David Krutko

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Being a Member of this House going on four terms and 14 years in to this office, this has always been the hardest part of the job, from the 13th Assembly to where we are today.

I think one thing that we realize every time we go through this process, we all get tarred with the same brush regardless of who it was or who it is or what the outcomes are. It does affect the image of this office and I think it’s important to realize we all have a major role to play in consensus government regardless if it’s Members of the Executive, Members of this side of the House and Members...

Again, getting back to the community hall in Tsiigehtchic. Last year they realized they had some problems with the community hall because it is on pilings. They found they are eroding and they had to shut it down for awhile, so no one had access to that facility. So, again, we took away the only means of recreation programs for the students and residents of Tsiigehtchic. So I would just like to ask the Minister, are you considering looking at recreation-like programs like gymnasiums for the smaller communities in the Northwest Territories?

I call Committee of the Whole to order. We have several items in Committee of the Whole. We have Tabled Document 1-16(4), NWT Capital Estimates 2010-2011; Tabled Document 18-16(4), Supplementary Appropriation No. 2 (Operations Expenditures), 2009-2010; Tabled Document 19-16(4), Supplementary Appropriation No. 3 (Infrastructure Expenditures), 2009-2010; Committee Report 1-16(4), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the Information and Privacy Commissioner’s 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 Annual Reports; and Committee Report 2-16(4), Standing Committee on Government...

If we can turn back to page 1-2, Legislative Assembly, department summary, infrastructure investment summary, total infrastructure investment summary, $1.4 million.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if the Minister can take it onto himself to call the president of the Gwich’in Tribal Council, Mr. Richard Nerysoo, and give him an update on where these things are at, because I met with Richard Nerysoo prior to coming back down to the House and he is the one that brought this issue to my attention and that they are being totally excluded from this process. Yet, Mr. Speaker, this government has a right to consult with First Nations under court cases in Canada and I would just like to impose on the Minister to take it onto himself to make that phone call to...

With that, I would like to thank the Minister and thank the witness. Sergeant-at-Arms, escort the witness out.

We’ll now proceed to consideration of the capital estimates for the Legislative Assembly. Does the committee have any questions with regard to the capital estimates for the Legislative Assembly? If so, we can invite Mr. Speaker into Committee of the Whole to join us. If not, does committee agree consideration of the Legislative Assembly capital estimates is concluded?

Again, I would like to ask the Minister what is this government doing to include the aboriginal governments in that community, especially the First Nations government and the Gwich’in Tribal Council and the band in Inuvik? What role are they playing? Because, as I understand it, they are totally out of the picture and are not being consulted. Thank you.

Agreed? Okay. Can we turn back to page 2-2? Human Resources, department summary, infrastructure investment summary, total infrastructure investment summary, $715,000. Agreed?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Maybe if the Minister really wants to get it, maybe they can have a program for communities like Aklavik, to ensure that we have a shoreline erosion program that’s there for communities that are along the shoreline of the river systems and in regards to lakes and whatnot. So when we see this erosion taking place, we actually have a program out there that people can access public funds to shore up their communities so that they are in the future. Can the Minister commit to that?

Does the committee agree that we have concluded the Department of Finance?