Norman Yakeleya

Fair enough, Mr. Chair. The Minister laid out a reasonable process and path to argue for additional staff. He has to go to the Cabinet and the Financial Management Board. You have to justify.

I believe some information that the Minister has on the criminal activity with justice, I’m not too sure how that closely relates to the health centres or medical service or social services types of work. We need some kind of baseline, I guess. I would again encourage the Minister to keep in contact.

I am going to go back into the Sahtu and I will hear people on the streets talking about it. I may even...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There’s a song sung by Johnny Cash. It goes “I walk the Line.” I believe today the people in the Sahtu are also walking the line. The Minister of ITI has clearly said no fracking, no development. That’s a clear indication not to frack, not to develop, but can we have it both ways? That is the question.

Many people are divided over the issue of hydraulic fracking. Some people think the social and environmental risks outweigh the benefits. Others believe that the benefits of development and continued oil and gas resources outweigh the risks. People need to decide.

The...

Mr. Chair, I look forward to the Minister’s provision on the piece of work that we just finished talking about.

I have one final question. When they’re done with the community consultation on addictions that, yes, people went out to the different regions and communities, does the Minister and his department look at, from those consultations and recommendations, something that he would have in place and plan with his department to implement some recommendations or direction from Paul Andrew and his people coming back to us and report this is what the people are saying? Nats’ejee K’eh’s on-the...

Thank you for the clarification, Deputy Minister. That is my point here. When? Because the Minister and I toured the Sahtu and people were quite excited about having this child and family committee set up, and we’re finding that that’s not the case today. Is there anything in the plans that we’re going to rectify this issue and continue on with some of the great things that the previous government heard about apprehension of children and how the community can be involved in removing those barriers? Can I ask the Minister as to when this is to be expected? Maybe we have to go back in the Sahtu...

Madam Chair, with the support of the committee, this motion is on the floor to talk about the funding that is needed for our youth. There is a high population of youth in our community, and education around addiction and prevention programs needs to be fully supported and recognized for the amount of issues that the young people are dealing with and the harmful effects, the community effects, the impact of addiction and prevention programs that have taken our young population, and that this motion comes from the committee to see the priority in our funding of these types of programs...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Members. Just in closing, some of the oral history in the 1920s when the people, the Blondin family had the oil and they were burning it and it was flaring up. They knew it was something special but they didn’t know the value of this product called oil.

Today we’ve come a long way. We have the ability and adaptation to learn and move. It takes years to become a journeyman through training and apprenticeship, and that’s why we asked to start the training program, to start looking at things that take years. You want to be a worker on the pipeline or that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. WHEREAS there are over $630 million in financial commitments attached to existing oil and gas exploration leases in the Canol shale formation;

AND WHEREAS oil and gas exploration activity has increased significantly in the Sahtu over the past two winter work seasons, and there are strong indications not only that exploration activity will continue to increase, but that a long-term production field employing hundreds and possibly thousands of workers will become a reality;

AND WHEREAS all levels of government stand to benefit from increased resource development in the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In this project in this work in the Sahtu, ITI has taken the lead on oil and gas development and is coordinating with all the other departments. ITI is the boss here. I want to ask ITI, is he working with the other departments, with the Sahtu leadership, with the Aboriginal leadership to create the economic Oil and Gas Strategy for the Sahtu? Because this is a great potential that the oil companies are telling us that they have encouraging results that would make it one of the most powerful economic drivers in Canada.

I’ll have to check my schedule and get back to the Minister on that. I certainly would like to go with the Minister to the Bakken field.

I want to ask the Minister, with the government’s increased budget for programs and services, and that’s one of ITI’s mandates, I want to ask the Minister how his department coordinates activities with other departments since the oil companies said the oil plays in the Sahtu are encouraging and they want to further develop those areas.

Just quick comments also. Thank you, Minister, for your opening comments. I, along with Mr. Bouchard, probably are going to ask some of the questions on deferred maintenance costs, because that ties into one of our goals for having safe and reliable facilities that are available to support the delivery of government programs and protected $290 million. That is by the end of this government here.

We have a lot of assets in our communities that certainly need taking care of and need some tender loving care. I guess it’s pretty tough, with the funding that we have right now, in determining which...