Michael McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’m going to use my last Member’s statement of this 15th Assembly to reflect on my just over two and a half years here. It has been a privilege, and I mean that sincerely, to serve the people of Inuvik Twin Lakes. I look forward to the opportunity to reaffirm their confidence in me and come back and do some more battle in the 16th.

I thoroughly enjoyed working with my colleagues on this side of the House, especially those in Social Programs. We had many discussions; we had differences of opinion; but you always acted in the best interests of your...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we’d be glad to sit down with the community of Behchoko to review the options to do more work on this piece of infrastructure. However, I’d like to remind the Member that the community capacity fund was indicated to be one-time funding only and with no ongoing support. There is some other programs that we may be able to target or maybe allow for some of the shifting of their infrastructure funding or lever some federal funding. I would have to sit down with the community and see what’s available and what the plans are. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take a moment to announce the successful launch of three new programs that are helping consumers all over the territory to be more energy efficient, save money and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The Energy Efficiency Incentive Program was launched July 6th as part of a three-program initiative. It is a $750,000 program that provides rebates to residents and businesses that purchase energy efficient models of the products and appliances we use every day. These include snowmobiles, outboard motors, woodstoves, pellet stoves, furnaces and other appliances, as well as...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the Minister’s reply to the opening address yesterday, he said there are two outstanding issues that weren’t resolved. I think he meant just his. It is a good thing he didn’t count ours in there. It would have been a lot more than two. As far as the Minister of Finance goes, I share a community with him so I can possibly work on him for the Minister of Education. It just astounds me that something that has been asked to the Minister so many times and brought to their attention so many times, that they are not bringing this forward. It is something...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement, I spoke to the SFA benefits and some of the changes that I had hoped to see. I would like to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment if there have been any changes made to the SFA assistance based on the cost of living where the students are going to school. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the case of Hay River, there was no bacteria reported in the sampling. There was no reported illness from the situation. So I guess it is an inconvenience, but I wouldn’t consider it an emergency.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a number of different funding sources that we provide to the communities for assistance that they could use in the area of water facilities and infrastructure. That is the gas tax, the municipal rural infrastructure fund and the new capital dollars that we have provided. Mr. Speaker, we also have our staff work with communities to leverage any federal funding that might be available. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as part of the New Deal, we transferred our capital dollars over to the community to decide and prioritize their projects. I’ve not seen the proposal for the Tlicho. However, as I indicated, I’d need to see what the business case is for this project and where the dollars were planned to be allocated from and what we can do for them. I’d gladly have our staff sit down and review that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, education is one of the most important issues we deal with in the Northwest Territories. Education is the key to our future. It is the key to the future of a lot of people across the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, earlier in the summer, I had the opportunity, as we do most summers at the end of the school year, to attend the graduation ceremony of Grade 12s. We also get to attend the Aurora College convocation ceremonies. It always gives us a great deal of pride to attend these and see a lot of people going through the program.

One of the most...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I, too, will be voting in favour of this motion we put forward. I commend the Minister and his department for bringing this forward. I believe they want to do the right thing. We want them to do the right thing. The whole of the Northwest Territories wants us to do the right thing. The right thing is to get these people off the streets and, as the bill says, make the neighbourhood safer. But at the same time, our committee was given this bill and we were asked to bring it out and listen to what people had to stay. I thought we did that.

It has been a tough couple...