Kevin A. Menicoche

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]

Summer is on our doorstep, Mr. Speaker, and students have come back from colleges and universities ready to work. I have received four inquiries from Nahendeh students looking for opportunities within the territorial government. The GNWT needs to hire summer students not just in Yellowknife but in all our communities and regions.

Many government employees take holidays, leaving positions vacant for weeks at a time; a summer student could fill those positions with little impact on our overall budget. The passive restraint this government...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories provides a comprehensive response to this report within 90 days.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the department provide an all in, total cost for the project when it is complete that clearly identifies internal costs to the Legislative Assembly and the public.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to advise the House of the passing of a charismatic, true man of the North: Mr. Edwin Lindburgh of Fort Simpson. He was 81 years of age on May 3, 2011. Our thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Lindburgh’s wife, Sue, his daughter, Carol, and all his family and many friends. He will be greatly missed by the people of Fort Simpson, Nahendeh, and people from all over the world who met Edwin Lindburgh over the years.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. The Standing Committee on Government Operations met on May 9, 2011, to review Bill 5, Write-off of Debts Act, 2010-2011.

Following the clause-by-clause review, a motion was carried to report Bill 5 to the Assembly as ready for Committee of the Whole.

This concludes the committee’s general comments on Bill 5. Individual Members may have additional questions or comments as we proceed. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I, too, want to recognize in the gallery former residents of Fort Simpson Mr. Will Cook Sr., current resident Ms. Celine Gargan, and new constituent baby Tyrell. Thank you.

I think that the priority of this government is that each community should have stand-alone schools, each community should have stand-alone recreation centres, and we should move towards, of course, nurses and policing. However, I’d like to know, is it the priority of the Department of Education to start looking at stand-alone schools in each of our small and remote communities? Mahsi cho.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about the need for a new school over in Trout Lake. I know that the needs are mainly in our small and remote communities; however, we’ve been spending lots of our capital dollars over the last four years building super schools and super bridges, and I believe it should be time for the priority of this government to start concentrating on the schools in our small and remote communities.

I’d like to ask the Minister of Education -- he’s heard the needs of Trout Lake, he’s heard me raise it in the Assembly over the past years --...

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]

I am pleased that my colleagues are speaking about the needs of the small communities today, Mr. Speaker. It is the basic expectation of communities and parents that their children will have a school to go to. While this government has been out building super schools and super bridges, it has not been meeting that very basic expectation in Trout Lake.

As I have already repeated in this House many times, Trout Lake has been without a school since the old Charles Tetcho School burned down many years ago. What was supposed to be a...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I will rise and support this motion today. In our communities I have asked many times to increase the mental health and healing programming dollars available to the communities, and always we’re limited by the health board budgets. I think it was about $5,000 per community. But this motion by the Member for Sahtu is a good solution to increase and diversify options and programs to our community. So I will be supporting this motion, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi cho.