Michael Miltenberger

Mr. Speaker, as I indicated, the health costs are, indeed, a pressing issue. If we start first with the personal responsibility, the simple things of diet, exercise, don’t smoke and don’t abuse alcohol would diminish in a very dramatic way our health costs, and we have not yet been able to come to grips with how to encourage Northerners in all communities, wherever they may live, to make those right personal choices. In the meantime, we continue to invest millions of dollars in counselling programs, addictions programs like Nats’ejee K’eh. We have community programs that are being funded...

Mr. Speaker, as I indicated in my budget address, the Minister of Housing, Mr. Robert C. McLeod, would be speaking to the House about the work that was going to be happening, moving forward with housing, the things that they are doing, how the review will be undertaken to address some of the issues that the Member has mentioned, the issue of community concerns with housing issues, the difficult decisions we have to make about trying to offset the CMHC funding that is diminishing yearly, what creative ways can we come up with to address some of those needs. We still have the challenge of $20...

I’ll get back to the point of the Member based on attendance at one meeting, one comment, and he’s prepared to negate years of work, thousands of hours of investment and it’s unfortunate. I’ll give him one example of the issue that’s in there that I know has been an issue. That’s been the residency requirement to go hunting. It used to be I think it was four years, they’ve cut it down to two. Now, there have been a lot of concerns raised and the draft that’s going to be coming forward is going to indicate that we’re proposing one year. That’s a significant issue and there’s been huge debate on...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This Wildlife Act was identified by this Assembly and by this Cabinet and government as one of the big pieces of legislation they wanted to see done after a process of some 10 years or so of work. We, as well, developed a unique approach with Aboriginal governments towards drafting this legislation where we had lawyers, working group members from the Aboriginal governments, as well as GNWT staff and lawyers working, and they’ve been working and put in thousands of hours over the last couple of years. They’ve gone to every community. They have come up with a process that...

The Member is making a very strong assertion here that this is a biased piece of legislation that only represents half the people of the Northwest Territories. That’s categorically and unequivocally false. It’s egregious that he would even mention that in this Assembly. I’m surprised that the Member would stoop to such rhetoric on a bill of this importance.

The reality is, we did not just sit there and think, let me see, one year, there’s a good idea. We went from every community. We even talked to hundreds of people, groups across the land. This is the working group with all the Aboriginal...

We’re going to be briefing committee and we’ll provide you with the very many pages of all the groups that were consulted, all the individual feedback we received, public from all corners of the Northwest Territories. There has been full and adequate consultation. This is the most consulted on bill, in my memory as a legislator here for 15 and a half years. We’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars, thousands of hours of time and we’ve gone to every community and we’ve asked for feedback, and there have been substantive changes. The Member should know this. You’re not going to do 54...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that I will deliver the budget address on Thursday, February 3, 2011. Thank you.

I would like to, as well, recognize Verna Currimbhoy. Our time together -- myself, Premier Roland, the Member for Mackenzie Delta and the Member for Hay River South -- goes back to the last century.

---Laughter

Pre-division. We’ve all had the opportunity to work with Verna during some very interesting times in this Assembly. I’d like to wish her all the best, and as well best wishes to Gay Kennedy.

The point of the consultation and going across the land to talk about the Greenhouse Gas Strategy is to see what kind of consensus we can reach on the seriousness of the issue. The issue of targets will be there, clearly. We’ve set one, as the Member has indicated, as a government and if we’re going to set one for ourselves as a Territory, what will it be? Is it one target fits all or is it a target that looks at large emitters, small emitters, communities? It’s a complex issue, as I’ve indicated. It’s going to take a lot of creative hard work to come up with a consensus, but it is a journey...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Member telling me what I need, it’s very helpful. This issue has been before this House since the inception of this Assembly. I think it’s clear; it speaks to the process, not the content of what we’re going to do. There’s going to be information going out, there’s going to be consultation undertaken. What I did in this House today was to give an update on a significant process that’s a shift from the government looking at itself to looking at the Territory, looking at our carbon footprint, consulting with communities, business, industry, aboriginal...