Michael McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to announce that, after extensive consideration by the residents of Enterprise and their council, the Settlement of Enterprise will become a hamlet on October 29, 2007.

The Department of Municipal and Community Affairs has been working with the Enterprise council and residents to explain the differences between a hamlet and a settlement and what the changed roles and responsibilities mean. There are many benefits to the community in becoming a hamlet, including the ability to pass legally enforceable bylaws, the authority to develop land management and...

Mr. Speaker, we’ve been working close with everybody. My office has even kept the Member in the loop. We have indicated that we’ll transfer the land to the city. We’ve done the consultation; we have all the necessary requirements for us to start that process today. If the transfer is going to be to anyone else other than the city, then that changes the land tenure and that would require us to go through another consultation process, Mr. Speaker. That is the process and I apologize to the Member if he misunderstood that, but the process is right now that we go to a new consultation process...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, before I start, I would like to extend my condolences for the family of Stella Bourque, a long-time resident of Inuvik, and also the family of Rosie Firth who always welcomed you into her home when you visited Fort McPherson.

Mr. Speaker, I take my role as MLA quite seriously. I sometimes use a little humour to get my message across but, Mr. Speaker, the condition of the Dempster Highway is no laughing matter, even though it is a joke.

---Laughter

Two hundred and seventy three kilometers from Inuvik to the border. I was pleased to see the Minister of...

Anyway, I just want to stand up, Mr. Speaker, and say I do support this motion. There is nowhere in this motion that says don’t build a bridge and it’s harder for some of the Members from outside of the region, outside of Yellowknife, to support a project like this. We are not saying we don’t want to see the bridge built. All we are saying is just show us some information. I will be happy with that. That’s all we are asking. We aren’t saying don’t build a bridge. Thank you.

In some of the marine communities, they have a four-week window to get their avocados.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was looking at this over and over; nowhere I see in here where it says stop the bridge, don’t build a bridge. I don’t see that.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the meeting, my understanding, is on Ottawa being offered equity into the project. I would like to ask the Premier if this government would be able to, if offered, take an equity share in the pipeline. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the project of the magnitude of the Mackenzie Valley pipeline continues to be a topic. Now I hear that there is a meeting going on in Ottawa. I would like to direct my questions today to Premier Handley. I would like to ask the Premier if he or the government was aware that this meeting was going on in Ottawa between the proponents and the Government of Canada. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The committee is very appreciative of the role that foster parents play in ensuring that children can grow and prosper in a caring environment. Enough cannot be said about the people that are willing to take children into their homes on a moment’s notice. They are a vital part in the delivery of social services in the Northwest Territories and need to be recognized and supported as such.

Part of Supplementary Appropriation No. 1, 2007-2008 is $1.011 million for increases to the basic maintenance rate and to increase the age of child rate. This will result in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this morning, I read an article that said that there is a meeting going on today between the proponents of the pipeline and the Government of Canada. I got to thinking when they mentioned some of the players that were going to be at the meeting, where was the GNWT in this picture, Mr. Speaker? It is happening too much lately that, with all the talk going on with the pipeline, the GNWT continues to be left out of the picture. I read further on in the article that a document was filed with the National Energy Board. They talk about Alberta will be the...