Mr. Speaker, today I would like to recognize and send my congratulations to Mr. Glen Guthrie of the Sahtu.
Mr. Guthrie was awarded the Lloyd Cook Award for his commitment to further educate the public on wildlife management.
Mr. Speaker, this award is a national recognition with the Fur Industry of Canada, and we offer our heartfelt thanks to Glen for his hard work with people, especially with the youth. Mahsi cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Transportation. I, in my statement, thanked the Department of Transportation for their responsiveness to issues. The issue of icing, whether it be on airplanes, on highways, this is the time of year it would seem that there is a great potential, when the temperature is hovering around zero, for there to be icy conditions.
Mr. Speaker, between the NWT border and Enterprise is a very long stretch of highway which does not have good cell phone service. I know this because when we came upon this rolled truck last night at 8:40, and by the time we checked under it and around it to see if there were any victims at the site, until we got to report it to the RCMP over an hour had passed, Mr. Speaker. So I’m asking the Minister today if he thinks there would be merit in having an energized solar power-supplied sign at the border and one at Enterprise that could be remotely programmed to contain information about that long stretch of highway, so that if someone going over the road discovers an accident or discovers hazardous road conditions, if that could be programmed to send that message out to prevent someone else from getting in that accident. Even stopping on the highway to check out an accident creates another potential for vehicles to get into difficulty on black ice. Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member raises an important safety concern that we have on all our highways, especially the highways that have chipseal. We have been looking at a number of ways to try to deal with this issue, and then try to raise the awareness through the public and the people on the highway system during the times when we have challenges. We’ve incorporated a maintenance schedule that would allow us to have staff on the highway system seven days a week so that they can closely monitor, especially during the winter months, the events that are happening.
We’ve also brought on stream, over the last couple of years, a number of traffic signs, lit variable signs that we can use, and this year we’re going to have a number of new ones, with a total of eight signs that give a number of responses to the travelling public, including bison locations, speed limits, it will measure how fast you’re going, and we think it has merit. I think the Member’s suggestion is a good one. We can certainly take a look at it.
We are trying to do other things that would help us in this area, including we’ve installed a road weather information system that runs on solar energy and would provide information back to our maintenance camps so that we have information readily available. That may be something that we can incorporate on Highway No. 1 that would help us out with this issue of black ice. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I mentioned, as well, that when one has the unfortunate experience of coming upon an accident that’s already occurred, there are no shoulders on the road on that stretch of highway I’m talking about. So for an example, last night we had to basically stay right in the lane with our four-way flashers on, and someone coming around a curve, and they touch their brakes, you have the potential for another accident. So I guess I’d like to ask the Minister, in that particular stretch of highway, what are the plans for expanding the shoulder? There are no shoulders on that road now. They go to the edge of the pavement or the chipseal and it’s just a straight drop-off on the gravel. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we’ve incorporated a four-year plan to deal with the issue that the Member’s raising on Highway No. 1 from the border to Enterprise and further down towards Highway No. 3. The road width is, I think, eight metres and we are planning to expand and widen the road to a 12-metre roadway system that will allow us to park on the shoulders. We’re also looking at ways to incorporate a number of pull-offs that would assist people that are travelling and want to rest or stop for various reasons. Thank you.
Another feature that the Department of Transportation instituted at the ferry crossing was a live camera, a camera where people could go on line, go to the Department of Transportation website on the Internet and actually view what was happening with the ferry crossing. Is there any anticipation of the department expanding the webcam network so that more points on the highway system can be viewed by those who are thinking about venturing out and travelling? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, as of now, the request for a camera at the ferry crossing has been something we were considering. We don’t have it built into our budget yet, but we certainly can take a look at it.
Yes, we continue to look at ways to expand our information collection through the intelligent systems that we have. If the Member had driven in, I am not sure if she drove into Yellowknife yesterday, but as she turned onto Highway No. 3, her vehicle would have been weighed, her speed recorded and the classification all documented. We have cameras on Highway No. 3. We have two cameras set up in Yellowknife that collect information. We have video collection units on two of the intersections here in the city that study traffic volumes, turning patterns and also vehicle classifications. There are a number of things that we have on the go. We would like to expand that to other road systems. At this point, some still are in the early testing stages. We will continue to monitor that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
When you go on the website and you type in the AMA, Alberta Motor Association, they have the list of the cameras and they go all the way down through all the highway systems in Alberta. Maybe we could talk to Alberta and see if we can be added onto that network without creating our own. It is just an idea. I don’t know if you can rename it something that people would know but, anyway, to go on and advise the travelling public of what kind of conditions the roads are in would be helpful. Thank you.
I certainly agree. Our budget of $126 million, compared to I think Alberta is $20 million for transportation, is a little bit not what we would like to see, but we continue to try to bring information. I appreciate the Member’s comments, because we need to be able to provide the travelling public on road conditions, black ice and bison location. We need to be able to enforce speed limits and any other concerns of safety on our highways, including the width and being able to stop in emergency situations. We will continue to move forward on that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I spoke about establishing a new territorial park near the community of Fort Resolution. I would like to follow up with my questions to the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell me in general terms what the process for identifying and establishing a new territorial park is? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The most important consideration in establishing a territorial park would be to have community support and the community would identify the area for consideration. On our part, we would then undertake serious consultations with all affected stakeholders and certainly we would review our NWT Parks Act to see which category would best fit to meet the community’s request. We would also have to have Government of the Northwest Territories departments review it. Once we got closer to actual establishment, we would need a park management plan. We would probably need an Order-in-Council to transfer the land. We would design the park and then, of course, we would have to come to seek capital to establish the park. That is one process.
Another process that other regions have used to establish parks are to go through the land claims negotiations process, but from what I understand, the process I described probably is closer to what the community wants to do. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I believe the initial process will be closer to what the community is looking for. It is more of a campsite, although it is referred to as a territorial park. Can the Minister confirm if there is any funding in place for establishing this type of park in and around the area of Fort Resolution? Thank you.
We would have some funding to do some planning work. I think that once we get closer to something concrete, we would have to identify funds through our capital plans. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit to working with me a little closer and also working with the community to getting the wheels in motion for establishing a park in this new area that I am talking about? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would be pleased to work with the Member and the community of Tu Nedhe towards establishing this park. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.
Would the Minister also commit to visiting with the community? It is a bit of a controversial issue around the establishment of the park in a different area. Would the Minister agree to meet with me and the leadership and other interest groups to talk about this new proposed site himself in the near future? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would be pleased to visit the community with the Member and certainly anything we can do to help to facilitate, we will try to do. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. It gets back to my Member’s statement where I was talking about H1N1 and the ingredients that are contained in that vaccine, Arepanrix. I would like to ask the Minister, before our residents are vaccinated with this vaccine, are they going to be fully made aware of all the ingredients of that vaccine? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the Member for the question. Just before the House today I took the opportunity to go to the flu clinic at the multiplex and I was pleasantly surprised that there was actually a line-up of people before the clinic opened. Once I got there, the room was full of residents who were taking on this offer to vaccinate. I was joined by the chief public health officer, Dr. Kandola, and she brought her child, as well as the president of the Medical Association and Mr. Dolynny, the pharmacist. My point being that I think these are people who have a lot of knowledge about this vaccine and they have studied that.
In fact, last week I remember talking to Dr. Kandola. They just got a study/clinical results on children on the impact of the vaccine on the children. These scientific results show that this vaccine showed more positive effects on younger children than even the GSK had originally thought. Mr. Speaker, Public Health Canada recommends this vaccine and, yes, when the residents go to get their vaccines, there are staff there to answer any questions they may have. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, again, that is a nice story. I am glad people are getting their shot, but the question I had for the Minister was: at the multiplex today were there product information leaflets available to the public who are getting their shot that clearly indicates every ingredient in that vaccine, Mr. Speaker? By the sounds of it, people have to ask what is in it. I don’t think that is appropriate. I think that we should be providing the public with that type of information. I would like to ask the Minister, if that isn’t the case, if she could provide that level of information to our residents. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I could assure the Member and perhaps I think anybody could go to the clinic there. I want to tell the House that the staff and the public health officer have been working really hard to answer any questions any residents have. I am aware that people have been calling about the ingredients. I know those questions are being answered. When a resident walks into the clinic, there is lots of staff there. There are nurses, doctors, anybody at the door and people are greeted and they are made to feel at ease. This is happening right now at the multiplex.
I understand the Member’s concern. I think it is very important. At the end of the day, a decision as to whether they are going to take this vaccine or not is a personal decision. A lot of parents and everybody has to make that decision. I was happy to see that a lot of the people were there and taking the vaccine. I want to assure the Member that there are lots of health care professionals there answering any question that any resident may have about this vaccine and the vaccination program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Again, of course, people can ask questions. I think the Minister knows full well what I am saying. I would like to see a piece of paper there that clearly identifies what is in this vaccine, because on the Department of Health’s website, you can’t find exactly what the ingredients are in that vaccine. I had to go to Health Canada and I had to dig it out myself. Again, that is a product information leaflet on Arepanrix, if anybody is interested in finding that.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to also ask the Minister, given the possibility, then, that there are side effects with the vaccination, is there a waiver that people have to sign or is there any legal recourse if somebody should have a serious adverse side effect to the vaccination? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, there is no waiver for anyone to sign, and nobody has to take this vaccine unless there are questions that are answered. Mr. Speaker, I do have the ingredients in front of me. It says, split influenza virus, inactivated, containing antigen equivalent to 3.75 micrograms haemagglutinin/dose, Antigen A/California, Excipients: Thimerosal, 2.6 mcg mercury/dose; sodium chloride, disodium hydrogen phosphate, potassium dihydrogen phosphate, potassium. Mr. Speaker, my point being, if somebody was there to read this label, would that help people to decide whether they should take this? My point being, we have people who are trained to understand this, people who are concerned about public health issues. It is better for doctors and nurses and public health officers to explain, okay, what is in here, what does it do, what kind of side effects could it have, what kind of impact could it have on my child, what kind of studies did you do, what is it supposed to do, and then have people explain in normal language that we could all understand what this is. Then it is up to the people to decide whether they want to take it for their child or their family. I took my mother there. Dr. Kandola had her 18-month-old baby there. She had him vaccinated. So we are doing everything we can to assure the public. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister forgot to say one of the ingredients on the list and that was formaldehyde. I would like to add that for her.
The other question I have, Mr. Speaker, on the Department of Health’s H1N1 flu site, it says at the end: “MYTH: because H1N1 vaccine is new, it is untested and unsafe. FACT:” -- and at the end of that statement it says -- “and no safety concerns have been found.” The reason, Mr. Speaker, I bring this up is because it is confusing for people out there when they do go to the Health Canada website and they see some of what are the side effects: very common; common; uncommon and rare; and the rare, one in a thousand; or very rare, one in 10,000.
So let’s just look at the very rare, one in 10,000. If we inject 40,000 in our Territory with this, chances are four of them are going to come up with a neurological disorder. That is the kind of information that I think has to get out there and people have to see that, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister, how come this isn’t available for people at the vaccination centres? Thank you.
I think it is important. This is a very serious public health issue. All of the experts are doing everything they can to get the information out. We should be very careful about not creating fear. I think what we want to do is to get the information out.
Mr. Speaker, I want to say, as the Minister of Health, that all vaccinations in Canada are subject to a very strict authorization process. They have a very high standard. The vaccine that is being used in Canada is not what is being used in the States. Not only is it a different vaccine, it is a different type of vaccine and it is manufactured by different people. They are having clinical trials done in European countries. The reason why the implementation of this vaccine was delayed and was so bad, we would have enough time to get tested and the tests have shown and all of the public health officers have reviewed it. Dr. Butler-Jones was in Yellowknife announcing it on Friday and they are recommending that the risks associated with this vaccine are so small compared to the sickness and serious hospitalization that would be required by our residents, it is especially important for our small communities and isolated areas to take this vaccine, because benefits far outweigh any risks that might come out from this vaccine. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about the issue of barrier-free schools as well as their playgrounds. The issue at hand is simply that we have one particular school, and I have no doubt in my mind that there are many others throughout the Territory, that could use some support to make sure that the school and the playgrounds are barrier-free. Mr. Speaker, my hope is that the Minister will see this as a broader and long-term solution, recognizing, I know, we can’t solve every problem at once but we can certainly work towards doing our best today. Mr. Speaker, my question is directed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment is: would he be able to look into this problem that N.J. Macpherson School is having, to see what support the Department of Education, Culture and Employment can provide at this time? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This is definitely an area that we need to look at with the schools. We are trying to make it as accessible as we possibly can, especially with the older infrastructure barrier-free schools. Those are the areas that we are always improving and enhancing, whether it be playground equipment or school accessing, the railings and so forth. Certainly I will work with the school boards and also with our department and with the MLA on where we need to identify those areas. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, I may applaud the Minister for a fantastic answer on dealing with this issue. Mr. Speaker, just one last question. I certainly hope, as I view this as a territorial problem not just a Yellowknife problem -- and I stress that -- would the Minister look into the feasibility, and I stress, look into only the feasibility at this time about drawing it into a long-term program where we can ensure that all our schools are barrier-free and certainly accessible not just to our students but to our community? Because, as we all know, schools are schools during the day, but they are also the heart of the community in the evening when you want community functions and events. Mr. Speaker, I am looking towards the bigger picture. Would the Minister take a look and see if it is feasible to set up a funding program that could work towards these needs? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, it is a territorial-wide challenge with some of these older facilities. So those are the areas that we need to highlight and my department has been working closely with the school boards to identify those areas barrier-free and try to identify some areas of funding, if that is required, working closely with the school boards. There are also parental advisory committees that we work closely with as well. Apparently there is funding allocated as well. Those are the areas that we need to discuss as a group. We will certainly talk further on this particular item. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Transportation and a follow-up on my Member’s statement. I know that this year we were supposed to have I think it was 70 kilometres of chipseal done from the Providence junction towards Fort Simpson. I know that it was issued later in the year. I just want to ask the Minister again, what are the current plans the department has to complete this work and how soon? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d have to go to the department and confirm, but I believe the project has been deferred until next year. There was some concern, as the season progressed, with the amount of rain that we got and the saturation that the road became. Mr. Speaker, it’s something that we’d still like to move forward on. There were questions raised by the Member on some of the other projects in his riding, including Highway No. 7 that we had to defer. It’s really unfortunate; however, we can’t control the weather, and we’ll commit to having those projects moved forward as soon as possible in the new year.
