Mr. Speaker, the Member is touching on a lot of major issues that are the responsibility of various departments of this government. Like I stated already, I am and we are interested in hearing what the Construction Association has to say based on the gatherings that they had. I believe they are in the process of putting information together. We could always look to see how we can work together, whether it is land issue or attracting people into the North or dealing with the housing issues across the communities. Of course, we are interested in hearing that. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Mr. Speaker, not focussed at the Minister directly, but I think Cabinet is part of the problem. I think each department provides its own bottleneck to the issue, whether it is to supply land, whether it is the transfer of the land, whether it is negotiations or whatnot. I think Cabinet could actually show some real leadership to address the cost of living by helping with supporting the costs of development of the land. Would the Minister be able to bring this to the Cabinet table to start addressing these initiatives? They could start at the Cabinet table to show leadership throughout the government. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I don’t think this speaks to bottlenecks in any department or lack of anything in anywhere. I think this speaks to complexities involved in land issues in the North, because we have municipal land, Commissioners land and other land types. Not only that, we have market communities like the city of Yellowknife and the towns of Hay River, Fort Smith, but we also have non-market-based communities where housing issues are different. Like I said already, the Strategic Initiative Committee on Reducing the Cost of Living is interested in looking at policy changes or policy options to address broad issues of reducing the cost of living. I would like to work with the Member and the association to see what they have to say and how we could advance it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask several Ministers, but I think I am going to zero in on the Minister of ITI on this question here. Mr. Speaker, I think the ministerial statement here on diamonds and tourism in Canada’s Northern House statement, I want to ask the Minister in terms of the promotion of Canada’s North, the golden opportunity in the Olympics, if the Minister had any type of discussion in terms of promoting one of our best kept secrets being the birthplace of ice hockey in Canada in Deline. Even this House passed a motion. I really find it odd that this government here hasn’t been taking this up and score the goal for us in terms of the Olympics here. I want to ask the Minister is this something that he would look at or is it too late, game is over and we can’t throw this on the table in terms of promoting the birthplace of ice hockey in Canada?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is not too late to promote Deline as the birthplace of hockey because the Olympics haven’t started yet. Perhaps he can start tomorrow when he visits Canada’s Northern House and getting that message out. I think he would be impressed with Northern House and a message that we are delivering to the world. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I certainly look forward to the invitation from the Minister to go down to the Olympics. I will certainly do the invitation with the Minister in terms of promoting the birthplace of ice hockey in Canada at the Olympics. I want to note the Minister then would work with me in terms of when we have this promotion in Vancouver to display one of the most hidden secrets of the Northwest Territories or in Canada in terms of promoting hockey in the North. Would the Minister then work with me in terms of how we coordinate an event that would showcase the world that the birthplace of ice hockey in Canada is in Deline in the Sahtu region?
Mr. Speaker, we have been using Canada’s Northern House as the opportunity to publicize the North as a great place to live, work and invest in. Certainly promoting the spectacular Northwest Territories and all the different opportunities, and if there is some way we can promote the birthplace of hockey as a way to entice people to come and visit the Northwest Territories, we are quite interested in that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister is correct that the Olympics are going to start soon. I was very surprised that this… I am very happy that we could have this opportunity to promote the birthplace of ice hockey in Deline down at the Olympics. I want to again ask the Minister in terms of putting some small display in terms of shirts and maybe even, I don’t know if it is too late to invite some of the original hockey players, if that is possible. Invite some of the descendents of the hockey players from Deline in terms of promoting this historical event that happened in Canada. Would the Minister have some type of special concentrated specific time that we could promote the birthplace of ice hockey in Canada?
We are intending to keep Canada’s Northern House open until early April and so when we go to Vancouver on Thursday, we can talk to some of our creative design team to see if we can develop something that can be exhibited at Canada’s Northern House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Would the Minister then look at the possibility of working with the community of Deline in terms of possibly looking at something that could be, they can add into the design or to the celebration at the place in Vancouver in terms of celebrating the birthplace of ice hockey in that community so the community can also celebrate with this government here?
As the Member knows, there are several communities in Canada that are claiming to be the birthplace of ice hockey as well as some places in England. I think the biggest help would be in being able to validate the fact that Deline is the birthplace of hockey. Certainly we can talk about that with our creative design team. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Last week I spoke in this House about the lapse of aboriginal funding for ‘07-08 and ‘08-09 to the tune of hundreds and thousands of dollars. And, at the same time, this year I supported a proposal by the Deh Cho Friendship Centre for, I believe, it was a $40,000 proposal to create an aboriginal South Slavey CD-Rom to help the community and help the region to work on our language. That proposal was refused, Mr. Speaker, saying the money was spent. I find it hard to believe that lapsing almost $1.4 million the last two years and now we are saying we don’t have money to fund unique aboriginal language proposal. I would like to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment will he seriously consider this proposal and why is he saying there is no money for aboriginal language, given their past record? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do take all applications seriously as they go before us. We do provide funding to all the education councils where they distribute to all the schools. The aboriginal funding we get from the federal government, we offset the costs from our perspective, as well, through the GNWT expenditures. The funding has been allocated to the schools and we usually tell the folks, if they ask for funding for specialized projects, they should approach the local language groups first. Language centres, we provide funding to them, and those are special projects, so the money has been identified for them to expend into the region. So we will continue to work with them, Mr. Speaker. The language groups have expertise around the table from the community perspective and they give us advice on where the money should be expended. Mahsi.
It’s curious to note that the letter was signed by the Minister saying there is no money in his department for aboriginal language proposals such as this unique one from Fort Simpson. So who is lapsing the money then, Mr. Speaker? Is it the Department of Education, Culture and Employment? Is it our divisional council? Who is lapsing the money? Thank you.
It consists of Education, Culture and Employment, the education council, the teaching and learning centres, the aboriginal groups we sponsor. The funding that has been allocated to them, yes, there may be some lapse due to the deadline constraints and projects may not be completed. So it does vary, Mr. Speaker, on a case-by-case basis. Clearly, those are areas that I instructed my department to review the overall funding allocations for aboriginal language from a cultural perspective, because we need to maximize the funding we produce to the Northwest Territories to the best of their ability on special projects such as what the Member is alluding to. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Time for oral questions has expired; however, I will allow the Member a supplementary question. Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Perhaps I should commend the French language groups, because their funding does not lapse, Mr. Speaker, but aboriginal funding does. I’ve got unique proposals that don’t want to be supported by this government or even given a second chance to say there is money that may be lapsed, we’ll use that. Can the Minister commit to look at potential lapsed funding and look at the unique community ground-based proposals such as this? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I did already commit that we are going to look at the overall program delivery and the funding we did distribute to the communities. Those are the important factors that we need to consider. I would encourage the Member, and also the Members, to deal with those individuals at the teaching and learning centres. They have the funding and the funding application comes into our department, as we usually ask them to contact the local school boards or teaching and learning centres about the funding that’s been provided to them. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister’s letter of refusal said no, and to reconsider applying next year. I would like to ask the Minister if he can reconsider this proposal, write back to the organization and say potentially we may have an opportunity this fiscal year. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, for those letters that we receive, it’s not only one letter; there are other letters that could be in the millions of dollars of requests for big projects. They are all important projects and we can’t pick one from one region versus another region. That’s why we have the language groups that deal with the funding that’s been allocated to them. So, Mr. Speaker, I will continue to work with the language groups.
Like I said, we are reviewing the overall structure of how we allocate funds. There is always room for improvement on how we can provide those services more effectively and efficiently. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document titled Northwest Territories Public Accounts, 2008-2009. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
TABLED DOCUMENT 68-16(4):
COMIC ILLUSTRATION REGARDING
DRIVING WHILE TEXTING
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have something to table today. It was a picture that was e-mailed to me that really sums up the cell phone issue. It’s says “Honk if you Love Jesus and Text While You’re Driving if You’d Like to Meet Him.” I’ll make sure the Minister of Transportation gets a copy.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
TABLED DOCUMENT 69-16(4):
LETTER TO INAC MINISTER FROM
DENE NATIONAL CHIEF REGARDING
CARIBOU HARVESTING BAN
Mr. Speaker, I would like to table a document addressed to the Honourable Chuck Strahl, Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs, House of Commons, from the Dene Nation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Thursday, February 11, 2010, I will move the following motion: I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that the Speaker be authorized to set such sitting days and hours as the Speaker, after consultation, deems fit to assist with the business before the House. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Item 16, notices of motion for first reading of bills. Item 17, motions. Item 18, first reading of bills. Item 19, second reading of bills. Item 20, consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters: Bill 2, Forgiveness of Debts Act, 2009-2010; Bill 4, An Act to Amend the Child and Family Services Act; Bill 7, An Act to Amend the Summary Conviction Procedures Act; Tabled Document 62-16(4), NWT Main Estimates, 2010-2011; and Minister’s Statement 47-16(4), Transfer of the Public Housing Rental Subsidy, with Mr. Bromley in the chair.
I’ll call Committee of the Whole to order. Today we have under consideration Bills 2, 4, 7, Tabled Document 62-14(6) and Minister’s Statement 47-16(4). What is the wish of the committee? Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The committee would like to continue on with general comments with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment and hopefully make some progress on the detail of that department. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. We will continue with general comments on the Department of Education, Culture and Employment and perhaps get to detail today. Committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Short break.
---SHORT RECESS
I’d like to call Committee of the Whole to order. It’s been agreed we’ll begin with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. At this time I would like to ask the Minister of Education, Mr. Lafferty, if he will be bringing in witnesses. Mr. Lafferty.
Yes, Mr. Chair.
Does committee agree the Minister bring in his witnesses?
Agreed.
