Michael McLeod

Mr. Speaker, I am astounded that the Member would ask the same question so many times.

---Laughter

Mr. Speaker, we realize the sense of urgency that some of the Members are experiencing in wanting to get some of the answers. Our staff has been working on drafting some of the criteria that we will be using. We have had some early discussions with the NWT Association of Communities. We are still working on some of the other funding initiatives. We plan to have our MRIF funding and our gas tax all in place by some time this year, so there's a lot of work we have to do. We have scheduled a...

Mr. Speaker, we can deal with the specific issue if there is a particular person that needs attention. If that name could be brought to our attention, we can probably deal with that fairly quickly. The larger, broader issue of transition and how we’re going to see that process develop and unfold is something we’re working on. We have some meetings planned for this month and there are a number of issues that we have to develop, but we will place priority on ensuring the land transition is done in a smooth and effective manner and people can still access properties. Thank you.

That’s right, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there should be no glitch in the system. We are expecting a smooth transition. We would have to talk to the federal government though to see what their position is during this transition period. There may be some reluctance to transfer land over as we are now in this situation where there is a land claim and a self-government settlement. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister has said that he was looking at his options and he was going to be preparing a report. Would I be able to get a copy of this report? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister for that. I don’t think it was additional resources we were looking for. We’re just asking if the Minister would consider transferring some of the positions. That way we’re not using any additional resources, we’ll just use what we already have. Will he look at that?

Madam Chair, in response to the Member’s question, no, we don’t anticipate having any other sewer lagoons requiring back-up power. Most of the sewer lagoons in the NWT, as the Member knows, don’t have any power. The Fort Simpson system is a unique system. It’s a treatment centre, a treatment process that requires power as part of the new water licence. It required a back-up generator that we hadn’t anticipated and they hadn’t built into the cost. So we had to go for an extraordinary funding request to accommodate that.

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...