Michael McLeod

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, there is a period of time between winter and summer, it’s called spring…

---Laughter

…when we have difficulty to provide any type of meaningful maintenance on our roads, be it chipseal or gravel. There is a period of time that we need to allow our roads to thaw. We have recognized the increased level of traffic on all our roads in the NWT. We have concerns being raised by people across the Northwest Territories on our gravel roads and on our roads that are chipsealed; however, we need to be able to do our repairs when the roads are thawed. We have...

Madam Speaker, this past March I was pleased to join with the Premier, the Minister of Health and Social Services and the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment to launch the Get Active NWT Community Challenge.

This campaign, which runs during April, May and June, is a friendly challenge to Northwest Territories residents to register the time they spend being physically active for a chance to win a $5,000 grant to support their community recreation program.

We are now past the mid-way point of this campaign, and I am extremely pleased to report that more than 6,000 residents have...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, that Bill 9, Municipal Statutes Amendment Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. In my Member’s statement I spoke of the transition home in Inuvik having to constantly fight for funding. I would like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services if he could inform me as to why the Transition House does not receive the full funding allocated by his department to the Inuvik Health and Social Services Board. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I cannot speak for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, however, my information tells me that there has been some analysis done in that area. I believe there was a helicopter survey done and there has been some assessment already conducted in the area of damages to the cabins. I believe there is a trapper's compensation program that can be accessed through this program. I will take that request to the appropriate Ministers and have them respond accordingly. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I certainly have to agree with the Member that the dust in the small communities and the communities across the North is an issue that has been a problem for some time. We do have some money budgeted in the community governments formula to deal with dust suppression. Many communities have come forward to indicate that there is a need to look at this in terms of looking at putting more money towards it.

We, as a government, have undertaken a study to look at the situation in the different communities, to look at the different methods that could be utilized...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If the Minister comes across this information, he said he would share it with me, so I am looking forward to seeing that because that is news to me. I was of the understanding that it had not gone out yet. There is no question there.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Could you inform this House as to the status of the RFP contract that provides security for the Inuvik Regional Hospital? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think I can certainly relate to the concern that the Member is raising. We intend to send our frontline workers to do the assessments in the communities, to verify the titles, to explain the process to the leadership. However, I think it would warrant a follow-up by myself and some of my staff and maybe members of the Department of Finance to go in also and talk about the different options that are causing some roadblocks or some concern to the aboriginal governments in the communities, and maybe look at different options that might be out there on how to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, 30 years ago, Thomas Berger put a 10-year moratorium on the pipeline in order to allow land claims to be settled and to allow northern communities to prepare for the construction. Twenty years have passed since that moratorium ended and most of us, like northern businesses, have been busy preparing and trying to build capacity in order to capitalize on the pipeline.

Unfortunately, some of us, even 20 years later, are still not ready, Mr. Speaker. For instance, one group is holding the future of the pipeline hostage while they try to negotiate their land...