Kevin A. Menicoche

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can just assure the Minister that this side of the House will support any initiatives the Minister puts forward with regard to small communities. Is there a special action team that the Minister has with Health and Social Services to address health concerns and policing at the same time, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to seek unanimous consent to waive Rule 93(4) and have Committee Report 4-15(5) be moved into Committee of the Whole for consideration on Friday, June 2, 2006.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister is absolutely correct; there is a federal tour happening in Nunavut. I am just wondering if that tour is going to come to the NWT and look at our small communities and our challenges, which I am sure the Minister has been lobbying for in Ottawa. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, mahsi cho. Mr. Speaker, there are only a few issues that most rural MLAs raise session after session and that is permanent nursing and policing in the communities. For some communities these issues can be approached individually or making it easier to pursue. For the community of Wrigley these services and commitments are very much connected. This government has indicated that until the police are stationed in Wrigley, Health and Social Services will not station a permanent nurse there. I find this response and approach to be unacceptable. Why is the community of Wrigley...

Mr. Speaker, mahsi cho. Mr. Speaker, there are only a few issues that most rural MLAs raise session after session and that is permanent nursing and policing in the communities. For some communities these issues can be approached individually or making it easier to pursue. For the community of Wrigley these services and commitments are very much connected. This government has indicated that until the police are stationed in Wrigley, Health and Social Services will not station a permanent nurse there. I find this response and approach to be unacceptable. Why is the community of Wrigley...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker and honourable colleagues. Will this government stop increasing our bureaucratic responses and start doing our best for our people? Will this government take their own ideas and follow through on them? Wrigley’s needs are everybody’s needs, Mr. Speaker: simple community-based health and policing services. Mahsi cho.

---Applause

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker and honourable colleagues. Will this government stop increasing our bureaucratic responses and start doing our best for our people? Will this government take their own ideas and follow through on them? Wrigley’s needs are everybody’s needs, Mr. Speaker: simple community-based health and policing services. Mahsi cho.

---Applause

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize the Nahendeh Fiddlers. They will be out in the Great Hall. I have Mr. Lewis Beck, Gerda Hazenberg, Stella Pellisey, and all the youngsters from Wrigley and Fort Simpson. Mahsi cho.

---Applause

Thank you very much there, Mr. Speaker. I’ve got some questions for the Minister of Transportation with regard to the ferry situation in the Nahendeh. Recently, our operations have been curtailed, particularly in Fort Simpson we’re running a 12-hour day as opposed to, like, an 18-hour day as it was last year. As well, there was a very late start in getting the Wrigley ferry operational. If it had happened to the one at Fort Providence it would have been completely unacceptable to Yellowknife residents. I say it is unacceptable to Nahendeh residents to have this kind of operations being...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, firstly I would like to welcome all the Members back to the Legislative Assembly for this spring session. Spring is here and the buzz is in the air in Nahendeh, and the buzz is not that spring came early, but it’s about the recent announcement the Premier made regarding $50 million for the extension of the highway along the Ingraham Trail. More and more I’m hearing it being referred to as Joe’s highway.

---Laughter

Mr. Speaker, I’m not against infrastructure enhancement or expansion in other regions of the Northwest Territories. Regional and community...