David Krutko

Question is being called.

---Carried

Thank you, I call Committee of the Whole to order. In Committee of the Whole we have before us: Tabled Document 4-16(5), Tabled Document 30-16(5), Tabled Document 38-16(5), Bill 5, Committee Report 1-16(5) and Committee Report 2-16(5). What is the wish of committee? Mrs. Groenewegen.

Clause 3. Mr. Bromley.

Mr. Speaker, one of the reasons I also raise this issue is because the residents of the communities are concerned that a lot of material is leaving the pit with no monitoring and also a lot of these are government contracts. Again, there has to be a better job of monitoring this site and, more importantly, the possibility of having some gates or something in place. I know that the government doesn’t like that, but I think we have to do something to protect the remaining gravel resources that are there. So I’d like to ask the Minister, in light of the pit management plan which identifies...

General comments. Detail? Does committee agree that we will go clause by clause of the bill?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are to the Minister responsible for Transportation in regard to the Frog Creek pit. As we all know, it is a pit that has given the government free access for a number of years under the land claim agreement. Its term is almost up in a number of years. I’d like to ask the Minister, is this government budgeting money to do the reclamation of the pit? Since the Government of the Northwest Territories was the sole user and as part of the agreement that gave the government free access, it also included that they also had to do the reclamation of...

Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to request from the Minister to make an offer to meet with the Gwich’in Development Corporation, the Gwich’in Tribal Council on this matter. I believe the Minister will be in the Inuvik region for the petroleum show and I think that this matter has to be dealt with ASAP. Again, Mr. Speaker, the Gwich’in have been registered in that area going back 10,000 years. I think that if the people that originate from that area can’t meet this government test of eligibility, I think we have a real problem in regard to how this government treats aboriginal people...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Also in my statement I talked about sustainable communities and the importance of this government to look at the social and economic benefits of these types of projects in our communities and ensure that the maximum benefit goes to the local communities because we are hurting in our communities with high unemployment, but more importantly we have to find jobs and sustain those jobs. So I’d like to ask the Minister exactly what the government is doing to ensure that we are sustaining communities with these projects and not seeing the money leave the communities and go to...

Mr. Speaker, I think this is all in with the Housing Corporation but other government contracts. I think we have to debundle these contracts in such a way that people have advantages of taking the segments of the contract that meet their particular needs regardless if you are a plumber, carpenter, electrician, and I think that we have to support those local sustainable contractors in the community so that they can remain in our communities. I would like to ask the Minister in regards to the whole idea. I talked to the mayor of Aklavik. He mentioned that they had a meeting with Housing. They...