Joe Handley

Mr. Speaker, diversification of our economy has long been a goal of our government. We have a very active diamond mining industry. We have a lot of exploration going on for other kinds of minerals. There are two or three pipelines coming out of the Territories right now: two coming out of the Deh Cho and one from Norman Wells. Mr. Speaker, I expect that everything isn’t going to come to a stop if we don’t have the pipeline. But, Mr. Speaker, it would be a sad day if we don’t see the pipeline, in my view, because this one does represent a huge opportunity that would be lost, and we would see...

Mr. Speaker, if Imperial were to decide not to proceed with the pipeline, there is nothing we could do. That is a board of directors of Imperial’s decision, and they are not required to build a pipeline. Having said that, Mr. Speaker, there is a lot that we’re doing in order to encourage the building of that pipeline. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, when students apply for student financial assistance, their family status and their needs are taken into consideration. So if it is a family who have preschool-aged children who need to be taken care of while the college student is at class, we take that into consideration. We do provide support, as a government, to all of the licensed day cares, and in this case, we’re supporting this one Mr. Lafferty is speaking about. If it’s needed for these children to be placed in day homes, then, of course, that would be taken into consideration as well. Now I would urge students at the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know the Minister responsible is undertaking a review of the regulations under the Child Day Care Act right now. He is, today, on his way to a federal/territorial/provincial meeting to deal with early learning and childcare. We have been struggling with the position taken by Canada on per capita money for early childhood learning. These are all issues that affect what we are doing.

Mr. Speaker, I will take this issue up with the Minister responsible for this file as soon as possible. As I say, we treat it very seriously right across the Northwest Territories....

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member may know, the day care he is speaking of is a society that is not in the direct responsibility of the government. There are some issues that it is facing, the main one being a financial one. The director of the day care, I understand, is putting together the financial records. We haven’t seen them yet, so I don’t know the detail on their financial status, but I understand that the day care is at risk of closing very shortly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, we need to have the completed financial records in our hands to have a look at them, so we know the status of the day care before we can look at what alternatives there might be. We need that, first of all. I understand that the director is working on it, so as soon as those are available to us, we can do it. I can't guarantee -- because I am not in control of that -- when she would have that work completed, and whether it would be before this House recesses. Mr. Speaker, as we get more information, we will look at it, and certainly look at all day cares across the Northwest...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we are working with the mines. We cannot require them to hook up to hydro power until we know that we have a viable project and can deliver the hydro power to them. To do that, we need to do several things. One is to complete a memorandum of intent with our aboriginal partners whose traditional lands the project will be situated on. The second is, we need to continue with further environmental and engineering studies to make sure that the project is viable in that respect. We also have to look at a lot of other economic issues. Mr. Speaker, I expect that by this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is certainly interest in the possibility of hooking into hydro power by the existing mines, as well as the one that’s under construction. There have been regular meetings going on as recently as last Friday. There was a meeting between our officials and the Power Corporation and the representatives of all three diamond mines: Ekati, Diavik, and DeBeers. They are looking at the economic viability of it. Of course, the mines will participate, both for environmental reasons as well as cost, as long as this is something that is favourable to their bottom line, as well...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The government has been monitoring what is happening. We have not become directly involved. Certainly, the core area of Yellowknife and its future is of concern to all the citizens of Yellowknife, the same as it would be of any residents of any other town or any other city. What’s happening to the core area? What should stay in the core area, and what should possibly be moved out? There are individuals who have talked to me about it and have expressed their concern that this is one more move toward destroying our downtown. So there are certainly people who would prefer...

I’m not sure where the Member is getting information that the pipeline is not going to go ahead, because all of the indications that I have are that Imperial wants to build the pipeline, that aboriginal leaders want the pipeline, our government wants the pipeline, the federal government wants the pipeline, and I believe that it is going to go ahead. Having said that, we have invested a lot of money in pipeline preparedness and training people on the anticipation that this will happen. I’m still of the view it is going to happen. But, Mr. Speaker, as I said, if it doesn’t go ahead for some...