Jane Groenewegen

Mr. Speaker, as I said in my Member’s statement, I don’t wish to cause any undue alarm in Hay River. However, if I were the parent of a student who had been attending the school and now they knew there were issues around air quality and possible asbestos particle contamination, this week would seem like a very long week, waiting to find out if in fact there was the presence of this in there.

I would like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services if she is aware of any kind of testing that exists that would definitely determine if people had been exposed to asbestos particles in the air...

I would like to move that we report progress.

Motion carried.

Mr. Speaker, the removal of the asbestos from the heating pipes would be a very major undertaking in the school. Many other things need to be addressed in the school besides this item.

Would it be possible to expedite or advance or move this work on the Diamond Jenness School forward, so that in the scenario of upheaval anyway, while the students are going to be removed from the school…? If they have to take the asbestos insulation off the pipes, it’s going to take some significant time and effort, and the students won’t be allowed to be there.

I just want to know, in the interests of addressing...

My question is for the Minister Responsible for Public Works and Services.

There was a technical review done on the Diamond Jenness Secondary School quite a number of years ago which listed items of priority. Code requirements were one of the areas that were listed. Areas of life safety and health were listed separately.

It would appear that for quite some time, the department, through their assessment of this building, was aware that there was asbestos on heating pipes in this building.

Under “Code-required items, if renovation planned, not complete” was:

“Remove asbestos from heating system...

I wasn’t referring to the tests of the air quality in the school; I was referring to any test of the students and the staff that might indicate if they had been exposed to any kind of asbestos contamination. Is the Minister aware of any such medical test?

Mr. Speaker, we learned of the urgent matter of the possible contamination of the air quality in Hay River’s Diamond Jenness school. I’m very upset to hear that our students may have been subjected to harm. We’ve been raising concerns about the air handling and air quality for a number of years, but I had no idea that asbestos particles might have even been a possibility.

During the last government I learned of a technical review that had taken place on the school. I was unable to get a copy of it because it was confidential. In the closing days of the last government, Mr. Krutko, then Minister...

Mr. Speaker, in the capital planning process, one of the five criteria that will give priority to projects is protection of people — it’s number one. For the benefit of the people who live in Hay River and who use the school, whose students attend there, I would like the Minister to confirm that the protection of people will be given the highest priority, given the scenario that currently exists.

Mr. Speaker, right now, the school has been closed. I anticipate that if no asbestos of significant amount is found, the school may reopen as soon as Friday. If that is not the case, we have a big problem on our hands.

I’d like to ask the Minister what the chances are of expediting the retrofit to this school at this time.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is a response to the Premier’s Sessional Statement, which encompasses a broad variety of topics. So I guess people have been pretty much talking about anything that’s a priority to them.

Of course, right now, to me a priority is the issue of our fiscal situation: fiscal responsibility, how we as a government spend our money, how we engage in a consensus government — all Members of this House — in decisions that are made and dialogue that takes place that leads to those decisions.

The Premier is the Finance Minister. The Premier has laid out his vision of a government...

I’d like to ask the Premier: would the bridge project have collapsed if the bridge contractor from New Brunswick had not stepped up the day before the deadline with an additional $2 million equity? Would the bridge project have collapsed without that?