Debates of June 8, 2006 (day 8)

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. (English not provided)

Mr. Speaker, I have some questions for the Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, Honourable Michael McLeod, with regard to the urgent situation in my Tlicho communities. The dumps are located too close to the communities and all kinds of stuff, predators, are being attracted to the dump and they are coming to the communities. My constituents are afraid to let their children or even grandchildren walk outside or even walk to school. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister responsible for MACA if he would relocate these dumps farther away from my communities than they are currently located. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.

Return To Question 93-15(5): Risks Associated With Location Of Landfills Near Tlicho Communities

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our staff have been working with the communities in the Tlicho area regarding their capital plan and the relocation of the solid waste facilities. In some cases, we have been trying to find a location for a couple of years now. We have been talking to the leadership from Behchoko regarding a suitable location. We have made some suggestions and some options, and the community has also come forward with some options and we have been exploring how suitable they are. We have ruled some of them out. Some are too close to Highway No. 3 and were visible from the highway. We continue to have that discussion. We have some money in the budget that was carried over from last year, as we weren’t able to agree to a site. Hopefully we will do that this year.

For the community of Wekweeti, there is a concern over the solid waste site attracting animals and the old site we had to put an electric fence up to control the problem with the bears. We do have money for relocating that facility in this year’s capital plan to do a portion of it and carry it out through the next fiscal year.

In the community of Gameti, it’s been several years now that this project has been on the books. It was initially slated for 2004-2005 and there had to be a wildlife risk analysis study done. So it was carried over to last year, and last year we had problems with finding suitable equipment in the community to do this project. We had anticipated to start on that project this year; however, the SAO recently resigned from the community. So we are anticipating that we will carry this out until there are people in place to work this project and, in this case, the community has requested that we work with their development corporation to try to bring this project forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Supplementary To Question 93-15(5): Risks Associated With Location Of Landfills Near Tlicho Communities

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it’s great to hear that the community of Wekweeti has been looked after in the capital plans and that a portion of the dump will be moved and is still in the work plan.

Gameti, yes, it’s true, the SAO recently resigned, but I must remind the Minister that a new SAO has been hired and I would like to get a commitment from the Minister that the department can go into the community and analyze the situation. Mr. Speaker, finding suitable equipment in the community has always been a problem. I am glad the Minister of MACA is identifying the problem, but that’s another story.

Mr. Speaker, when can the Minister come out to the community and talk with the Tlicho leadership about the specific dump relocation? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. McLeod.

Further Return To Question 93-15(5): Risks Associated With Location Of Landfills Near Tlicho Communities

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We can have our staff visit the community and carry on this discussion. I believe there’s been an ongoing discussion on these projects. So I think that it wouldn’t take a lot of effort. If there is a new SAO in Gameti, then we’ll carry on their discussions there. There has been requests for the community to take over full project authority on this project. That’s something we want to discuss further. As for myself personally going into the community, I believe I made that commitment already to go into some of the Tlicho communities with the Member. Of course, as the Minister of MACA, the first places I visit usually is the sewer lagoon and the waste site facilities. So we will certainly commit to doing that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Supplementary To Question 93-15(5): Risks Associated With Location Of Landfills Near Tlicho Communities

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the Minister will be coming to our region and we’ll be dealing with that particular issue. Mr. Speaker, the next issue I’d like to address is the community of Behchoko. The Minister highlighted that his department is working with the Behchoko community government. Mr. Speaker, I’m just wondering if the Minister can outline how far they are with the planning process, because they’ve identified two locations. I’m just wondering where they’re at with the planning process. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. McLeod.

Further Return To Question 93-15(5): Risks Associated With Location Of Landfills Near Tlicho Communities

Mr. Speaker, we’ve been working at the waste site facility with the community of Behchoko for I think over a year now. We’ve carried it over from last year and we’ve identified several sites over this past year and the community has come forward with a recommendation for a site also and we’ve done some analysis on these sites. We will continue to have those discussions and then as soon as we can narrow it down to a site that everybody agrees with, we’ll start doing the actual design and planning around that and move forward with the project. But that’s been a problem up to now, is to identify a site that everybody is satisfied with. We had some sites identified that’s along the highway and of course that causes problems as it is visible from Highway No. 3 and that’s not acceptable. So we’ll have to sit down and have further discussion. My staff will do that and hopefully we’ll have a site location firmed up fairly quick and we can move forward with doing the actual project. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Supplementary To Question 93-15(5): Risks Associated With Location Of Landfills Near Tlicho Communities

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My final question to the Minister will be upon completion of the planning process and analyzing the relocation of the dump with the community of Gameti and Behchoko, could the Minister highlight if the capital plans can be part of the business plan this fall? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. McLeod.

Further Return To Question 93-15(5): Risks Associated With Location Of Landfills Near Tlicho Communities

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The solid waste sites that we are discussing here today are already in the capital plan. They have already been approved and the budgets are already allocated for these three communities. So they’re already in the capital plan. Thank you.