Kevin A. Menicoche

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to use this opportunity to highlight a couple of topics important to my riding.

Firstly, I just wanted to let our government know to continue to pay attention to Nahanni Butte as they rebuild from the flood and patiently wait for their community to get back together.

I spoke in this House how important it is to repair the access road to the community, and I again ask the Department of Transportation to ensure that all contracts and planning are prepared beforehand so that repair work can begin as soon as physically possible. This is a critical...

Thank you very much. I think that it doesn’t commit us to just put it on the capital plan. Is the Minister willing to do that? Because it is a need, it’s going to be a future need because we need a good modern treatment facility that includes detoxification. Making people wait 30 days, as one of the Members spoke about earlier, it’s just not doing it, because the need is immediate when you want treatment from addictions and someone that is suffering cannot wait 30 days.

With a modern facility, I’d like to ask the Minister, is he willing to at least discuss it with his Cabinet colleagues and put...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just want to follow up on the need for a professional treatment centre here in the Northwest Territories, and I’m with my colleagues, I think that’s one of the things that we have been hearing from our constituents as well. I don’t know why the Minister has to hear it again.

So I’d like to ask the Minister what kind of strategy or plan does he have for giving us a modern addictions treatment facility that includes detoxification. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Monday, November 5, 2012, I will move the following motion: I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Sahtu, that the NWT Housing Corporation immediately cease treating child tax benefits as income for the purpose of calculating public housing rents;

And further, that the Government of the Northwest Territories work to identify and eliminate other similar inconsistencies in its subsidy programs;

And furthermore, that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide a response to this motion within 120 days.

At the appropriate time I will be...

Mr. Speaker, due to the increased number of vehicles, it is actually becoming an unsafe issue there. I think there are 10 stalls available for staff there, but there are more than 10 vehicles. They are actually parking on the road. It is creating a hazard.

Can the Minister take a serious look at it? Like he said, he can check with the department officials. Perhaps there is already a plan in place, but perhaps the resources aren’t there. If the Minister can do that, thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I rise to acknowledge the accomplishment of a young man from Fort Simpson, Mr. Wesley Hardisty. Wes is only 18 years old. He took up the fiddle just five years ago through the outreach work of the Kole Crook Fiddle Association. His talent was obvious. As a young teenager he moved to Salt Spring Island, BC, to develop that talent at the Gulf Islands School of Performing Arts.

He has since performed at fiddle camps and festivals all across Canada, billed as a fiddling sensation. In 2011 he played for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on their northern tour, and made...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The committee wishes to consider Bill 5, Legal Aid Act, and Bill 7, An Act to Amend the Judicature Act.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to add some context to the motion. I love our consensus-style government. This issue was raised by a young lady from Fort Simpson in July or August when she wanted to give her income statements to the Housing Corporation for public housing rent. She contacted me right away, as her MLA, and said, they started using my child tax benefit as income. She said she doesn’t understand. That money is for milk and pampers; it’s not for rent.

That is the whole purpose of our subsidy programs territorially and federally. It is about assisting those that need it. Here...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to deal with the motion I gave earlier today.

---Unanimous consent granted

Mr. Speaker, I think the importance of this is that it should be looked into as soon as possible, because we do have a budget session coming up in February/March and the time for planning is now.

This is going to be my final question. Can the Minister give it a priority item, assess the situation and come up with, hopefully, a plan to have that in this upcoming budget? Thank you.