Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Many NWT residents spend time in our larger population centre from time to time and, in fact, of course, the Minister spends a great deal of time in Yellowknife each year. I’ve got a challenging question for him. I know from time to time he’s here with his family members and so on. Can the Minister, perhaps even with the help of his colleagues, tell us what numbers you’d call in Yellowknife to contact the police, to contact the fire department and to call an ambulance? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it’s 873-1111 and 873-2222. Thank you.
The Minister did indeed do very well. Recent polls show that the majority of Yellowknifers, and in fact in the Territories, could not do nearly so well. In fact, to this day I couldn’t have done it myself. However, knowing this, that the majority of people do not know those numbers offhand, that delays, of course, result in injuries and possibly more serious concerns. Knowing that 911 is technically feasible throughout much if not all of the NWT, why is the Minister stubbornly denying -- stubbornly denying -- the 911 service? Mahsi.
Oooh.
The money that we flow to the communities is part of their capital formula funding and is part of the gas tax money. We flow that to the communities. Questions were raised to me by other Members of the Assembly on infrastructure in their communities and I tell them that we flow the capital infrastructure money if projects they speak of meet the criteria. I think money that we flow to the city, the money that we flow to the seven communities that are the ones that were mentioned in the report comes close to $17 million and if those communities want to use that money to implement a 911 service, then they would have the authority and the funds to do so. Thank you.
Of course, this is a territorial-wide issue, it’s not just those communities. My understanding is that, indeed, the City of Yellowknife, for example, has already put up significant dollars and is willing to do more there, but I was ruled out of order on Friday for speaking about both 911 service and a cell phone ban. So I will now ask the most important question equally critical to both examples. How can the Minister justify the failure to protect the health and safety of the majority of citizens in these two cases when all the evidence of need, feasibility, economy, public desire and government responsibility call him to act in the public interest and take these two steps? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we do take the safety of the residents in the Northwest Territories very seriously. I’ll make that point quite clear. The seven communities that are in question here, there are a couple of them that have said that they’re not planning on 911 at this particular time. The one I spoke to in particular said they’re looking to enhance their own emergency services before they go to the next step of implementing 911.
The communities have it within their means to provide this service. Obviously it’s an important service for the city, because they initiated the report -- and I commend them for that -- and they believe it’s a service that’s needed in the city. So they would have to take that first step. They have the money to put the infrastructure in place.
We have many concerns that I have heard from some of the other communities and when we talk about a territorial-wide initiative, because it’s the seven largest communities in the Territories doesn’t make it a territorial-wide initiative. We still have 26 other communities out there.
I just want to assure the communities and the public, we do take the safety of our public very seriously. Money is provided to all communities to act on the priorities that they set in their communities and if 911 was a priority in Yellowknife, then they do have some funding from the government to make that come about. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was sort of with the Minister for awhile there, but once again he put it onto the small communities versus large communities. I think it’s a most unfortunate argument when we are talking about the safety of people and what’s achievable and where our responsibilities lie. So I guess I’d like clarifications from the Minister on that question, the banning of use of cell phones while driving and other devices, for example, simply because it only protects people in the larger centres. Does this Minister agree with his own reported reasoning that because there is no application to small communities, that is reasonable grounds? Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know the public is waiting to hear that.
I don’t think I gave the impression of small towns versus big communities. I have been hearing that argument a lot. I have no intention of saying anything of the sort. We are the Government of the Northwest Territories and that includes all 33 communities and not just seven. There are opportunities there that see 911 as a priority, to use the money that is given to them by this government to enhance their emergency services. That includes 911 and, Mr. Speaker, that would be a decision that they have to make.
I have already said I have heard from a couple of communities that are not going to pursue 911 at the moment. They would like to enhance their own emergency service. We do provide the service. Someone has to respond and if we don’t have a proper emergency response service, then 911 would really be no good. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
