Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I am raising the topic of safety for students in the NWT. We all know that intercommunity sports and recreation events are an important part of a student’s life experience.
Mr. Speaker, I have many fond memories of travelling with Mr. Rick Tremblay when I was kid to communities for basketball, wrestling and cross-country events. As we all know too well, coaches, team mangers, chaperones and parents often take their teams to other communities in the NWT and Alberta. They make use of their own cars and minivans and sometimes rent vehicles and buses.
Sadly, I need to recognize the tragedy of seven lost lives last year in an accident in New Brunswick. Typically, the investigations into these kinds of incidents point to poorly maintained vehicles, overly tired drivers, bad weather, poor safety practices by passengers. In response to that event, the province has now taken steps in establishing guidelines about students travelling, including vehicle types, vehicle inspections and driver training.
Mr. Speaker, before the alarm bells need to go off in our territory, I hope our government will consider acting. The government in New Brunswick is proposing and eventually establishing their guidelines as enforceable regulations under their Education Act.
I suspect the NWT practices are not much different from other places in Canada. Hard working teachers and parents volunteer their time and efforts and vehicles to make huge positive contributions in their children’s sports activities. We all have heard stories about northern travel, about broken down vehicles in cold winter and passengers without winter gear. We know that ambulances are not easy to find on many NWT highways. We all know that coaches often do double duty coaching and chaperoning all day long at hockey arenas, and then they drive home in the dark when most of the athletes and students are sleeping because of their exhausting day and weekend.
I think that it is time for the NWT Minister of Education to work hard with his partners and establish some northern guidelines for student travel. These guidelines would assist everyone to take the right amount of care and the right kind of standard to make sure our students are travelling safe.
Mr. Speaker, I am sure the Education Minister would agree with me that parents and teachers want to know their children are as safe as they possibly can be when travelling to events with the school teams. That I wholeheartedly support.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Member’s Statement on
Infrastructure Needs in
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]
Mr. Speaker, since being elected MLA for Tu Nedhe in October of last year, I have worked with numerous Ministers and both communities to get a clear picture of the infrastructure needs of Fort Resolution and Lutselk’e. After learning that no project has been allocated to Fort Resolution and Lutselk’e over the next three years, or the balance of this 16th Assembly, I’m now pursuing a mandate to increase infrastructure dollars in my riding.
According to the plan, the community of Fort Resolution will receive zero dollars, while Lutselk’e will receive $55,000 to finish this year’s project. In other words, Mr. Speaker, of the 100 and some odd million dollars being allocated, Tu Nedhe will be receiving some holdback dollars. Mr. Speaker, I’m not asking that we shift infrastructure dollars from a higher priority to some other higher priority communities but, rather, that we revisit the allocations made to Tu Nedhe.
A couple of weeks ago while visiting Lutselk’e I walked into a government owned office and I had to step around pots and cans that were strategically placed on the floor to catch the rainwater coming through the roof. If this is not a clear example of problems our smaller communities are facing with their infrastructure needs, I have to ask: how bad do things have to get?
This government plans to spend $20 million in energy programs. The GNWT should make it a priority to allocate some of that money to Fort Resolution and Lutselk’e for items such as wood stoves, insulation and other energy efficient projects so that my constituents can feel like the GNWT is paying some attention to them.
Mr. Speaker, community infrastructure was handed to the communities through the New Deal in 2005 and was initially delivered to hamlets and charter communities. Lutselk’e and Fort Resolution are neither; however, I have heard from each of the communities, and both agree that the Department of MACA has been doing very well working with them, and they have been a big help.
Mr. Speaker, my goal is to work with the communities and the Minister to look at infrastructure dollar amounts in the Tu Nedhe riding.
Unanimous consent granted.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. It seems that my riding is a low priority when compared to other communities. I have a highway that is below standard. I have dust problems in both communities, drainage problems and much needed chipsealing in both communities and much, much more.
In this respect the government is failing my communities. The goal is simple, Mr. Speaker: to increase infrastructure dollars in the Tu Nedhe riding. The solution is a cooperative approach with the Minister, the communities and myself to develop a new infrastructure plan for each community. Later today I will have follow-up questions for the Minister of MACA. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Members’ statements. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
