Michael McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in a little while, the construction of a new school is going to be starting up in Inuvik. On the proposed site where this new school is going to be built, there is a ball field, Mr. Speaker. That is what I would like to speak to today.

The Slow-pitch Association put a lot of money into this new ball field. My understanding is they raised close to $150,000 and put it into this field. That is not including the in-kind donations they had for equipment and manpower. They have been told that, when they start building the school, they will build them a new...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for that. It just surprises me that we hear so much talk about cost and you do one stretch that is $5,000 per kilometre. What happens if an accident happens on another stretch on another kilometre where it wasn’t dust controlled? Are those people worth more than $5,000? I would think so. We have been fortunate that we have not had as many accidents as we could have had on that highway. The Inuvik to Fort McPherson section of it is very bad. I would like to ask the Minister to be the Transportation Minister. He has to know all the highways....

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister -- he said they would be able to enter into a signed agreement with the Town and the Slow-pitch Association -- who would have the authority to sign this agreement on their behalf so that it is a binding agreement five years down the road when all the players change? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement I spoke to the concerns of the Slow-pitch Association in Inuvik. I would like to direct my questions today to the Minister of Public Works and Services. I would like to ask him what his department is doing to consult with stakeholders in Inuvik just to ensure that all their issues are taken care of. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for that commitment. I look forward to the ride. I would like to ask the Minister, before I asked him, how does the department determine how much highway to dust control? Now I would like to ask the Minister, who decides how much of that highway we can apply dust control to? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I moved that $291,000 be deleted from the activity regional operations under the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs operations expenditures, not previously authorized, on page 11, for the provision of funding for two regional resource development impact advisor positions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, too, stand in support of this motion and I appreciate everyone in this House giving this motion the attention it deserves and the respect it deserves by paying close attention to the words that are being spoken on this side. Mr. Speaker, I’m living testament to the devastation that alcohol can cause on a family. I’ve lost two aunts, two uncles, my grandfather, cousins, friends to alcohol and the abuse of alcohol. All these people, and many more across the Northwest Territories, Mr. Speaker, would be still with us today had it not been for alcohol....

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the NWT Metis Nation is the primary government that has come forward lately. The other issue that has, I guess, caused us to take a second look at this is the process that we’re going to use. Is it a protected area strategy that we’re going to be pursuing? So we’re kind of taking a step back, but at the same time there is another government that has come forward and asked us to speak to us. So we’d like to do that prior to moving forward.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have to ensure that we have all the people that have an interest in this area and this sanctuary have a say in it. There has been a process out there. Some aboriginal governments have indicated to us that they have a desire to speak to the issue. We want to take the opportunity to hear them out and decide what our next steps are going to be, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

…the concept of going to find partners such as CPAWS and the Canadian Boreal Initiative and those types of partners is something we are working on. However, we need somebody to do the actual legwork. We need partners to be able to come forward and help us put the budget together for our water summit, similar to what we have done with the caribou summit where we brought in a number of partners. They have contributed towards a gathering. We need to be able to do that. We didn’t have anything in our budget for this coming year to do a water conference. It’s obvious that we need to have one to...