Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Madam Chair. I look forward to some of the rationale and to see where we go from there.

I want to ask the Minister, in light of the recent attention that the Sahtu is receiving with the oil and gas exploration activities and the number of workers coming into the region, when we’re looking at medevacs, it seems logical that a community such as Norman Wells would serve the Sahtu region and would be more stabilized in terms of medevacs for our region.

I want to ask the Minister, when the evaluation is being looked at, that the community of Norman Wells or the Sahtu is the hotspot or it...

Madam Chair, maybe I could have expanded a little more on the question. That is the answer from the deputy minister, is usually a normal backup plan is to provide by the carrier. Sometimes that may not be the case. If one plane is not available, and another aircraft carrier is not available, then what is the backup, say, in the Sahtu region if the aircraft are not available and we have an aircraft company sitting in the Sahtu and just sitting at North-Wright in Norman Wells? Are they being asked to help with the medevac services for that period of time? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. My questions have to do with medevacs in the Northwest Territories. I want to ask the department when will this exist, and who and when will this contract be up for renewal, or when is the department going to go out for additional airline companies to look at this contract.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to ask the Minister somewhat in line with Ms. Bisaro’s question and earlier with Mr. Dolynny’s question. It has to do with medical travel and, specifically, I want to ask the Minister with regard to medevacs in our region.

I know there was some discussion about that with our regional people and the timing. I know the money is a real big issue. We’re always balancing the service of a saving a life versus what it costs for the medevac contracts. I know I’ve been speaking with the airline operator in Sahtu and looking at how we can best save a person’s life and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister earlier made a ministerial statement on MACA and talked about community ownership and community involvement in planning. I want to ask the Minister if his government colleagues have talked about some type of territorial housing strategy sometime within the life of this government to look at year 2038.

I want to ask the Minister, did he say “roughly”? I will be roughly about 78, quick calculations. I want to ask the Minister, is this something we could look at on a territorial strategy for housing, or national housing strategy, that we can think about these types of things that are going to be put onto our future generations with regard to housing in the Northwest Territories?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The federal government will be getting out of public housing in 2038. That’s 25 years from now. I should be about 35 years old by then. The federal government will not continue to allocate funding for social housing in the Northwest Territories or in Canada.

We are experiencing cutbacks from social housing right now as we speak. Every year we’re receiving less and less. Soon the money will run dry, and then what? Are we ready for this? That’s a good question.

Today we own about 2,400 public housing units in the Northwest Territories. Each unit costs the NWT Housing...

Madam Chair, the Minister has highlighted a critical point for us in the Sahtu. As the Minister of ITI and I have noted, the activity in the Tulita and Norman Wells area is very busy with oil and gas activity, and more and more people are coming into our area. With the lifting of the unrestricted liquor sales, it just adds to the issue of services in health care.

Medevac is one that is dearly held to our hearts because that’s our lifeline outside to services in Yellowknife or in Edmonton. We don’t have the luxury of an all-weather road yet. Hopefully that will be some time down the future. That...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that, on Monday, February 25, 2013, I will move the following motion: Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Nahendeh, that the Government of the Northwest Territories immediately initiate discussions with the Government of Canada to prioritize funding for an all-weather Mackenzie Valley Highway from Wrigley into the Sahtu;

And further, that the Government of the Northwest Territories immediately initiate discussions with the Government of Canada to seek federal investment and human resource development initiatives along the lines of...

I was reading a book, and in the book there was a quote that said the home is the heart of the nation. In 2038, if that’s the case with the federal government, they’re going to rip the heart of our nation out here. I want to ask the Minister – I know he’s working hard on reducing the public housing units and in regard to his strategy – will this strategy meet the point in 25 years that we will not have any public housing? Will all those homes belong to people in our communities?