Bob McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I should clarify exactly what I said. As a government we are working to have a development project in every community. In that way we can increase employment and create more jobs in all the communities. So for Aklavik we hadn’t specifically found a project, although we had expected that the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline would fit that bill quite nicely. We have been working with the community on the access to gravel and noting that it is a community responsibility.

Over the years our Department of Transportation has worked in partnership with the Hamlet of Aklavik and the...

Right now, as I understand, it’s primarily between the Prime Minister and the Assembly of First Nations and their leadership. I’m not sure exactly how the meeting will be structured. I have written to the Prime Minister in follow-up to our phone call requesting a meeting with him. I’m also planning and we’re trying to set up a phone call with Minister Duncan. I have been texting with the grand chief of the Dene Nation who has been involved in the discussions along with the grand chief of the Assembly of First Nations to see how we can work together. So we expect to be meeting with him sometime...

I expect that as for our normal course of doing business we would brief committees. As well, I should point out that as we speak the Northwest Territories Power Corporation is taking steps so that we can deal with any emergency situations if they occur between now and…the decisions that we make that are required on a longer term.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have been meeting and getting briefings as soon as we heard of this issue. We met last week with the mayor of Inuvik. He updated us on the issue. We had a Ministerial Energy Coordinating Committee meeting where we were briefed by the regional director and the Power Corporation so that we are aware of the magnitude of the problem.

We understand that we have to move fast. We have to make some decisions early in 2012, but we are still in an information gathering stage. We have to do due diligence to make sure and confirm what the problem really is. We also have some...

I think this year was an anomaly. I’m confident and we’ll make sure that in forthcoming years the money will go out a lot faster and a review will be undertaken that involves all of the departments that have social responsibilities and will process it very quickly. Thank you.

I think there are a lot of ways that we can work together. I think that with the advent of devolution and one of the things that the Government of the Northwest Territories wants to ensure is that lands that have not been selected by the Dehcho that there is some potential economic development that can be undertaken. I think that the areas that are of importance to the Dehcho First Nation, we want to work with them and the Government of Canada to make sure that they are clearly identified. We also want to make sure that there are lands available for land selection by the communities and the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Glen Abernethy will be absent from the House today to attend a meeting with the federal Attorney General in Ottawa.

As a government, we are reaching out to all Aboriginal governments to establish good working relationships, and I think this is the kind of area that we think we can use to advance our working relationships with the Dehcho First Nation to work on the Dehcho Land Use Plan. I guess ideally we would like to see something happen within a year if that’s possible. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We think land use planning is a good thing, and it helps with planning for development in the Northwest Territories and also to protect areas of environmental importance.

We as a government have been working since the 16th Legislative Assembly to develop a land use framework for our government. We are continuing to work on that. I think the work that the Dehcho has been doing on the land use plan has been very good. I think the past chair will be very difficult to replace. I think that we are getting very close. As a government, we want to work with the Dehcho First...

I guess I look at the territorial facilities that have been established here in Yellowknife, facilities such as the Bailey House and so on, and also the Betty House that is in the planning stages, and our own homelessness policies that allow us to address the problem on a going forward basis.

As far as standards, I believe that all of those facilities meet those standards. I would be quite prepared to work to have our Health and Social Services and Housing Corporation look at the standards. I think the Salvation Army facility looks like a very fine facility. I guess they don’t want to leave...