Michael McLeod

Yes, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to report on an initiative being undertaken by the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. MACA and “G” division of the RCMP have been exploring options to more fully integrate each organization’s emergency management functions and enhance the effective overall response to emergencies.

Plans have been made for the operation of a common, integrated emergency operations centre, located in the “G” division headquarters to respond to security threats or natural disasters.

These discussions started after...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, Ndilo submitted a request for extraordinary funding for planning and designing a new subdivision. They have a serious issue in the community regarding accessing some funding and also to develop new lots. We don’t have exact locations. At least I don’t have that information tonight. That is all I have at this point. I could commit to getting further information. At this point, the money is earmarked and identified for planning and design of a new subdivision.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t think there’s anybody more interested in seeing the winter bridging projects done on time and on budget than me. I certainly will do everything in my power and commit our department’s efforts to ensure that happens. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Moving that forward would increase the season by a number of weeks and we have to still remember that it’s classified as a winter road. The trucks that operate on this winter road still use chains; they are obligated to use chains. So it’s really going to need commitment from the federal government, and we commit to doing the lobbying on that front and, again, I guess the short answer would be to have the federal government commit to it and that’s where we’re at. Thank you.

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.