Joe Handley

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not going to sing. I’d like to, but I won’t. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to congratulate an aboriginal owned corporation with their offices in Weledeh. This afternoon I was told that because of the efforts of this company, that all communities in the NWT will, by the end of this year, have broadband Internet services.

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Mr. Speaker, the Denendeh Development Corporation is a community champion of the Broadband Business Alliance, and will be signing a contribution agreement with Industry Canada as part of an overall project worth $16.7 million. This...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When I was last in Ottawa I raised this issue with our MP and the Minister responsible for Northern Development and also with Minister Scott. Mr. Roland, the Finance Minister, and I raised this issue with him. He knows our views on it and, Mr. Speaker, I’ve written to him as well on it and intend to follow up with him next week when he is here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to recognize a constituent, Carol Van Tighem, a tireless volunteer and the fire and vigour behind this year’s Caribou Carnival. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Mr. Speaker, I’m hearing through the grapevine that the appointment is imminent. In fact, I’d heard that the security checks were already underway and so on. But I’ve had nothing from the Minister of DIAND’s office formally to tell me that this is going to be happening soon. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The purpose of the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board and the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board is to have a vehicle for northerners to have more input into decisions that are going to affect their lives and land. Both of these boards are under federal legislation. The appointment of the chair is a decision that rests with the Minister of DIAND. The appointment of the chair is -- and I don’t believe it’s laid out in the act -- but the convention is that he will appoint from a list that is provided by the committee of each of the boards themselves. So...

Mr. Speaker, I will ask my staff to try to find out today if they can get any information on it at all. They have been trying to follow this one almost daily, but we will make that effort again. If I can’t, then I assure the Member and this House that I will speak to the Minister on this when he’s here next week. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There is always room to streamline and if we can find areas to do it in, then we will do that. We certainly take seriously the committee's recommendation that we look at how we can integrate IGRASP and Aboriginal Affairs and for that reason, I have not appointed another deputy minister for Aboriginal Affairs. Rather, I have asked Mr. McLeod to assume both roles; not both salaries, but both roles.

We have been doing it that way and I intend, as soon as we have time to do this -- and I hope we can do that this summer -- to start doing some work on how we could...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On my left is Veronica Puskas, the manager of planning and analysis for the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs; on my right is Bob McLeod, deputy minister of the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, if the Members look at the 2004-05 year they’ll notice that we had nothing in it in the main estimates for 2004-05, but in the revised mains we put in $30,000. What we do is, this sunsets each year and we ask departments to contribute towards the $30,000 from across the GNWT and we come up with that. So our intention in future years, of course, is to continue to contribute $30,000 to this very worthwhile cause. So this year you will see again a revised mains with the $30,000 in it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to present the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs' 2005-2006 Main Estimates for the committee's consideration.

The proposed operational budget for the ministry is $8.198 million. This is a $265,000, or 3.1 percent, net decrease from the 2004-2005 Main Estimates due to the following factors:

$297,000 in budget reductions, primarily in the areas of travel and contract services, as well as a reduction of one position;

a $30,000 net increase in term funding to resource devolution negotiations; and

a $2,000 increase from Public Works and Services to assist with...