. Dolynny’s statement on recognizing our aviation leaders, and mark the passing of a highly respected member of our community and a pillar of our aviation industry, Paul Laserich.
Paul passed away November 19th at his home here in Yellowknife, aged a mere 52 years. His passing came all too soon after the death of his beloved mother, Margaret Rose, this past summer.
Aviation and community service were the stuff of Paul’s life from the time he first moved with his family to Cambridge Bay in 1967. At the side of his father, Aviation Hall of Fame member Willy Laserich, Paul grew up in the traditions of community service and business excellence. With Margaret, sister Joanne, brother Rene and niece Jesce, the Laserich family provided the vital transportation and air evacuation services that improved and often saved lives in the most trying of circumstances.
As general manager, Paul carried on and expanded the Adlair tradition, building a business with roots firmly established in the Kitikmeot and Yellowknife. As a Yellowknifer, Paul was the epitome of community services. I can’t improve upon the words of Dan O’Neill’s eulogy at his memorial last week:
Paul William Laserich, our friend, with a heart bigger than his hangar, an aviation visionary, a flamboyant ambassador of the North with an uncommon magnetism and frenetic energy, a huge love of family, friends and the North.
Whether providing corporate support to the hospital and disabilities council, sponsoring a golf tournament, donating to the Yellowknife and Cambridge Bay food banks, or just plain helping out friends, Paul offered and delivered with goodwill and energy. When I phoned Paul in October, he offered his hangar for my nephew Matthew’s memorial before I could even get the first word of request out. We’ll miss Paul Laserich cruising around town in his cherry red caddy and outback hat, his business skills and mentorship, and his ready laugh and helping hand. The North is richer for his life. Please join me in recognizing a life of service and generosity. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Members, I’d like to recognize in the House today Ms. Jeri Miltenberger. Welcome to the House.
---Applause
The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to inform the people of the Northwest Territories of a GNWT launch of “My Voice, My Choice,” a youth drug and alcohol prevention campaign. This launch is occurring on Thursday, December 15th, here at the Great Hall of the Legislative Assembly at 11:00 a.m. It is important that we encourage our northern youth and have them express their voice on this important topic. The campaign will use a similar well-known setup like Speakers Corner to gather video camera responses to questions pertaining to addictions and messages for youth. The video clips will be edited and placed on the Department of Health and Social Services’ You Tube channel.
I strongly encourage all Members of this Assembly to participate with this initiative and to help send a supportive message to our youth about drug and alcohol addictions throughout the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve had some time to reflect on the Premier’s sessional statement and I’d like to provide some feedback.
All Members of this House have spent a lot of time in the past two months considering the current state of the NWT and what kind of roadmap we should lay out for the 17th Assembly over the next four years. That roadmap was the essence of the Premier’s statement yesterday. I don’t disagree with the road we’re travelling down, but I must speak to some of the priorities which aren’t on the highway that we have designed. This roadmap bypasses a few important landmarks.
The 17th Assembly roadmap has five priorities and specific actions under each, but where is the reference to education of both children and adults? One of our goals is healthy, educated people, but the Assembly’s decision to continue to do more of the same, to not make education a priority, will not graduate more high school students, will not advance the goal of healthy, educated people.
Over the next four years NWT residents will hear Members speak many times about the importance of our youth. But where is the reference to youth in the 17th Assembly’s priorities? As with education, the lack of a priority on youth will not help our young people succeed and become contributing members of our NWT society.
As well, the Premier spoke of looking for new revenues, and I was pleased to hear that. But he only mentioned resource revenues in connection with devolution. Why are we waiting until devolution is implemented to tap into a new revenue source? This government can add a new revenue source in the 2012-13 operations budget if the will is there, but so far I haven’t seen any indication from this government that they are willing to consider such an action.
The Premier spoke quite a lot about developing our economy and infrastructure investments. But again, what is obviously missing from these goals and priorities is a larger emphasis on the NWT’s social issues. The priorities address housing and health, but our social ills extend to many more programs and services than those two. A booming economy will not benefit NWT residents who lack the supports to get themselves out of poverty.
As I stated earlier, our document, “Believing in People and Building on the Strengths of Northerners,” which outlines our visions, goals and priorities, is a good document, but it has too many holes in it to be the comprehensive roadmap that we need to support our people properly. All Members must ensure that the social issues that affect our residents at the most human level must not be forgotten as we chase the economic development dream. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to recognize the coaches, chaperones, officials and volunteers that have been instrumental in preparing for this weekend’s territorial trials leading to the Arctic Winter Games. Athletes from the Mackenzie Delta will be travelling to participate in various sporting events, competing against the four other regions.
I would like to acknowledge the determination and the will from each of the athletes to represent Team NWT at the Arctic Winter Games in Whitehorse.
The territorial trials has always been successful, not only in naming the top athletes but it is a way for our athletes to learn more about the sport, to individually excel and, most importantly, to make lifelong friends.
I would like for the Members and the Ministers to join me in wishing all the athletes good luck, try hard and have fun. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
