Debates of May 14, 2007 (day 6)

Mr. Speaker, on April 19, 2007, youth from across the Northwest Territories participated in the 9th Annual Territorial Skills Competition. Over 100 northern youth were entered into the various competitive events designed to foster careers and trades in technology. I would like to extend congratulations to those who took part, especially those competitors in the worksite safety event.

The worksite safety event involved three parts. Competitors gave an oral presentation on workplace health or safety topic of their choice. They took a written test and were also asked to identify safety hazards at a mock worksite overseen by the Workers’ Compensation Board safety officers. To qualify to compete, the participants first had to take the Safety and the Young Worker Program offered through the Workers’ Compensation Board. This year, there were 12 participants at the territorial level, 11 in the junior category and one in a senior category. The students who participated performed well and I encourage them to return next year.

Across Canada, people are beginning to realize that workplace accidents must not be accepted as part of our working lives. Every workplace injury can be prevented if safety is the first priority. In participating in the worksite safety competition, these youth are not only demonstrating a commitment to workplace safety, they are leading by example and building the foundation for a culture of safety in the next generation of workers in the Northwest Territories.

For proof of this commitment to workplace safety, we need to look no further than our territory's record at the national level where NWT participants have been awarded the gold medal in this category for three of the past six years. I would like to applaud all the youth who participated at the territorial level; in particular Keegan Lower and Peter Boggis who received gold medals in the worksite safety event for the junior and senior categories respectively. Peter Boggis who won the gold in this category at the national competition last year will be once again moving to compete against the best and safest youth of Canada.

I wish him the best of luck and best of luck to the other NWT competitors who are moving on to the National Skills Canada Competition. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to advise my colleagues that on May 15th, the Minister of Health and Social Service and the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment will join me in the Great Hall of the Legislative Assembly to launch the 2007 Get Active NWT summer campaign.

The 2007 Get Active event is a friendly challenge to residents of the Northwest Territories to register the time they spend being physically active for a chance to win a $5,000 grant to support their community recreation program, a $500 grant for the most active groups and airline tickets to Edmonton.

Buy north.

During our 2006 Summer Get Active challenge, nearly 18 percent of residents were recruited to log over 10 million minutes of physical activity. In the recently completed 2007 Get Winter Active challenge campaign, 380 NWT youth logged nearly 631,000 minutes of physical activity.

The 2007 Get Active campaign is posed to be even better with additional prizes for participants, special Get Active community events in all regions, and more partners joining in, including the Canadian Cancer Society, First Air, the Northwest Territories Recreation and Parks Association and many others.

As impressive as the participation numbers have been in the past years and the expectation for this year’s campaign, it is known that there are a great many individuals who carry on their personal commitment to physical activity and a heavy lifestyle without ever logging a single minute into a campaign such as this one. To all those silent role models, congratulations on your efforts and the examples that you set.

Each year in Canada, more than two-thirds of deaths result from four groups of chronic diseases: cardiovascular, cancer, two types of diabetes and respiratory. These chronic diseases share common, preventable risk factors including physical inactivity, unhealthy diet and tobacco use.

The Get Active campaign is one of a number of efforts the Government of the Northwest Territories is supporting to promote all residents to live healthier lifestyles. Even if a few more people can be convinced to be physically active, the cost savings for the health care system is huge and the lifestyle improvements immeasurable.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank all Members of the Legislative Assembly for helping to set an example and I encourage you to promote Get Active and other healthy lifestyle choices. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Northwest Territories has one of the most impressive parks systems in all of Canada. On May 1, 2007, the system was improved when the Department of ITI launched its new territorial parks on-line reservation system. The web address is www.campingnwt.ca.

The on-line reservation system is one of several initiatives being undertaken by Industry, Tourism and Investment to enhance the camping experience in NWT parks.

In 2006, we were pleased to roll out the first phase of the on-line reservation program at Fred Henne Park in the North Slave region. This year, we’ve expanded the service to all of the other major territorial parks in the territory. In the North Slave region this includes Prelude and Reid Lake parks. In the South Slave: Twin Falls, Hay River and Queen Elizabeth parks. In the Deh Cho: Sambaa deh, Blackstone, Fort Simpson, and in the Inuvik region: Happy Valley and Jak Park Campground.

A key feature of the on-line reservation system is the ability to actually see pictures of the site you are interested in. You can see what amenities are available and then be able to book the site on-line. This is accomplished thanks to the installation of satellite communications in each of the participating parks. We have been able to provide this value-added tool to the public due to the cooperation and support of our various parks contractors across the NWT. I would like to commend our private sector partners for this support.

Mr. Speaker, this initiative, as well as constantly improving park facilities and infrastructure and ongoing staff training, are all part of the department’s goal to make camping in the NWT a memorable and positive experience. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr Speaker. Good afternoon. Mr. Speaker, a sure sign of spring in many NWT communities is the return of summer students. The GNWT Summer Student Program is one way we offer to hire and train northerners as future public servants.

In 2001, the GNWT introduced the Maximizing Northern Employment Initiative. As part of this initiative, the Northern Student and Northern Graduate Employment programs were established. These programs encourage northern students to pursue post-secondary degrees and diplomas, and then work in the NWT after graduation.

Graduates can access internships and specialized skill development training. Qualified northern graduates of nursing, social work and teaching programs are guaranteed a job offer somewhere in the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, since 2001, the Graduate Nursing Program has placed 87 northern nursing graduates. The Graduate Social Work Program has placed 16 social workers and the Graduate Teacher Program has placed over 50 teachers.

For students finishing a year of post-secondary schooling, we have a Summer Student Hiring Program that helps students receive progressive, relevant experience directly related to their studies.

In 2006, the GNWT provided 343 summer students with employment between April and September. Mr. Speaker, as of this week, 195 students have already been hired for summer 2007 in seven NWT communities. This includes 56 priority one and 108 priority two individuals. These employment opportunities offer students an insight into the public service work environment. They also provide employees with an opportunity to share their knowledge and skills with future job seekers.

Our Graduate Internship Program has been successful in attracting northerners to the public service. Since 2001, over 260 northerners have participated in the internship program. Over 88 interns from the program have joined the GNWT in indeterminate positions. Of those who have moved on, many have returned to school for advanced degrees or gone to work for other northern employers. Mr. Speaker, 35 interns will join the GNWT this year.

I invite my colleagues to join me in welcoming all the interns and summer students who are joining the public service this year. The time spent with the GNWT will provide these individuals with valuable work experience. Our northern students and graduates will be filling essential positions in the future.

Mr. Speaker, these programs serve as examples of how the GNWT is preparing, developing and retaining northerners in the public service. As North American labour markets become more competitive, we need to look at our own staff and other northern residents and the educational programs we provide in order to fill our public service positions with the best candidates.

We could not provide the quality programs that we do without dedicated public service employees. Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend the time, energy and dedication they bring to mentoring and training our new employees. Through their efforts, the GNWT continues to offer an exciting and vibrant workplace for northerners. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. It’s always a pleasure to stand in this Assembly and acknowledge the significant milestones and achievements on behalf of constituents and residents. In this light, it was a great moment for a tremendous northern family, a Yellowknife family and the whole NWT to see that Leela Gilday was acknowledged as the Juno Award winner for aboriginal recordings...

---Applause

Hear! Hear!

...for her second album Sedze. It was only the latest in a string of awards for this talented young woman, Mr. Speaker. She had previously been recognized by the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards as the best female artist and songwriter for her first CD Spirit World, Solid Wood. That CD is also recognized as the best folk album.

Leela Gilday is a First Nations singer born and raised in Yellowknife. Of course, the achievements of her father, Bill, are known far and wide. He has a long history in Yellowknife and the NWT. He’s the founder and the mainstay of the Gumboots, which have several CDs behind them and makes a tremendous contribution to the students in this community through his leadership of the Sir John Franklin bands and choirs.

Mr. Speaker, his daughter, Leela, was the first northerner to graduate with an honours degree in classical music from the University of Alberta. She wowed the whole country with her tremendous performance at the opening ceremonies for the Canada Winter Games in Whitehorse.

The sacrifices that Leela and many others like her make in the performing arts is sometimes something that goes without a lot of recognition. This is the season of festivals coming up, Mr. Speaker. We have several going on in the NWT. In Fort Smith, the South Slave Friendship Festival; the Midway Lake Music Festival up north; in Fort Simpson they will be hosting the Open Sky Festival; and here in Yellowknife, of course, Folk on the Rocks and the Summer Solstice Festival.

To the volunteers, the performers and the sponsors, Mr. Speaker, they all deserve a standing ovation and the best wishes for a great summer season to come. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I wish to raise an issue about what is commonly known as the downtown problem. Mr. Speaker, as you mentioned in your opening statement of this sitting, we had the pleasure of a number of visitors to this Legislature prior to the session. While visiting with the women parliamentarians and the senior civil servants for the leadership tour, I was struck by one common topic that emerged from two totally separate set of visitors. After they each profusely commented on how friendly the people were and how beautiful some of the sites were, the women talked about how scared they were about walking through some streets in our downtown in broad daylight. One of the civil servants, who is an RMCP officer, spoke quite matter of factly about observing two drug deals that were going down in our downtown parking lot. Obviously, Mr. Speaker, through her expert eyes it was very plain to see.

We are well aware of the goings on in our downtown streets, but I am sure this is not what we want to showcase or make an impression to our visitors. Mr. Speaker, I know that the RCMP is aware of the drug issues and especially the youth being targeted. They have been working hard to focus their resources on that and they have also been working on other ways to free up resources and put them to more efficient use, but the fact is the RCMP in Yellowknife is stretched and they are not able to put enough boots on the ground as much as they need to. In looking at the numbers, Mr. Speaker, I know it appears as though we have a growing detachment in Yellowknife, but the fact is Yellowknife serves all of the surrounding communities without RCMP detachments and every time they have to travel to these communities, they are taken off our streets. They are also required to do a lot of admin work, which I believe could be done by civilian or other branches in the GNWT like court services.

Mr. Speaker, as I see it, the government must pay more attention to this and address it in a two-pronged way. One is we must undertake a comprehensive review on how we can reduce admin work or secondary work being placed on RCMP officers so they can spend more time on the streets. Secondly, we need to have RCMP officers in every surrounding community, so that they don’t have to rely on the Yellowknife detachment and if they are, these numbers should not be counted as Yellowknife detachment and inflate the numbers and, therefore, making it look like there are enough services. I am telling you, we need to do something about this downtown issue. We need more boots on the ground. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Boots on the ground!

Mr. Speaker, the Beverage Container Recovery Program is one which was welcomed by Members of this Assembly and has been well received by the public. There are still some questions and some fine tuning that could occur, but generally it has been quite successful. Now it’s time to turn our minds to the expansion of our waste recovery program. One area I would like to speak about today is the recovery of used tires.

There are numerous environmental benefits and some potential economic advantages as well. Right now, discarded tires are being stored at landfill sites and many other locations. I saw with my own eyes right here in Yellowknife what can happen should these tires catch fire. I am surprised that more harm did not come from the fire that started at the Yellowknife landfill on a Saturday morning a few years ago. Runoff from tire fires can contaminate groundwater and surface water and are also virtually impossible to extinguish. Waste tires are also an ideal habitat for mosquitoes to breed in.

Mr. Speaker, there are a lot of ways to recycle tires and turn a potential environmental hazard into something useful. In Canada, tires have been used to line the surface of reservoir slopes and hydroelectric projects. These tires help to stabilize the underwater slope and provide a habitat for animals. Tires can also be sunk in water to create artificial reefs, which become a habitat for fish species. Tire chips can be used to replace conventional construction materials; for example, road fill, gravel, crushed rock or sand. The benefits of using tire chips instead of conventional construction materials are reduced density, improved drainage properties and better thermal insulation.

Mr. Speaker, across Canada, provinces, as far back as 1996, have found innovative ways to both recycle tires and to fund their recycling. Mr. Speaker, tire recycling is not only good for the environment, it can also help to create a new industry; an industry that could be located in Hay River. Tire recycling needs to be included in the Department of ENR’s Waste Management Strategy, and later today I’m going to have questions for the Minister of ENR about what our government is doing about waste tires and whether or not he’d like to buy Hay River a tire shredder. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, within the next few weeks we’ll have high school students graduating from Grade 12. The past couple weeks we’ve had Aurora College convocations, and we’ve got some students graduating from southern institutions. First, I want to congratulate all these grads and wish them nothing but the best in their future goals.

We continue, Mr. Speaker, to have one of the best systems for post-secondary education in the country, but there still needs to be some work done on the Student Financial Assistance Program. Imagine how many more students, Mr. Speaker, we may be able to see complete their post-secondary education. We have to adjust the SFA to reflect the cost of living between the South and the Northwest Territories. One dollar, Mr. Speaker, in Edmonton will not be the same as $1 in Inuvik or Yellowknife or Fort Smith. It would be about a $1.80, almost two bucks up here. We have to adjust the SFA to reflect this.

I’ve always said, Mr. Speaker, and I believe, that the NWT has the best support system for our students looking to further their education and training. The Department of Education, Culture and Employment has to have a serious look at the SFA rates and adjust them accordingly. This is a concern that I still hear from students attending college in Inuvik. We may have, we may continue, Mr. Speaker, to see more northern students graduating and, who knows, we may even have training positions for them within the GNWT. Then they can give their own people a hard time instead of someone that just moved north. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In September of 2001, the chief coroner of the Northwest Territories issued a recommendation that the City of Yellowknife, the RCMP, and Municipal and Community Affairs implement the 911 service in Yellowknife and then expand those services to other communities in the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, here we are six years after that recommendation to move forward on 911 service, and still the government is dragging its heels and not moving this much needed emergency response issue forward.

Mr. Speaker, I was a city councillor back in 2001 and remember quite clearly the discussion at the time as focussed on the fact that the Government of the Northwest Territories could not help implement 911 service in Yellowknife without providing the entire territory with the service. Well, Mr. Speaker, I believe that the GNWT has to start somewhere. There is no reason that I have seen nor heard why we can’t start with communities like Yellowknife, Hay River and Fort Smith.

Currently when you call 911 you get a computerized voice message saying "Sorry, there are no 911 services in your area. Please hang up and dial the emergency number for your area or hang up and dial zero." This, Mr. Speaker, is just not good enough. When the potential exists for people’s lives to be at risk, 911 is a much easier number for children to learn and to remember. If you were to conduct a survey in our communities, I would be surprised if more than 50 percent of the population knew the numbers for the RCMP or emergency services.

Nine-one-one is a North American standard and it is about time that the Government of the Northwest Territories gets on with helping communities that can be easily hooked up into a system such as Yellowknife, Hay River and Fort Smith. How can the government ignore the coroner’s recommendation for six years for what would appear to be solely political reasons? My constituents, the city of Yellowknife, and all of our residents here in the Northwest Territories deserve much better, Mr. Speaker. I’ll have questions for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs at the appropriate time. Mahsi.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I’d like to talk about sustainable standard design for government building infrastructure. Instead of spending money on original designs for every single public building each time we build a new facility, what if we came up with a sustainable standard design? I’m talking about a modular public facility with room for expansion to grow with the population as needed. After a concept has been developed the money saved in design, fees could be put back into more infrastructure for all our communities. By standardizing or even streamlining our designs and the building materials, we would be able to realize true cost savings on these projects.

A northern design is the opportunity before us, Mr. Speaker. This would also allow us to work with our latest technology best suited for our location and environment. Efficiencies can be found through engaging our local architects and engineer professionals about what really works, what is environmentally sound, and what is technologically realistic in a northern environment.

The problem is simple and it truly is before us. Are we overdesigning our public infrastructure to look like pieces of art? Are they losing their functionality because a statement needs to be made over the quality of the design? Let’s face it; for the most part, sweeping, curved roofs, rounded walls, odd-shaped windows, while entertaining to look at, do nothing for the quality of the program delivery. I know if it isn’t enjoyable to look at, sometimes it’s not enjoyable to be there, but that’s part of the point. We could challenge each individual case, each individual community, to add their special touch by giving them a feature opportunity within that building.

Project overruns are largely due to design and inadequate site evaluations. If we eliminate one of the causes, we could save ourselves a lot of valuable resources. Cost overruns typically result from quantity overruns, correcting designing errors and addressing unforeseeable conditions. Although elimination of all cost overruns is unrealistic and even probably cost prohibitive, we can temper this by the efficiency of our design, improving negotiations, the discipline of scope management. When designers design to the maximum of our project budget, they know the government won’t lose a school because of a 25 percent cost overrun. So, Mr. Speaker, who is putting pressure, market pressure, on who?

Keeping designs efficient and simple will certainly allow us to move forward. Mr. Speaker, we all know about the training costs of building designs and how they keep skyrocketing, but this would give us a solution to deal with that.

Mr. Speaker, at this time may I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement?

The Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You may conclude your statement, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there’s a solution to this obvious problem. We could engage our public, we could engage our professionals about true, real designs for our northern location. I’m tired about hearing about cost overruns, about one project delaying or possibly cancelling out another because of the skyrocketing costs. I think the future and expansive growth of our Northwest Territories requires smart design, and with community involvement we could solve this problem together. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to talk again about the need for territorial-wide land use planning and the ability to do cumulative impact assessments. The people of the Deh Cho have embarked on a journey to finalize and negotiate their own land use plan for their region and they’ve clearly set the trail for the rest of us. I believe it’s time for the territorial government, the aboriginal governments, and the regions, to seriously sit down and talk about how do we follow suit. We need regional land use plans, but we also need a broader land use plan for the territorial government. Let me give you an example of why I think that is the case.

Mr. Speaker, the folks from ATCO and Trans-Canada are trouping around the South Slave and Yellowknife talking about the projected, proposed hydro development on the Slave River. The old plan was for about 1,800 megawatts of power. They are talking about some type of run-of-the-river facility, but we know they are going to want to generate a maximum amount of power possible. As well, we know that there are discussions by these folks pushing the Green Corridors for Canada where they are talking about looking at trying to get 3,000 megawatts off the Mackenzie River at some point farther north.

We also know that site C of the Bennett Dam is being looked at for expansion and so is Dunvegan. We have the Taltson project and micro-hydro power projects as well. So, clearly, it is time for us, as a territorial government, to sit down with all the players to look at what is sustainable, what is the best way to advance on these projects if they even make sense, what is going to be the environmental impact and what is the benefit for people of the Northwest Territories. So there is a need, clearly, for broad land use planning.

The Dehcho has shown us that, if you do it, it can be done. It takes work and we might have differences about some of the things that were done or being asked by the Dehcho, but the process makes eminent good sense for us as a territory, the South Slave, the Sahtu, the Tlicho and all the other regions. There is going to be a need for us to make those decisions to look at what can be developed, how fast, what areas should be protected, how do we protect the waterways and the wetlands.

Mr. Speaker, right now we don’t have that capacity. As we look to the 16th Assembly, it is going to be clearly time for us to put that front and centre as part of our planning priorities. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, Sunday, May 13, 2007, was a special occasion for all mothers across this beautiful country of ours. I am speaking of none other than Mother’s Day. Unfortunately, some underlying could not spend time with our loved ones on this special occasion. At this time, I would like to extend a belated Mother’s Day greeting to my wife, Lucille, in Tuktoyaktuk.

---Applause

She has been by my side since 1978 as a wife and dedicated mother to our two boys, Bertram and Darren, and now our granddaughter. Mr. Speaker, I am fortunate. My older son, Bertram, and daughter-in-law, Charlene and granddaughter Kaylee Ann Marie are living in Yellowknife. Yesterday, we had a special Mother’s Day dinner and invited our mother-in-law, Monique Bishop, and some friends to celebrate this special occasion. Just having family members and friends residing in Yellowknife on special occasions such as Mother’s Day takes away the loneliness of being away from our loved ones on special occasions.

Mr. Speaker, as MLAs, we are committed to represent our constituency and it usually takes us away from our loved ones on special occasions such as Mother’s Day. We know our loved ones will understand. We may be here in Yellowknife either for session or committee meetings, but our first thoughts will always be with our loved ones on special occasions.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, I would like once again to say happy Mother’s Day to my wife, Lucille, in Tuktoyaktuk for Sunday, May 13th, and to all the mothers across this vast territory of ours. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, over the weekend, I was thinking about the discussion that Members had last week in terms of the Deh Cho Bridge. Also, there were some discussions about the roads in the southern part of the Northwest Territories. I made several calls to the people in the Sahtu. They were quite concerned as to not hearing any announcements from this government in terms of how to improve the winter road into the Sahtu region, especially questions around what was happening with the Bear River Bridge around Tulita hooking up to Norman Wells here.

Mr. Speaker, the people in the Sahtu have to pay the high cost of living. When the winter roads are open, they are only open for a few months. If we are very lucky and climate changes, it will shorten the winter months in terms of the people in the Sahtu getting out to do their shopping either in Fort Simpson, Hay River or Yellowknife here, or even in Edmonton; also for the people to take their families out on a vacation. As you know, taking families out flying is very expensive, so families that plan around that time can take their children out to the southern parts to have some vacation.

Mr. Speaker, the people in the Sahtu want to know when will this government make some announcements in their region to fix up the road. I was driving the road there for a couple of seasons now. When I drive the winter road, it has greatly improved, but we certainly need more work to get done on it. More safety measures should be taken to provide that for the people. Mr. Speaker, our region has been heavily into oil and gas exploration coming in and having a lot of interest in using our roads. More and more businesses are taking opportunities to use our winter roads. People in the Sahtu really want to know when this government is going to make any type of decision on the Mackenzie Valley highway. Is it just going to at least fix our roads here? Keep us in the light here and not shut us out. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to speak more about the elusive Deh Cho Bridge project since this has become the basic coffee shop talk-of-the-day here in the NWT. Mr. Speaker, I can attest that much of this coffee shop talk is really not favourable towards the public’s trust in our government, Mr. Speaker. Although the majority of the people in the NWT, more specifically in the North Slave region, myself included, Mr. Speaker, are supportive of a bridge across the Mackenzie River, many have expressed concerns of the costs to northerners associated with a project of this magnitude, but, more importantly, issues about the lack of accountability and transparency displayed by our government when the decision to move forward on this initiative was announced last week in our Premier’s sessional statement.

Before the Premier’s statement was made public, Mr. Speaker, no one on this side of the House, or in the public in general, was even aware that discussions and negotiations were ongoing let alone being finalized and guaranteed by the FMB, the bridge proponents and the contractor’s negotiators in this whole project. This is unacceptable, Mr. Speaker. I feel that this government is setting a bad precedent and a practice of bad faith in our so-called consensus government to the electorate. All elected members and the public have the right to be fully engaged and informed of how much public money is going to be financing this once termed self-financing project. For how long will the public purse be opened to keep this project viable and on track? These are only a couple of the very fundamental questions that are in our people’s minds and this government has an obligation to answer all of these before the public is willing to give us their blessings for spending much needed dollars which could have been allocated which other much needed high priority items such as a courthouse, treatment centres, dementia centres and other important highway initiatives along the Mackenzie River Valley, the Tuk to Inuvik all-weather road, and even our highways in general are in dilapidated states all over. These are just to name a few, Mr. Speaker. I think this government’s vision for residents of the NWT is to take responsibility. I would like to see this government take its own responsibility for the public’s money, that people are confident in how we are spending it. The way it has been rolling out so far, that confidence is really waning. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. (Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Housing Corporation staff has visited our North Slave district. They looked firsthand at how our people are living in this housing. They also met with the chief of Behchoko. They have never visited our community before. So the community is very thankful that housing staff has visited our community. They said they were going to revisit the community again at the end of this month so that we can work together and make some changes. We would still like to hold them to this. (Translation ends)

Last month, the president of the Housing Corporation and two staff from the North Slave district visited the community of Behchoko to tour some of their most critical housing units and to meet with Chief Lafferty. They personally met and visited the homes of the community members and saw firsthand some of the poor housing conditions that these people were living in.

They listened to each individual’s concern and discussed options available to solve these problems. The trip was an answer to the concerns I had outlined in the House earlier, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, this is the first time that management has taken the time to come to a community and hear issues firsthand. The community was very appreciative. All of these years the community just wanted to be heard, Mr. Speaker, to be able to make their views clear about the reality of their lives. Those we visited felt that there was connection; a connection that has never been felt before. In the past, bureaucracy has always got in the way of dealing with human issues in a real human way, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is the first step in building a positive relationship between a particular department and the community of Behchoko and also the communities. Perhaps other departments might want to approach similar issues in a similar way.

While it takes time to build relationship, this is a very strong beginning, Mr. Speaker. At least now the department has shown it is willing to sit down and treat people with humanity and respect; a most welcome change from some of the past confrontations. There’s a quote here from Mr. Henry Ford, “If everyone keeps moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.”

Mr. Speaker, I’m proud to say the Housing Corporation will be returning to the community of Behchoko on May 31st to continue this process of communication. I’d like to commend the Minister of the Housing Corporation, the president and their staff for taking the initiative to open the lines of communication with my constituents. I hope other departments will take note. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to recognize young people in the gallery, young constituents from Range Lake. Some of them, I’m proud to say, I’ve known them since they were in kindergarten. They’re Grade 6 Ms. Hans’ class from the best school in Range Lake, Range Lake North School; the only school, Range Lake North School.

---Applause

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Dr. Andre Corriveau who’s with us in the gallery today. He’s the chief medical health officer and influential in the act coming up in this House later on, the Public Health Act. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d also like to recognize Terry Rideout as well, but also my very hard-working constituency assistant who usually doesn’t have time to sit in the visitors' gallery but it’s nice to see her there today, Wendy Morgan. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions this afternoon are for the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Investment. It’s a bit of a step-off from the statement that he made advising the House of the new reservation system for campers and RVs coming to the NWT. I applaud that; I think it’s a great way to show the NWT’s on board with the modern tourism industry. We’ve been engaged in an exercise here in Yellowknife, Mr. Speaker, to create more space, more capacity for RVers who want to come up our newly paved highway and, hopefully, try out, in a few years, our newly built Deh Cho Bridge.

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So this is very much something that I’ve been looking forward to and I’m fully supportive of creating more capacity. However, there has been some conflict in the selection of the site by the Yellowknife Airport and adjacent to the Folk on the Rocks music festival site to build a 36-site park. It’s got great amenities there but, Mr. Speaker, it also has some shortcomings, not the least of which is the concern about the impact on the festival and its location on the site near the noisy airport and its potential for expansion. Mr. Speaker, is the department going ahead with development of this site in light of these concerns?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bell.

Return To Question 67-15(6): Recreational Vehicle Site Development In Yellowknife

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Member's concerns about the site that we’ve been looking at. He has, on the floor of this House, I think at least on one other occasion some months back, raised his concerns about the site, particularly that it was in the flight path. When we looked at options and land that was available to us, this site seemed to make a lot of sense and it was nicely situated close to Fred Henne Park on the shore of Long Lake; it looked like a very good place. We knew we’d have to do some work on the site, but we sat down to do some consultation with some of the potential stakeholders and have run into some difficulties; some concerns have been raised. So we’re now at the point where we’re going to look at some alternative sites as well, and it will be up for the next government to decide what the best site to move forward on is. There’s no doubt, though, that we need adequate RV space in this city and if this isn’t the site, then we have to sit down and get serious about finding a site soon. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Short supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Supplementary To Question 67-15(6): Recreational Vehicle Site Development In Yellowknife

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the concerns about the -- the folk festival aside -- one of the concerns, a business case concern was that at 36 sites and the lack of opportunity for expansion, this would really not be an adequate one for us. What are the projections and what would an ideal size be for a RV park here in Yellowknife, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Bell.

Further Return To Question 67-15(6): Recreational Vehicle Site Development In Yellowknife