Michael Miltenberger

I meet regularly with the Health and Social Services staff, the deputy and senior officials, so I will commit to have that item placed on the agenda so we can, in fact, have that discussion. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A two-part answer, I would suggest. There’s homelessness within Yellowknife, where you have a lot of agencies and a lot of resources, and then there’s the homelessness services outside of Yellowknife, which are coordinated and managed by the government and the various departments within government. There is a Homelessness Coalition in Yellowknife that we’re part of and has a primary responsibility. We also look internally, monitoring and organizing those services. One of the things that existed in the 15th Assembly that may be worth considering again was that there was...

We’re doing a number of things, as I’ve indicated publicly and to the Members. We have current discussions going on right now with the federal Finance in terms of borrowing limits. We are also looking actively at other pots of government money that may be there, federal government money such as a P3 funding, to look at some other projects that may apply under that particular fund. Of course, the other area that would possibly bring more money into the government coffers is the revenue side. We haven’t looked at that specifically, but there is going to be a need to look not only at the...

The federal government, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. In the agreement-in-principle for devolution there’s a specific clause in part of the agreement that deals with the whole area of contaminated sites, ones that are currently in existence, ones that may come into existence. There’s been significant work on inventory. There’s hundreds and hundreds of contaminated sites that have to be cleaned up. Many, or most, are on Crown land, some on territorial land, which we are responsible for. Pine Point is on that list, and once again, it’s a list that far exceeds the resources available to remediate all of the sites. So it will be on the...

Thank you. Because at this point they are the landlords, it’s Crown land. Should the day come with devolution, that site and its remediation would be dealt with through the devolution process, but at this point they are the landowner and responsible. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the goals of this Assembly is healthy, educated people. Preventing rather than treating illness and disease is the real key to achieving that goal. Encouraging our residents to make healthy choices is one of the most important things the Government of the Northwest Territories can do to help.

Through the Healthy Choices Framework, several GNWT departments have been successfully working together to make it easier for our residents to make better choices in their daily lives. Healthy Choices is our approach to encouraging and supporting NWT residents to make healthy...

I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Monfwi, that Bill 20, Vital Statistics Act, be read for the second time.

Mr. Speaker, this bill replaces the existing Vital Statistics Act that provides a comprehensive framework for the registration of birth, adoptions, stillbirth, marriages and deaths in the Northwest Territories.

Transitional matters are provided for, and the Children’s Law Act and the Marriage Act are consequentially amended. Thank you.

Thank you. We played a major role as a government back when the town was in existence. As they dismantled the town and shut down the mine site and people were relocated or left, we played a role in that capacity. The actual clean-up of the site, with the huge pits and the tailings ponds and all the other attendant problems were the responsibility of the federal government. We had a role where we made sure and encouraged them to complete it and conclude it. I flew over there a few years ago and it is still a very visible work in progress, with the pits wide open and work still being done in the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will commit to meet with the deputy before the end of session tomorrow to get a better understanding of the numbers on a comparative basis and be able to speak more fully to that to the Member. Thank you.