Michael McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe our chipseal program is on schedule and on time and we have no intention to, at this point, discontinue the program. It’s a real need in all our small communities and some of our larger ones, also. But at this point, while we’re doing the chipseal and following our schedules, we are also looking at alternative methods to deal with some of the dust problems. The chipseal program, although it serves its purpose, it’s only geared towards chipsealing one stretch of road in a community which usually is the main street. We still have the dust problems in other areas...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I will be speaking once again on my concern with this government's lack of dedicated oil and gas staff in the regions, with the major oil and gas reserves and exploration activity. On Monday, in response to a question by my colleague Mr. Ramsay, the Minister of RWED said that he agreed that there are probably over 20 positions government-wide dedicated to the oil and gas industry. I am looking forward to seeing the actual numbers from the Minister some time soon.

Where are these 20 or more positions, Mr. Speaker? Certainly not in the Beaufort-Delta which has 85...

Madam Chair, I can’t tell you exactly where the location of the subdivision is being planned for. This money is for planning and design. My information tells me that it is at the end of the island, and we are applying for extraordinary funding because Ndilo is unable to secure the financial resources through the regular funding process. We are going through this route to do the planning and design and create a new subdivision to open up properties or some lots for what we believe would be able to accommodate their needs for three years.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. I will make my comments brief. I cannot support a bill like this. Anything that has to do with changing anything except between a man and woman, I can’t agree with. I won’t compromise my principles, I don’t…I understand that this bill is probably going to need to pass, otherwise there will be challenges, but in all good conscience I can’t support anything like this. If it means not being in here, in the House when they are voting, then I will leave. That is all the general comments I have for now, Madam Chairperson. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the reason we took some money out of a number of different locations in the last fiscal year was to deal with our problem that we were experiencing on Highway No. 1. There was some urgency to deal with the foundation and some of the drainage that was happening in that area as a result of resource development. So we had to find the money somewhere and, in this case, there was some flexibility in the dollars allocated to that road, but we did what we had to. I can’t commit that we won’t do that again. If there’s an emergency situation or there’s some urgency to invest on a piece...

Thank you. I’d like to compliment the Member on his singing capabilities. Mr. Speaker, I guess the answer is very obvious. The construction of new roads still lies under the responsibility of the federal government and we’ll build these new roads as soon as we access the dollars from them and have that commitment. We have put together a number of proposals over the years to access some dollars. We plan to do that again and we continue to put investment in the Mackenzie Valley winter road. We have done a considerable amount of work in the last few years and we plan to do a lot more. We...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I certainly want to thank the Member for bringing this to our attention and we will commit to having a meeting with the federal government and all the players, all the stakeholders involved on this issue. We certainly don’t want to see a blockage of properties moving forward. There is a need for housing development, as the Member has stated. So we will work towards ensuring that this is as smooth a transition as possible. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I was not aware that there was a problem in the Dogrib region regarding land leases. We are, however, having some discussions with the Dogrib Treaty 11 Council along with the Government of Canada and Municipal and Community Affairs and Aboriginal Affairs to discuss and lay out a plan for the transition of land, land administration and how to deal with the elections and a number of other issues. We have an effective date of August 4th to work toward. However, I was not aware that there was a problem. There was an issue that was brought forward from the Member. I believe that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I said that I heard the number of 20 positions before and in my statement I kind of accounted for six of them. Where are the other 14? Are they here in Yellowknife?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Many times I’ve given good statements without asking any questions. I’m not going to let that happen today.

---Applause

I’d like to direct my questions to the Minister of RWED. Last week when I asked him a question he said he wasn’t entertaining the thought of moving any positions up to Inuvik. I’d like to ask him if he has shut the door completely.