Debates of March 10, 2005 (day 53)

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Item 6, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is someone very special and dear to me in the gallery today. Mr. Speaker, behind every man there’s a good woman.

Hear! Hear!

---Applause

It’s been 27 years and counting. I’d like to recognize my wife, Lucille Pokiak, in the gallery. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Item 6, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, too, want to recognize all the judges in the gallery here. Also, I want to make special mention to Justice Earl Johnson from Nunavut, who’s in the gallery. I’d also like to recognize Paul Andrew who is from CBC and also my home town of Tulita. I’d also like to recognize Betty Quitte from Yellowknife.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Item 6, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for North Slave, Mr. Zoe.

Thank you. Mr. Speaker, I, too, would like to recognize a former resident of my constituency of Rae Lakes, Ms. Betty Quitte. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Zoe. Item 6, recognition of visitors in the gallery. If there’s anyone that was missed in the gallery today, I’d like to recognize my executive assistant in the gallery today, Ms…

---Laughter

Sue Tkachuk.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there’s a saying that London Bridge is falling down, London Bridge is falling down, but in the Sahtu, our Jackfish Creek Bridge is falling down. So I want to ask the Minister of Transportation, last spring in 2004 the Jackfish Creek Bridge was damaged and was unsafe to use. That closed the airport down for several days and caused an emergency in Fort Good Hope. Almost one year and the bridge still has not been worked on. I want to ask the Minister if he could advise me and the people in the Sahtu, especially those in Fort Good Hope, when this bridge is going to be up and running before the winter road is closed. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. McLeod.

Return To Question 583-15(3): Jackfish Creek Bridge Repair

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I guess first of all we have to offer an apology to the community of Fort Good Hope and also the Member because I had reassured him that this bridge would be up and running once the winter road was open, and the winter road has been open for some time. We’ve run into some difficulties with the Jackfish Creek Bridge. We’ve had to go out to tender on two different occasions and on both occasions we haven’t been able to attract a successful company to come in to do this work. What we have done is broken the contract up into a number of different areas and we will oversee it as a department and we are proceeding with the work as we speak. I think some of the work has already started. Most of the contracts have been awarded. There are still a few that we are working on, but our plan is to have the bridge up and running before the end of this winter road season. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Supplementary To Question 583-15(3): Jackfish Creek Bridge Repair

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the answer from the Minister. Can the Minister provide some assurance to the people in Fort Good Hope that there are emergency plans in case the bridge doesn’t get up and is usable, that the airport will not be closed for a couple days in terms of the work that’s supposed to get done by the close of the winter season? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. McLeod.

Further Return To Question 583-15(3): Jackfish Creek Bridge Repair

Mr. Speaker, we’re very confident we’re going to have all this work done. We’re going to a completely different design than we had used initially. We’re quite comfortable with the fact that we’re going to have all this work in place. We will have the bridge up and operating by the end of the month. We should not have any need for different options for a bridge, but if that is the case we will reassure the community that there will be access to the airport in some form or another. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Supplementary To Question 583-15(3): Jackfish Creek Bridge Repair

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’ve seen some e-mails from members of the community of Fort Good Hope and they’re indicating that the water flow is above the bridge or close to the bridge and they’re afraid that because of the next couple of days the weather is going to be warming up and they’re afraid there might be an overflow and the bridge will be unusable. Is there any indication from the Minister in terms of an emergency response plan in terms of the communities having access to the airport outside access to the winter road that goes out of town? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. McLeod.

Jackfish Creek Bridge Repair

Mr. Speaker, we are aware that there is some problem with overflow at the present time. We are looking at the situation. We don’t anticipate it to be a problem that will slow down the project and we’re hoping everything will go smoothly, but we will get back to the Member to talk about how we will deal with it if it comes to an emergency situation. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Supplementary To Question 583-15(3): Jackfish Creek Bridge Repair

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister indicated until the end of the winter season, so can he inform the people in Fort Good Hope and the Sahtu when that might be in terms of the winter road so they could do some planning? I know there’s some nervousness in terms of using that bridge. When can the people in the Sahtu and Fort Good Hope look at the closing of the winter road season in terms of the bridge situation? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. McLeod.

Further Return To Question 583-15(3): Jackfish Creek Bridge Repair

Mr. Speaker, yesterday in our budgeting process we approved some money to extend the season. Our target date for the extension of the road is to the end of March. It will all be conditional on weather and it will be day by day. So if the weather cooperates, we should have the road stay open until the end of the month. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today with questions for the Minister of MACA. I sent a question down to research and they advised me that I had mentioned Nahanni Butte 54 times, the gymnasium 29 times, so all together that's 83 times. That's almost once for every constituent in Nahanni Butte, Mr. Speaker…

---Applause

…except I'm missing three constituents, so I’m going to have to conclude this sitting by asking three more questions of the Minister.

---Laughter

Begging the chair's indulgence, I said I am astounded five times, so I'm going to have to say that two more times, because there are seven Ministers sitting over there.

---Laughter

With respect to that, can the Minister inform me what has been done to date with respect to allocating or planning for the infrastructure funding for the smaller communities? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.

Return To Question 584-15(3): Planning For Infrastructure In Small Communities

Mr. Speaker, I am astounded that the Member would ask the same question so many times.

---Laughter

Mr. Speaker, we realize the sense of urgency that some of the Members are experiencing in wanting to get some of the answers. Our staff has been working on drafting some of the criteria that we will be using. We have had some early discussions with the NWT Association of Communities. We are still working on some of the other funding initiatives. We plan to have our MRIF funding and our gas tax all in place by some time this year, so there's a lot of work we have to do. We have scheduled a number of meetings with the NWT Association of Communities over the next little while, and we are still targeting to have some information to give to the Members so that they know, even if it's early indicators of where we're going. We have a lot of work to do in terms of reviewing what all the information is, all the projects that were in the capital plan and some that were not in the different areas that have been brought forward as a priority by some of the Members. So we are trying to package all of that up as fast as we can so we can have some information for the Members. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Supplementary To Question 584-15(3): Planning For Infrastructure In Small Communities

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, am astounded how many times I hear the same answer. Just with respect to that, Mr. Speaker, if the Minister can just tell me again…I'm travelling to Nahanni next week. What pray do I tell the people and the students and the children in Nahanni Butte? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. McLeod.

Further Return To Question 584-15(3): Planning For Infrastructure In Small Communities

Mr. Speaker, I guess I would advise the Member to tell the members of Nahanni Butte he has raised the issue of the Nahanni Butte gym I forget how many times, but he certainly can feel comfortable assuring them that he has brought that matter to the attention of our department and this government. We are looking at the whole issue of recreation facilities in small communities. It seems this has become a high priority. It's an issue that we have not been able to invest in for some time. So we will be giving strong consideration to the recreation facilities and facilities in general to the smaller communities that are experiencing some difficulty. So all those things we will be looking into and have some answers for the community and for the Member by the end of this month or early into April. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are going to be for the Premier of the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, this is my last opportunity in this session to talk about the closure of the South Mackenzie Correctional Centre remand unit in Hay River. Mr. Speaker, soon Regular Members will be out of sight and out of mind, and I'm afraid the Premier and the Justice Minister are going to forget about me.

---Laughter

They never would.

Mr. Speaker, I have compiled every word I have said on the remand centre during session, and I put it into a binder with my picture on the front.

---Laughter

Mr. Speaker, I'm going to present this as a parting gift to the Premier, and I would like to know if he would take the time to re-read and reassess what I had to say about the remand centre. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Return To Question 585-15(3): Closure Of The South Mackenzie Correctional Centre Remand Unit

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am just overwhelmed with the gift.

---Laughter

Mr. Speaker, yes, I will definitely read the document. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Supplementary To Question 585-15(3): Closure Of The South Mackenzie Correctional Centre Remand Unit

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In all seriousness, if the Premier feels compelled by the arguments that have been made and the comments and the positions that have been taken by all the Members on this side of the House, their comments are also in here and excerpts from Hansard. If he feels compelled to do so, as a result of re-reading this, would he consider bringing the remand closure back to FMB and consider reinstating those funds? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Handley.

Further Return To Question 585-15(3): Closure Of The South Mackenzie Correctional Centre Remand Unit

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I will and I believe there was a recommendation to that effect to bring it back, so it will be brought back. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Supplementary To Question 585-15(3): Closure Of The South Mackenzie Correctional Centre Remand Unit

My last supplementary on this, Mr. Speaker, is I would just like to ask the Premier if he would keep me and my constituents apprised of any movement or decision on this, as there are many people in Hay River very anxiously waiting to hear if the government will respond to the position taken by the Members and myself in this House. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Handley.

Further Return To Question 585-15(3): Closure Of The South Mackenzie Correctional Centre Remand Unit

Yes, Mr. Speaker, I expect that the recommendations from the committees will be reviewed at the next regular FMB meeting, and either myself or the chair of the Financial Management Board, our Minister of Finance, will certainly apprise the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Premier. It goes back to my Member's statement that I made earlier. I know that the Premier and his government have worked very hard on trying to establish a relationship with Ottawa in an effort to try to get a resource revenue and devolution deal, a deal that the last government and many governments before it have failed to do. I felt sorry for the Premier and his government yesterday with the action that Minister Scott took in appointing a non-northerner, non-nominee to the chair of the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board. I would like to ask the Premier if he has spoken to Minister Scott and what are the reasons that Minister Scott has given the Premier and the Government of the Northwest Territories as to why he did what he did. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Return To Question 586-15(3): Appointment Of The Mackenzie Valley Land And Water Board Chairperson