Michael McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we will have the filter in the community as soon as we can. The filter has to come from outside of the country. It comes from the United States. We don’t have a filter system in place. It wasn’t an area we thought would be a great risk. We do have a backup system. The backup system is the old water plant and that’s what is being currently used. Nobody has really been cut off from the water supply. There is the inconvenience of the boil water advisory and it’s working well.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, during our pre-budget consultations there was a suggestion that the shelters be funded directly by Health and Social Services, because some of the money wasn’t always filtering through to the shelters. So I would like to ask the Minister if he and his department will consider an option like this? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this government is always speaking to the social well-being of the residents of the Northwest Territories. In fact, Mr. Handley in his statement spoke to the fact that they’re going to have a summit on aboriginal women’s issues and, in particular, violence against women, and they said they consider it an important initiative.

That’s my topic today, why we allow the people that provide these services to continually have to wait for their funding from the regional health boards. They have enough to do, Mr. Speaker, without constantly having to worry about...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement before, I spoke to the concerns of the women’s’ shelter in Inuvik and I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger, if he would commit to looking into the concerns and seeing if there’s anything he and his department can do to help finding a solution for the problems that are going on there. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the system in Tulita was designed and put in place at the time when this type of filtration system, this type of plant, was only available from the United States. We have been working with the community to look at what backups are required. The old plant is still there and we do also have a portable water pump in the event of both plants going down. We are discussing with the community on a plan to carry some backup material, filters and equipment, so that we can avoid the situation in the future. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, the…

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, first of all I guess I should point out that all our members that are on the Public Utilities Board, we have five members, all initially were appointed when they were all members of the Northwest Territories, they were all residents of the Northwest Territories. We have now, I believe, two members that no longer reside in the Northwest Territories, but we have the other three people who are from the Northwest Territories. Two recent appointments; one from the Mackenzie Delta and, more recently, one from Fort Smith. Mr. Speaker, I don’t believe there is a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I agree that we, in the sense that there are people who have experience in the Northwest Territories and the expertise to sit on the board, we don’t do that when we appoint our Members or Ministers. Certainly we look for what their credentials are and that’s the same as what we do when we look for new Members for the Public Utilities Board. The board was set up by the Public Utilities Act to serve as the expert and independent adjudicator for the rate setting process. It was also set up so that it would be at arm’s length from this government. There is an application...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, living in the Northwest Territories, we have always had to live with the high cost of living. That is just one of the prices we pay for being up here. Recently, Mr. Speaker, the Public Utilities Board approved a rider increase that has leadership and residents of the Beaufort-Delta very upset. That is putting it mildly. They didn’t even contact the Town of Inuvik to see how the rate would affect their community. Does the board not do their research to see if there are other ways to save money and not always have to let the consumer pay? Were they not...

Mr. Speaker, I’m sorry. The positions on this board are all part-time positions. We have one staff person that supports this board. The nature of the work is very technical, very time consuming. We need people who have the abilities to be able to analyze the applications that come forward, to know the act and they have to be very well versed of what is required in their duties. In this case, we have two people who are currently residing out of the Northwest Territories; however, they have a lot of experience. They spent many years on the board. They know how the board functions. They have...