Mr. Speaker, today I would like to update the Legislative Assembly on changes to homeownership programs offered through the NWT Housing Corporation.
When we developed our strategic plan, Building for the Future, residents told us that we needed to examine our homeownership programs. They wanted us to recognize the different roles that homeownership plays in non-market and market communities. They told us we need to make these programs more effective.
Mr. Speaker, following our strategic plan, we have made significant changes to Providing Assistance for Territorial Homeownership, our main homeownership subsidy program. We’ve changed the way we determine subsidy levels, expanded the eligible pool of clients, and significantly closed the gap between the cost of homeownership and public housing.
Our new approach provides higher subsidies in non-market communities with a higher cost of living. For example, an eligible household in Deline would be able to purchase a new home for about $140,000 after receiving a subsidy under PATH. This would mean the client would have approximately $1,500 in monthly costs for their mortgage and utilities. This is very similar to the maximum rent charged for public housing clients.
The approach to the subsidy is different in market communities. Housing supply and development is much different in these communities and in market communities, the program focuses on helping first-time homeowners.
Mr. Speaker, we have also changed the way we deliver our homeownership programs. Residents will now be able to apply for programs at any time during the year rather than only during a targeted intake period. We will work with clients to schedule repairs, making sure to allow for getting materials into the community and for weather conditions.
Mr. Speaker, homeowners are responsible for maintaining their homes and for completing any repairs that are required. The NWT Housing Corporation supports homeowners with modest income to meet that responsibility. We need to ensure that our emergency and major repair programs support homeowners but do not take away from their role in maintaining their own home.
Finally, Mr. Speaker, last year we introduced the Revised Mortgage Balance Program for about 400 clients, with mortgages payable directly to the NWT Housing Corporation. Most of these clients had considerable arrears, and collection rates were very low.
Since then, about 60 percent of our mortgage clients have taken advantage of the program. They have a fresh start and their mortgage payments are predictable and affordable. The success of the program is reflected in the monthly mortgage collection rates, which have averaged 85 percent for clients in the new program compared with less than 30 percent for those that have yet to sign up.
The NWT Housing Corporation will continue to work with clients who are continuing to accumulate mortgage arrears. They still have an opportunity to take advantage of the Revised Mortgage Balance Program, but there are a number of files now being advanced through the legal process.
Mr. Speaker, the homeownership programs support residents to meet their own housing needs. The approach to Securing Assistance for Emergencies, our emergency repair program, to the new Providing Assistance for Territorial Homeownership, our homeownership subsidy program, and to Contributing Assistance for Repairs and Enhancements, our major repair program, reflect our partnership approach between homeowners and the NWT Housing Corporation.
The vision of the 17th Legislative Assembly includes strong individuals, families and communities, and I look forward to working with all Members as we continue to work on our housing priorities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to take the opportunity today to update Members on our partnership with Wilfrid Laurier University on water and cold region research.
This partnership helps support our government’s vision of strong individuals, families and communities sharing the benefits and responsibilities of a unified, environmentally sustainable and prosperous Northwest Territories by ensuring we use sound and reliable evidence-based information when developing policy, programs and services.
The purpose of the partnership agreement, signed in May 2010, is to provide new infrastructure and expertise to our government for environmental research and education, increase our capacity to conduct this research, and provide training needed to manage natural resources while dealing with the emerging challenges of climate and the impacts of growth and development.
Our government committed $2 million to the partnership with $1 million upon signing of the agreement. Annual contributions since then total $600,000. Our investment has resulted in approximately $12 million in partnership funding.
This investment has allowed the partnership to secure an additional $5.8 million for research programs in the Northwest Territories, with just over $1.5 million of that spent here.
The partnership is expected to leverage at least another five to seven million dollars in research funding for NWT programs during the life of the agreement.
Mr. Speaker, there are 10 principal scientists leading research projects in collaboration with communities and residents and involving more than 50 researchers and students. There are also three part-time employees in the Northwest Territories to support these partnership activities.
Two researchers are working with the leaders of the Liidlii Kue First Nations, Jean Marie River First Nation, Sambaa K’e Dene First Nation and the Dehcho First Nations on impacts of thawing permafrost at the Scotty Creek field site near Fort Liard.
Another researcher has provided substantial in-kind support to the Lutselk’e and Sambaa K’e Dene First Nations and Ecology North by providing wastewater analysis using a relatively simple and inexpensive way to screen water sources for the presence of human fecal matter.
In Wekweeti local students and Government of Northwest Territories scientists are involved in a project investigating snow characteristics to help calculate snow density using remote sensing. The students conduct snow surveys throughout the winter and their data helps this project and another project where GNWT biologists are working to correlate snow characteristics to caribou health.
Mr. Speaker, other projects include:
permafrost, water and vegetation large-scale monitoring being done from Fort Liard to Inuvik to look at the impact of permafrost melt on vegetation;
looking at water use in trees, the role of trees in melting permafrost, modeling carbon accumulation in permafrost peat lands and documenting long-term permafrost change using tree growth;
terrestrial monitoring of hydrology and water chemistry, looking at sense of place and changing water conditions in Fort Resolution and examining contaminants and hydroecology of the Slave River Delta.
Analysis of much of the research gathered in the Northwest Territories will be done at the Centre for Cold Regions and Water Science on the campus of Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario. The grand opening took place two weeks ago and I was in attendance to see the new facility.
There is also the potential, through our partnership, for NASA to include the Scotty Creek field site and an Inuvik site in its Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment.
Mr. Speaker, Wilfrid Laurier University professors and staff are working with several of our departments to find ways to support NWT-based graduate students in distance learning by offering distance courses, directed studies and appropriate funding opportunities.
The Northwest Territories continues to be an important area for scientific research for Aboriginal, federal and territorial governments, boards, agencies, and territorial, national and international academic and industry-based researchers and scientists.
Partnerships, like the one with Wilfrid Laurier University, ensure Northwest Territories communities and residents are involved in this research so we benefit from it.
It is my hope that as more young people are exposed to these types of scientific research projects in the physical and social sciences, they will be encouraged to look at professions in this field. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister responsible for Women, Mr. Premier.
Mr. Speaker, many Northwest Territories residents continue to experience family violence or are dealing with its negative after-effects. This is not the kind of territory that we want. We talk about healthy and educated people in this Assembly, and we talk about safe and sustainable communities. We are committed to achieving those goals and addressing family violence is an important part of that commitment.
One of the biggest challenges we face when it comes to family violence is the perception that what goes on in a person’s family is private business. Most times that is true. But family violence is a complex problem that has its roots in social issues. These are issues like prevailing attitudes, social inequality and systemic injustice. Social problems require a community solution; they cannot be fixed by solitary individuals alone, particularly those who are being abused by those they should be able to trust most.
Shared responsibility and community solutions are something we have been discussing a lot lately in the context of community safety. Family violence is no different; we all have a responsibility to do whatever we can to ensure that people, especially the most vulnerable people, are safe in their own homes.
Government has an important leadership role to play in stopping family violence. We share that role with other partners like community governments, Aboriginal governments, law enforcement and community social agencies. Together we are responsible for developing and implementing strategies to prevent family violence. We also work together to ensure that programs and services are available to support victims of family violence and to help the perpetrators take responsibility for, and change, their actions.
Government programs for victims of family violence include emergency funding that helps them with financial needs related to the crime. RCMP, social workers and victim services workers provide support throughout the territory. If they are not safe in their homes, victims can stay at one of our local shelters while they think about what to do next.
For perpetrators of violence, our government’s new 24-week Wek’eahkaa program reflects our healing philosophy. Violence is a choice and people need effective strategies and tools for dealing with their anger appropriately and constructively. The Wek’eahkaa program helps teach men who have used violence in their relationships that there is a better way. We believe every day brings a new chance for a violent person to change his behaviour. This pilot project being delivered in Yellowknife was designed for northern residents. Ultimately, our goal is to have a program that is accessible and relevant throughout the Northwest Territories.
The community can play a role by watching out for the signs of abuse and taking steps to stop it. A healthy and safe community is one where friends and neighbours know and look out for each other. Friends need to ask victims to get help. Neighbours need to call the police when they hear violence in the home or on the street. People need to listen to victims and help them to make the choices that will keep themselves and their families safe.
Family violence is related to many of the issues we deal with as elected leaders. It is connected to poverty, to mental health and addictions, and to respect for women. As we all know, these issues are complicated and the links are not always direct. But by taking a holistic approach, we can make progress on the long-term issues while taking immediate action to ensure victims’ safety.
I would like to thank the Coalition Against Family Violence for their work throughout the Northwest Territories to support victims, including the work they do for Family Violence Awareness Week. They help women and teens to know when they or their friends are in unhealthy relationships, and they support victims to be safe. Recently, one of the booklets they produced to help northern teenagers became so popular they were asked to send copies throughout Canada, United States and the United Kingdom. We are not alone in facing this problem. We have a lot to learn from our neighbours, and they have a lot to learn from us.
Mr. Speaker, we cannot achieve the vision of this Assembly if we do not address family violence. Our people cannot be healthy and educated when they live in fear of violence in their own home. They will not have the freedom or confidence to pursue their goals or participate fully in the economic or social life of their community. Children who witness violence will find it difficult to grow up to be good parents and loving partners. As leaders, we need to take a strong stand against family violence. The people of the Northwest Territories deserve nothing less. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My attempt in June to see a construction contract related to our own government building has illustrated some serious problems in terms of access to information for Members. Under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, MLAs have no more rights or privileges than the public, and in some cases, public access is severely restricted or hampered with red tape.
I know some limits are needed, but I believe public access to government information could be improved and, with it, public confidence in the way we are governed.
Some quick facts, Mr. Speaker: the Information and Privacy Commissioner recommended a full review of the act in the 2010-2011 annual report, and in her own words, “This review has not been done since the act came into force almost 17 years ago.” Mr. Speaker, our main goals in reviewing and updating the act should be to improve access to information to all residents and ensure their privacy is protected.
Another major goal is to entrench MLAs’ access to a broader range of information on a confidential basis than is generally available to the public.
Let me remind everyone here, this category of access is the cornerstone to the success of consensus government. If Members cannot get access to the information they need, the consensus system will ultimately fail.
I suspect the Justice Minister will say it is not necessary to add to the act or to provide special access to information for Members. In fact, he more likely will say that there’s a process convention in place that the Assembly has adopted.
That said, I’m here to say that it is not enough, Mr. Speaker. Conventions are not as strong as clearly defined rights founded in legislation. We can access no less if we are faithfully building a system of government that is open and accountable to both Members and the public at large. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday we had some pretty good discussions here in the House during Committee of the Whole on Aurora Campus and the need for a new stand-alone campus with the planning studies. However, we do have a lot of other facilities here in the Northwest Territories. We have three facilities that allow post-secondary education for our residents of the Northwest Territories and I just want to speak to those.
As the Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, I do represent a community where the region and the Aurora Campus itself does have space and availability to offer new programs in these spaces working forward. I also want to talk about Fort Smith, as well, as another campus that can provide space.
Up in Inuvik we also have an opportunity here with the new fibre optic link operating with the Aurora Research Institute to develop and create some…
This is before committee, so your Member’s statement is concluded. Thank you. Sorry, Mr. Moses, I should have caught that earlier. Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Deh Cho Health Authority was just placed under a public administrator. That makes it the fourth regional authority to experience a board takeover. In the Deh Cho case, a slew of resignations had left the board with eight vacancies and only two spots filled. There had also been questions about the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery.
This shift toward public administrators is a kind of litmus test. It’s an indicator of genuine problems with health care governance. Existing health care legislation is vague on the respective roles of the health authority and the ministry. Technology and health care isn’t keeping pace. The Medical Travel Policy needs revamping and the level of efficiency in day-to-day operations is less than exemplary.
When the government undertakes health care reform, it should include jurisdictional boundaries. My constituents in Fort Providence and the Hay River Reserve may want to receive services in nearby Hay River rather than Fort Simpson, while the majority actually prefer to receive medical services in Yellowknife. On this note, people who travel for their medical care should not be unduly burdened with the cost of taxis, hotel rooms and meals on the road.
The board takeover at the Deh Cho Regional Health Authority, the fourth of its kind in recent memory, signals the need for a system overhaul. It’s time for the government to get into step with best practices in health care governance. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We eagerly anticipate the release of the Anti-Poverty Action Plan and the Early Childhood Development Framework and look forward to seeing how this government puts these documents into action. I propose that we insert a few pages based on what Quebec has implemented over the last 15 years.
Since the late ‘90s, Quebec has made daycare available to all for $7 per day. The price is the same regardless whether you are rich or poor. The daycares are run by professionals who are trained in early childhood development and education. The results have been excellent. Including the $7 per day, the daycare program has been shown to decrease poverty, especially among single parents and children. In the first decade alone, the number of single parents on welfare was cut in half and their after-tax income increased by 81 percent. Today the child poverty is half what it was 16 years ago. The $7 per day daycare program has been shown to increase the number of women in the workplace. In the first decade the number of women in the workplace increased by 22 percent.
The government will say that we cannot afford to be so generous, but we already know that poverty is the root cause of many of our current social expenses. Investing in our children and young families early will produce savings as they grow. Enabling single parents to work instead of sitting at home on income support means they will also be able to pay income taxes.
An economic study in Quebec shows that the provincial and federal governments actually realize savings, receiving $1.49 for every dollar that was spent on the $7 a day daycare program.
Quebec is not alone in this. They were inspired in part by the daycare programs in Scandinavian countries such as Sweden that have been doing this for decades. In Sweden universal and affordable daycare is combined with parental leave and flexible work arrangements that allow parents to spend time with their children and continue working.
Many parents know that this is a great way to raise a family. They each work four days a week and put their children in daycare for the remaining three days, but the cost of daycare is extremely high and even people making middle incomes cannot afford it. Seven dollars per day daycare would be an investment in our children, who are our future. Experience in Scandinavia and Quebec shows that it works. It’s a no-brainer. Let’s get it done. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Before we go on, I’d like to welcome back to the House, and it’s always good to see, Mr. Anthony W.J. Whitford, who has held every position in this Assembly. Good to see you, Tony.
The Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to speak about this morning’s news. I was disturbed to hear about the state of dental problems in our children and in our communities. The dentist in the news this morning stood up and voiced his opinion on that, and I know a lot of it has to do with how it is still federally operated. I’m a bit confused and I will ask the Minister of Health questions on it later on.
With devolution, I thought we had all the responsibilities for health transferred over to us in 1988. According to the federal contract, we’re only allowed so many days per year per population of a dental visit, so a small community would have fewer treatment days. Also, the Finance Minister was going around our great Northwest Territories and asking for ways that we can look at how we can spend our resource revenues, and I submit that one of the ways we can take care of our people is by increasing dental visits and a dental awareness campaign.
Just with that, a couple of ideas out there, but firstly I’d like to speak with the Minister of Health and Social Services about how dental is being funded in our Northwest Territories. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The Member for the Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thomas Edison once observed that the reason most folks don’t recognize opportunity when it comes along is that it is often dressed in coveralls and it looks like work.
Opportunities in the Sahtu and opportunities in the Northwest Territories involve a great amount of work and the willingness to take a chance on something. We are told we take hold of opportunities and know the outcome, which may be uncertain. There has been a lot of media awareness, protests and discussion in the North about the Sahtu’s oil play and, more importantly, the use of the technology hydraulic fracking. I want to say let us not fear this technology but to embrace this opportunity.
The Sahtu wants to shed its shackles of poverty. We have a high rate of unemployment in our communities. We have families who need our support so they can work. Sahtu people are well aware of the risk of this technology. We are no different than the great minds of men who put people in space. We’re no different from the great people like Thomas Edison or Helen Keller. We must show, in light of the uncertainties and failures, that we stand to show courage so that our children will know success and non-success, but they will know, and they will see that success does not come very easy in the Sahtu or to people in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For the month of September, NWT residents had the opportunity to provide comments to the Minister of Justice about proposed amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act. Since first elected, I have been expressing concerns about that act and asking for some amendments to this piece of legislation. I’m very glad to see that change is potentially on the horizon.
The discussion paper circulated by Justice was thorough and it asked for input on most of the issues I have been talking about for the last five years. However, one issue was notably lacking, one which I hope the department will look at one more time before the amendments come forward. That’s the issue of landlord-imposed rental increases and the lack of an appeal mechanism for tenants if they believe the amount of the increase to be unfair.
I recognize the need for landlords to raise rents periodically. They are running a business, after all, and should have the ability to make a reasonable profit, but the operative word here is “reasonable.” Any increase to a tenant’s rent should be reasonable. Yet that aspect of a rent increase is not within the purview of the rental officer because of the way the Residential Tenancies Act is currently written. The act does state that rent increases can only be done once per year, but a tenant has no place to turn, no one to appeal to if they feel their rent is being unjustly increased.
As the Minister of Justice and department consider amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act, I ask that some consideration also be given to providing authority to the rental officer to deal with rental increases perceived by tenants to be unjust. There are several ways to do it and I’ll just mention three.
First, amend the act to include the words “fair and reasonable” when referring to a rent increase, or establish in regulations an upper limit – say 10 to 15 percent for a rent increase in any one year – or require the landlord to provide justification for the amount of a rental increase, proof of increased operating costs, invoices and so on. All I’m looking for here is some fairness for tenants who feel that their rent has been unfairly increased. As I said earlier, right now there is no opportunity for a tenant to even appeal what they consider to be an unfair increase.
The act will be opened up for the amendments outlined in the Minister’s discussion paper. Now is the best time to consider this change as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There were a terrible lot of lies going around the world about fracking and the worst thing of all is some of them are true. The fact is, we don’t know what the truth is about fracking until we have done our research. The GNWT and Members on this side of the House continue to go down this path and this narrative of fracking.
Is fracking right for the Northwest Territories? Yesterday I tried to articulate some of the concerns that need to be looked at if our government chooses to travel down this journey, down this path to resource riches, as we have described it. Yes, I agree with my colleague Mr. Yakeleya, from the Sahtu, that development needs to happen, and development in his region definitely deserves to happen. He will have my support when it comes to development, but is the narrative of fracking the one we wish to travel?
As I talked about yesterday, we need clear disclosure laws, public registries that show all documentation. Quite often we see the filing of technical documents by these proponents and they believe that they should make them so technical, you have to be a lawyer, engineer or even more qualified to read them.
We need laws on the books here to be developed in a way that says all documentation from any fracking policy or any company doing fracking is always in plain language. We need a public registry that spells it out to ensure that any action is taken to close gaps on problems and show that the commitments weren’t only just made but that results were achieved.
One of the problems I had seen when we travelled down to North Dakota, and I will tell you I definitely heard, was the monitoring, security, and enforcement of rules and regulations. It’s not just that we let people take water out of the ground and pump it back into the ground and then dispose of it. Quite often there wasn’t the old saying of the 360 approach. No one was watching people do what they wanted to do with those waste materials and fluids.
We heard stories about people dumping them. Why? Because it was easy and no one was looking. We heard people just dumping on old sites and saying that was their problem. Who is going to ensure that monitoring and management of these things are critically important?
You cannot go back if you have tainted the water and you have tainted the land. You get one shot at doing it right. Let’s not create another Giant Mine. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I apologize for my statement earlier. I do understand that the Department of Education is still in Committee of the Whole, and I do appreciate that you allowed me to speak to another important issue. Luckily for me, I have a lot to say and a lot to address here.
My Member’s statement that I did expect to talk about was on the coroner’s reports. We get those on a yearly basis. My concern with the coroner’s report is that sometimes the recommendations, when they do come into the House, don’t always get addressed in a timely fashion.
It was very great to hear the statement made today by our Premier on family violence, because sometimes what happens is when we do get these coroner’s reports, sometimes they’re linked in and tied to family violence. As a result, when those coroners go and do their investigations, put out their reports, recommendations come to this House, and that’s where we need to make sure that these recommendations, actions, are addressed, to pay respect and make sure that none of these actions or issues happen again in the future.
I will have questions to the Minister of Justice today on recommendations, what are the guidelines for getting these recommendations addressed, and how often does the Department of Justice go through these recommendations to make sure that they are addressed in a timely fashion so that family members and friends of victims who have passed away from sudden death get the closure that they need and that they know what has happened to somebody in the past will never happen to another resident of the NWT again.
Mr. Speaker, I thank you again for giving me a second Member’s statement. Mahsi.
You’re welcome, Mr. Moses. Order! Order! Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to do another tribute. I’d like to do a tribute to a Mr. Roy King Sr. from Fort Resolution. Mr. King was my uncle. He was born on May 6, 1949, and passed away October 3, 2013, at the age of 64. Roy Sr. was diagnosed with terminal cancer in the spring and passed away in the fall.
Roy King Sr. was born in Rocher River and was raised in Rocher River and Rat River. He was the youngest of Francois King and Judith Giroux’s children. Rocher River was a thriving community where people lived directly on the land. Roy attended school in Rocher River until the school burned down, then he moved to Fort Resolution.
Mr. Speaker, Roy loved his family and was dearly loved by his family in return. This was illustrated by his brothers Tommy and Wilfred, and his sister Annie’s children all coming together to bury him a couple weeks ago.
Over the past 20 years, Roy lived with Mary Petit-Jean in Fort Resolution. Roy worked for forestry for many years and retired a couple years ago. He wanted to eventually build a cabin along the Taltson River and go back to living off the land.
Roy would travel with the new boat that he had purchased, on the Slave River, Jean River, up to the Rocher River, Rat River and many of those areas, exploring places where he thought he was eventually going to build his cabin.
Mr. King is survived by his common-law, Mary Petit-Jean; his son, Roy Jr. and his common-law, Julia; and the only remaining sibling in his family, my mother, Annie; along with his grandchildren, Destry, Deborah, Carol, Jared, Greg; many great-grandchildren, Grace, Peton, Roy Jr. 3rd; stepson Greg Villeneuve and his wife, Lorraine; and many nieces and nephews and great-nieces and nephews.
My condolences go out to Roy’s family and friends, and especially his common-law, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and my mother. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize visitors from the Status of Women Council of the Northwest Territories who chair the Coalition Against Family Violence: Lorraine Phaneuf, the executive director; Annemieke Mulders, programs and research manager; Samantha Dechief, community development coordinator; and David Wasylciw. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to welcome the group from the Status of Women Council here to the House. Can’t see you guys up there behind me, but I know you’re there. Mr. Wasylciw, as well. He’s not a constituent, but we talk often enough he probably could be.
I would particularly like to welcome back some people who used to reside in Yellowknife. I want to call them old residents, but that’s not all that good. Sitting here we have Dr. Anne Davies. Her claim to fame, one of many, is that she was the first full-time president of the NWT Teachers’ Association in 1979. Ms. Davies is internationally renowned. She’s an author, teacher, researcher, particularly on education in classroom assessment. With her is Mr. Stuart Duncan, also a former Yellowknifer, a resident here from 1970 to 1986. So, welcome. He worked with the government in Public Works. He was a founding member of Ecology North and Sport North. I cannot forget my most valuable constituency assistant, Amanda. Welcome all. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to acknowledge well-known youth Andy Carpenter Jr., who passed away suddenly in Norman Wells. People remember him as a youth who was easily liked and made everyone smile. He was a youth who was kind-hearted and always had a positive attitude towards everybody in life. He enjoyed hunting and was a strong athletic motivator.
We will always remember Andy in our hearts, especially by his parents, family and friends. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Again, thoughts and prayers with the Carpenter family. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I request permission to return to item number 5 on the Order Paper.
---Unanimous consent granted
Mr. Bromley.
