Debates of February 3, 2006 (day 22)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement today, I talked about support for the Hay River volunteer fire and ambulance service. Members will remember I raised the issue of the inconsistency of support by this government to various fire and ambulance services across the Northwest Territories. In response to that, I know that there is a comprehensive strategy underway between the departments of MACA, Transportation, and Health and Social Services. But specifically to Hay River, what we have is a very well-trained volunteer fire department; we only get a $25,000 contribution to the local health board to operate that fire department. As resource development proceeds, our fire department not only serves the municipality, they serve the highway system east towards Fort Resolution and Fort Smith, south towards the border, and to the west towards Fort Providence, and this is quite a major undertaking. We need to be proactive in preparing for the amount of traffic and the demand that's going to be put on this volunteer ambulance and fire service in Hay River.

To that end, Mr. Speaker, we would like to come up with a plan specific to Hay River. I understand there's an overall overview plan being done for the Northwest Territories, but we want a plan specific to Hay River and we need money to commission that plan. There are five Ministers involved: Health and Social Services; MACA; Justice, under public safety; Transportation; and ITI, because a lot of this will be resource driven and we need $10,000. So any Minister of those five that I named, those five departments, that wants to give us $10,000, we'd greatly appreciate it. Perhaps I could direct the question to…I don't know who the lead is on it. Is it Mr. Miltenberger? Okay, Mr. Miltenberger. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Return To Question 329-14(5): Support Of Volunteer Fire And Ambulance Services

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is an issue of some concern for the Northwest Territories, the government, and all the communities in the North. We are working, as the Member has indicated, on a plan. In fact, Minister McLeod and I and our staff met yesterday, and we're looking at bringing a document forward that hopefully, over the next number of weeks, we'll be able to review the committee as well, that lays out some of our initial thoughts and recommendations in the interim as we look to how to rationalize the whole process.

In regards to the Member's request for $10,000, if the Member wants to give me her question, then I would be happy to sit down and we would look at it to see how we could best work with the community of Hay River within the work that we're doing, keeping in mind that they are doing a very important job, as well, to see how we could address that request. Thank you.

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

Supplementary To Question 329-14(5): Support Of Volunteer Fire And Ambulance Services

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I realize it's not always possible to give a yes or no answer on this particular day, but I perceive a positive response there, so that's good news. We're hoping that we would use such a plan even to perhaps leverage some money from industry, as well. Hay River is not often mentioned when we talk about affected communities for the pipeline. But when you look at the presence of industry that's going to be in the community, we feel a document like this could perhaps even alleviate some of the costs on this government for supporting of all it. Obviously, it's cheaper to support the existing infrastructure that's there and enhance that, than it is for industry to go out and create a stand-alone kind of support service for emergency services while they're in our community. So in taking an answer back to the community then, I guess, for the $10,000 that's required, does the Minister see that as a reasonable amount, and is this something that he sees being done by an outside consultant, or does he have any other options on how he might achieve this plan? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Miltenberger.

Further Return To Question 329-14(5): Support Of Volunteer Fire And Ambulance Services

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the community of Hay River is to be commended for their proactive attitude. We're working with communities, for example, that do energy plans for all communities because it's a very important area that has a huge impact on communities. As we go forward with this particular initiative, we are going to be working with communities and regions on a community-by-community basis as we look at how services are structured in their particular region or community. So I would ask if you'd bring forward the detail of what you're asking, we will look at it, we will give it our best look with the folks that are involved and have experience in this area, of how best to proceed. Can we assist you with money, support, services in kind? Is there the talent in house? Those are questions that we can address. But I will assure the Member that this will be given very serious consideration, and it's a process that we're going to be engaging in from the 60th parallel right up to Holman.