Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise on a point of order under Section 23(i) where it speaks to imputing false or hidden motive by another Member. Section (h) makes allegations against another Member and Section (k) is abusive or insulting language of a nature likely to cause disorder.
I would like to draw Members’ attention to unofficial Hansard page 9 yesterday, where Mr. McLeod, Bob McLeod, in speaking in support of Mr. Miltenberger’s point of order in the House said: “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.”
It is possible that Mr. McLeod was influenced by similarly inflammatory language by Mr. Miltenberger who, on the previous day, according to unofficial Hansard, page 19, implied that I was trying: “to put us in the same category as Gbagbo and some of these folks from Serbia and other folks that have been charged over the years, Nazis and stuff...”
Mr. Speaker, surely it’s reasonable to use hard words in attempting to help this House to realize the urgency for action on climate change. Its rising impact on humanity is clear and not debated. The actions required of government to reverse this impact are also clear and not debated.
However, the Minister agreed this is so, in responding to my first oral questions on Wednesday. However, responsible governments around the world have failed to implement the required action, and thus horrific impacts of famine, drought, floods, storms and ocean surges caused by climate change now rise annually to include human deaths in the hundreds of thousands.
I have called attention to our role as one government in this clearly global situation, but this is a far cry from me calling government leaders war criminals such as Hitler, Radek, or Pol Pot. The clear implications of Mr. McLeod’s words that I was saying or implying that we are the same as these people is offensive and odious to me and, in my mind, an attempt to stifle debate and clearly cast false aspersions.
I can say it no better than in the words of an advisor. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a crime against humanity is an immoral or destructive act following from a sense of crime, meaning a shameful or regrettable act, an unfortunate situation, a bad thing, an evil or injurious act, an offence, a sin, especially of a grave character. Well, nobody likes to hear such words about his or her own actions. I, for one, agree that the GNWT’s lack of leadership on this issue constitutes crimes against humanity of the highest order, threatening the health, happiness and various lives of the millions or billions of human beings and the ecosystem they depend on. The fact that these crimes are being committed by other leaders around the world makes the GNWT no less culpable for them.
Thus, Mr. Speaker, my point was that if we continue these actions...
Mr. Bromley, I would like you to just stick to your point of order. It’s not for rebuttal. So, if you could get to your point of order, then we may proceed. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That concludes my point of order.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. I will allow some discussion on this. The honourable Premier, Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can only speak to what I heard and the honourable Member is now changing his definition of a crime against society. He took a very broad brush and lumped us all in there, and now he’s trying to say there are different shades or different definitions of crime against humanity, and I think if you’re going to use inflammatory phrases like he did, I guess he should expect that he will get the same kind.
I think that to now try to change what he meant by using those very offensive words of “crimes against humanity,” to say he didn’t want to include war criminals and he only wanted to talk about people that were offended by how the governments are taking action on climate change is a whole different category. He did say “crimes against humanity,” and my interpretation of people who perpetuate crimes against humanity are dictators and warmongers who have killed millions of people. To lump us into that same category, to me, is very offensive.
I heard what he said and that was my interpretation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. On the point of order, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just want to rise and note the whole intent of our points of order is to bring order to the House and I believe that further discussion is not really helping our Assembly and our government as a whole. Mahsi cho.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. To the point of order. I will allow Mr. Bromley to close.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Very briefly, this House has yet to rule on whether my use of “crimes against humanity” was indeed a wrong use of our language or not. But, obviously, Mr. McLeod believes it was wrong. I believe it was right, but he believes it was wrong and uses that to justify his using bad language or the wrong language as well. Do two wrongs make a right?
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. On this point of order, I’ll take it under advisement and report back to the House at a later date.
I want to remind the Members, we’re put in these positions to work for the betterment of the people of the Northwest Territories in trying to move forward. This is the second point of order since we sat in the House and it’s only the fourth sitting day we’ve had. I want to remind the Members to try to work for the betterment of the people of the Northwest Territories. I’ll take your point of order under advisement and I’ll get back to the House at a later date.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. “Public Service. Public Focus.” is the motto of 20/20: A Brilliant North, the NWT Public Service Strategic Plan. Our ability to provide quality programs and services is clearly linked to recruiting and retaining talented staff who are committed to their professions, their communities and the people they serve. The public service is the face of the Government of the Northwest Territories.
20/20: A Brilliant North guides the ongoing development of the NWT public service, with the aim of making the GNWT an employer of choice. There are real advantages to working for the GNWT public service. We have competitive salaries and great benefits, including the public sector pensions. There is a great range of diversity of work and our staff have opportunities for career growth, development and advancement. Many staff have told us how much they appreciate our family-friendly work environment, including paid time off during the holidays.
Ultimately, the GNWT seeks to balance ongoing positive, constructive relations with our employees and their representative bargaining agents, with sound fiscal management and good governance.
20/20 includes a range of actions. The Department of Human Resources continues to make significant progress in fixing and sustaining the foundation for human resource services. We are improving pay and benefits processes and completing service partnership agreements that confirm roles and responsibilities of our staff and the clients that we serve. This is a very important initiative that is long overdue and is critical for strong corporate human resource management.
I am excited about promoting the GNWT as an inclusive workplace that recognizes and embraces diversity. This ensures that excellence, innovation and commitment form the basis of our service to the public. In early 2012 a new campaign will promote the GNWT as an inclusive workplace that embraces diversity, including the hiring and supporting of employees with disabilities. As well, the GNWT will be issuing a confidential survey to all employees late in January 2012 that will encourage employees with disabilities to anonymously self-identify. The government is also in the process of developing Aboriginal cultural awareness and diversity awareness training for the public service.
As is the case with governments across Canada, the GNWT has an aging workforce that needs to take steps to ensure succession planning within the public service, including:
the Associate Director/Superintendent Program that supports the development of Aboriginal employees into senior management positions within the public service;
developmental transfer assignments that provide employees with opportunities to develop on the job; and
formal education programs such as the Leadership Development Program.
These are just a few examples of the initiatives that support our public service and ensure we continue to have skilled, talented employees within the Government of the Northwest Territories. To this end, I look forward to working with the Members of the 17th Legislative Assembly as we support 20/20: A Brilliant North, the NWT Public Service Strategic Plan and the public service mission of providing excellent service to the people of the Northwest Territories.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. David Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s my pleasure to provide Members and Northerners with an update on the Mackenzie Valley to Tuktoyaktuk Project. I’m pleased to reiterate a confirmation from the Caucus of the 17th Legislative Assembly identifying the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway segment as a priority project that will help to strengthen and diversify the Northwest Territories economy.
In the June 2011 budget, the people and Government of the Northwest Territories were pleased to hear Canada include $150 million over five years for the construction of the all-weather highway from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk. The federal government described the highway as a project of national significance because it advances the country’s position on security, sovereignty and economic development.
A great deal of planning work is required before starting a project of such significance. Department officials are currently preparing a business case report, which will assess procurement options. Department officials have initiated discussions with Canada toward a draft funding agreement, and discussions with the Inuvialuit land administration to secure land tenure for the highway right-of-way have also begun. This work will lead to important decision points for the 17th Legislative Assembly.
The proposed Infrastructure Acquisition Plan for 2012-13 includes preliminary funding that will allow the department to continue this planning work, thereby indicating to Canada our commitment to build the all-weather highway.
Further GNWT investments will be needed to complete this project. One of the things that would make it easier to plan for and fund not just this project but for other infrastructure needs as well would be a completed Devolution Agreement. Such an agreement would give this government access to resource revenues that could be used on behalf of all residents of the Northwest Territories.
I would also like to update Members on the progress we are making on the planning for the southern section of this highway. As Members may recall, a funding announcement from CanNor in 2010 led to department partnerships with land claim groups and organizations to lead, develop and manage the project description reports – PDRs, as they’re referred to – for sections of the Mackenzie Valley Highway.
These partnerships maximized local involvement, increased local input and maintained local control of the planning process. These partnerships have also confirmed how government and Aboriginal groups can partner on the planning of public infrastructure projects.
On November 30, 2011, the department received a third project description report of the Mackenzie Valley Highway. During the handover ceremony in Norman Wells, it was especially encouraging to acknowledge that all of the land corporations in the Tulita district passed resolutions supporting this work. It was also encouraging to know that Ms. Cece Hodgson-McCauley is still advocating for our highway, and it was a pleasure having the opportunity to meet with her again.
The Department of Transportation has also confirmed that the Kahsho Development Foundation and the Pehdzeh Ki First Nation will be submitting the final two PDRs before the end of this year.
The PDRs will be brought together into one report and will be provided to regulators for initial review early in 2012. The next steps are subject to obtaining additional funding to continue moving into the planning and environmental review process. Building on this momentum, the department will continue toward moving the project into the next phase.
Northerners are ready to take another step toward realizing the dream of an all-weather highway from the NWT-Alberta border all the way to the Arctic Coast. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Towards the end of the 16th Assembly, I tabled the Aboriginal Student Achievement Education Plan. It was developed after a broad consultation and aimed to eliminate the education gap between Aboriginal and other students. I am pleased to say that Aboriginal education leaders endorsed the plan by signing the Education Partnership Declaration.
The plan lists the four priorities of the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative: early childhood and child care, family and student supports, Aboriginal language and culture curriculum and resource development, and literacy.
This year we are taking action on several of these priorities. To support literacy, the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative funded five new community libraries in the schools in Behchoko, Fort Liard, Gameti, Whati and Tuktoyaktuk.
This funding brought new research materials, books, graphic novels, picture books and magazines for children and adults into libraries. It also allows for one member of each community to keep the libraries open after school hours for public usage. These community members received training and support from the public library services staff. The Northwest Territories now has 20 public libraries covering all regions.
The Department of Education, Culture and Employment also provided funding towards one literacy coordinator for each school division. These coordinators participated in several days of training at the beginning of the school year. ECE staff worked with them to highlight regional successes and improve literacy practices in the school.
Funding was provided again this year to support the orientation of teachers in Aboriginal culture, and work progressed on developing a Dene language curriculum.
To engage parents, teachers and students in school, last year we implemented the first phase of a communications campaign focused on attendance at school. It was well received, Mr. Speaker. Our feedback tells us the campaign has resonated with students. We are continuing the campaign this year, as we know that attendance is a key factor in education success for students. Our next steps will focus on engaging parents more fully in their children’s education. We heard many times during our consultation that the school alone is not responsible for educating students. Parents must take control of their children’s education.
His Excellency the Governor General has made it one of his priorities to reinforce learning and innovation to ensure Canadians have the opportunity to reach their full potential. During his visit to Fort Smith today, Mr. Johnston will be taking part in a roundtable discussion on the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative to learn about one of the key ways the Government of the Northwest Territories helps our people achieve their educational goals. We must continue to believe in our students and support the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative, so all students can reap the benefits, bringing us closer to our goal of healthy, educated people. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Premier, Bob McLeod.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Michael Miltenberger will be absent from the House today to host a dignitary visit by the Governor General of Canada in Fort Smith. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to talk about addictions. Last month when Members set our collective priorities for the 17th Legislative Assembly, we included enhancing our addictions treatment programs, and for good reason. If we could only solve some of the problems of addictions with some action, by taking action, so many other issues would become less of a problem than what we have here before us today. We would have less crime, less violence, fewer people on income support. We would have healthier families, fewer babies born who are sick, who are with illnesses, better educational outcomes and a much less strain on our health system.
Every time a person gets on a road to recovery and stays the course, there are positive ripple effects that go through society. As I mentioned before, we have less problems. The question that we have here today is: What is this Assembly going to do by helping to get people on the right track, by supporting addictions treatment programs here in the North?
I will have questions for the Minister of Health later today. Thank you.
The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to continue my crusade for better services from this government for residents struggling with homelessness and inadequate housing. In September, during the election and the campaign, there was a lot of talk around the issue. Candidates expressed support for an Anti-Poverty Strategy, for more housing and better housing programs. Now that the rubber has hit the road, so to speak, now that this new Assembly is in place, the new Executive is up and running, I have to ask this question: What will the 17th Assembly do to live up to the comments and commitments around homelessness made a few months ago during the election?
It is not like there are no options. Members of the 16th Assembly spoke many times about housing and homelessness. Those Members made suggestions and recommendations for change, for improvement of the situation in the NWT in their statements.
As recently as last May, a report written by Nick Falvo was tabled in this House, which made five specific recommendations to improve homelessness in Yellowknife and across the NWT, many of which echo previous recommendations and fit nicely into the government’s own document called “Framework to Respond to Homelessness.” In my four years here, I have seen little change, little response to any recommendations and certainly no focus on the issue of homelessness.
The Framework to Respond to Homelessness is dated January 2007 and badly needs review and updating, especially in light of the recommendations from the Falvo report. The framework is based on the principle of a continuum of housing, and that is great, it should be, but have we ensured that all parts of the continuum are funded and available to our residents? I don’t think so. The framework has identified four next steps, but only one of those four has been accomplished in the last five years. Mr. Falvo’s homelessness report has five recommendations, four of which are directed to the GNWT and none of those four have been acted on.
I recognize and accept that an election and transition period from the 16th Assembly to the 17th has occurred and that does slow things down, but I have to repeat the question I asked earlier: What will this Assembly do to live up to, one, its commitments from 2007, two, the recommendations from Mr. Falvo’s report, and three, all that election talk? How will homelessness be handled by this new government in 2012-13 and beyond?
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
We cannot continue with our current practice of dealing with homelessness off the corner of someone’s desk. Change is essential and I and the residents of the NWT expect to see some action and improvement from this government on the homelessness front. It’s a job that all of government must tackle together. Let’s get on with this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over the past couple of days my fellow colleague Mr. Bromley, who is well respected among his peers and the citizens of the Northwest Territories on his views on climate change, was cited on the use of strong language to describe the seriousness of his thoughts. Although I tend to agree his choice of words may have been used in the wrong context, I do agree that his passion for making our government more accountable for our carbon footprint is dead on accurate and for that I do thank him.
It would be ill advised for me to stand before you and attempt to mimic or regurgitate statistical data or convince you of my green ambition to save the planet. This is not my intention here today. I do wish to inform the House that we all have an important obligation to perform, not only for our constituents but for our families and for our children. I would hate to tell my future grandchildren that I had an opportunity to make positive changes for our climate and I chose the easy road. That, Mr. Speaker, will not happen.
I think many here have seen and heard Mr. Al Gore throughout his Inconvenient Truth crusade, yet many have not seen or heard of Bjorn Lomborg’s Cool It economic approach to climate change, where Mr. Lomborg clearly claims that there has been much hype and exaggeration of global warming solely to root much needed research dollars.
Now, my intention here is not to split hairs about the economics of climate change, science, or Hollywood drama. My intention here today is to disseminate that there are different points of view when it comes to global warming and the realities of scale. This is especially true when our government is forced into accepting unrealistic climate targets based on science that is equally being questioned.
So what is one to do? One of the principles that always served me well in the business world was catching people doing something right. It was much more productive for the performance and success of a resolve than trying to be punitive or restrictive. The same basic principle can be easily introduced throughout the Northwest Territories when it comes to positive affect in our climate in the North.
In simple terms, providing tax incentives or financial credits for businesses or individuals doing good behavior is an easy and affordable step in the road to climate recovery. I say with conviction, let’s do away with unattainable targets and unrealistic goals set by so-called purveyors of catastrophic thinking and let’s embrace a cleaner delivery model of our everyday footprint on our environment. Our real mission should be to deal with the economic realities of options.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
Our real mission should be to deal with the economic realities of options in dealing with climate change and rewarding those who take the positive steps of change. In the end we all want the same thing. Maybe in the process we can reach the NWT’s true climate goals. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to talk about a great program that’s been initiated by a few departments through the Healthy Choices Framework a couple of years ago that did result from some tragic incidents throughout the Northwest Territories and that we still see today, and that is dealing with drugs in our communities.
The Not Us! Campaign is a very successful campaign initiated through the Department of Justice. It has partners of the RCMP, Health and Social Services, Education, Culture and Employment, MACA and the Executive. It is a program that fights the drugs in our communities. It gives an opportunity for people at the community level to take a stand and say no, we don’t want these drugs in our communities and we want the drug dealers out.
In Inuvik I’ve been part of that committee for the last two years and what that entails is you get a $10,000 grant for your first year to run programs. Having a very concerned group of individuals in Inuvik, as well as in the communities of Hay River and Yellowknife, and I think most recently Fort McPherson, it is taking a really strong stand and we are seeing some really positive outcomes of this. There are a lot more drug busts in the communities and incarcerations of some of the drug dealers that are doing harm to our people in the communities as well.
Today I just want to thank all those throughout the Northwest Territories who have taken that stand against drugs, who have taken that stand to put these initiatives in their communities and for the great work that this government is doing in supporting all the departments and this program. I do hope to see more funding going to prevention programs like this so that we don’t have to band-aid the situation in years to come.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to salute the success achieved thus far on the reconstruction of the Detah road and call for us to keep building this road and building this success.
During this fiscal year and last, $4 million has been spent on the long-overdue reconstruction of the only all-weather artery to the community. Deton’Cho Corporation has led this project with a creative mix of joint ventures, partnerships, training and apprenticeship opportunities, equipment acquisition and development of management capacity, all the great things we want to see in the cost-effective projects that build our local and Aboriginal-owned businesses.
You can’t use the word “partnership” often enough. Deton’Cho, local private sector suppliers and partners, our territorial Transportation department and the federal government have cooperated to squeeze maximum benefits from every dollar. The government has backed that capacity and business development, granting the negotiated contracts that have enabled these benefits. The result: Local people are getting the jobs close to home, growing a local economy, and today we are closer to completing an acceptable highway to serve Detah’s vital needs. With the Highway No. 4 realignment around Giant Mine in the wings, Deton’Cho has the possibility for steady, continued success.
In this capital budget session we know that money is tight. Last year we were able to re-profile funds to add $2 million to this project. I will be asking this government to seek every opportunity to see that happen again. Deton’Cho has proven that it can be nimble and pick up the cash to ensure no precious dollars go to waste. I will be looking for dedicated funds to see this work completed.
The workers on this project are local family people. Many have gotten the training and the good jobs at the mines, but the jobs close to home and family are best. We’ve mixed up a recipe of success on the Detah road project. Let’s pull out all our best ideas and resources to roll these achievements to the end of the road.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was in the Sahtu region last year and last week and did a tour up in Fort Good Hope and Colville Lake. I missed the Wells because of the weather conditions. When I was in the Sahtu, the local contractors were getting busy and people were getting excited because they were starting to open up the all-weather winter roads into the rest of the communities and connections to the south.
I was very happy to hear Mr. Ramsay’s statement here about the progress of the Mackenzie Valley Highway and the support the 17th here has given this construction. My people are looking forward to the day when we can have the same opportunities as other Members here who enjoy all-weather roads into their communities or just to go down south to purchase supplies or visit family or do those other things that the Members enjoy who have the all-weather road.
I know Mrs. McCauley, Auntie Cece, is very happy, because she gave some good reviews and raves in her news column to the Minister and to the partnership on this project here. I want to tell this government here, and the Members, that we greatly appreciate the support. I hope the spirit of John Diefenbaker, the Prime Minister, lives within Mr. Ramsay to open up the highway, fulfill the dream of building the Mackenzie Valley Highway into the North to really connect the people in the North. We are looking forward to it.
We have some major infrastructure such as the Bear River Bridge that needs to get put in. We are going to see an influx of hundreds of millions of dollars in the Sahtu within the next five years with oil and gas exploration. We need help, and there’s help there and we can do it, but we need to push this government, push the federal government and tell Mr. Harper to please help us build this road within four years.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Today I rise to honour one of my constituents, Mr. Wilbert Antoine, who works at Canadian Zinc Mining Corporation. He indicated to me that this month he’s celebrating 40 years in the mining industry.
He began his career in mining in 1971. He didn’t realize he was getting into mining; he thought he would take a short job. He ended up working for Cardinal River Coals in Alberta for 31 years. Upon completing that, he did move back to Yellowknife in July 2002 and spent six years with BHP Ekati Diamond Mine and he thought he was going to retire there. He made a trip home in 2007 to celebrate the 20-year anniversary of the Papal visit to Fort Simpson and realized that there was another mining company operating out of there, which is Canadian Zinc Mining Corporation.
He began talking with them and found he was very interested in working for them because they were in his home community and there is huge opportunity to develop a mine in the Nahendeh region. He’s been working there for the last three years. He does say he began his mining career in the mountains and he’s ending his mining career in the mountains, as well, especially back home there.
I just want to add that he sent me a note and I’d like to quote him. He says that mining has been wonderful to him over the years. He raised and educated three wonderful children, now with successful careers of their own, totally independent, with children of their own. In the past three years he really prides that he had the best job in the world working with Canadian Zinc, flying and helicoptering over the most beautiful part of the world in the Nahanni Mountains. Serving his communities is very satisfying and rewarding.
He also links his career to his and our uncle Albert Norwegian of Fort Providence, who also celebrates his 78th birthday on December 21st.
I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
I just want to make a note that I’ve been speaking with Mr. Wilbert Antoine. He also indicates that Canadian Zinc received environmental approval from the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board. I just wanted to say to all the youth and young people out there, and those looking for careers in the mining sector, that there’s a huge potential in and around Fort Simpson in future years and we can look to the example of Mr. Wilbert Antoine, who had a successful career. This is an important sector that can be looked at for a long-time career.
