Norman Yakeleya

I would like it if the Minister would come to the Sahtu and come to Deline and explain this process here as simply as possible to the people in Deline on this issue here. They still feel that they are being double-dipped by the Housing Corporation and that that’s not fair.

I’ll ask the Minister if he would make a commitment to come to Deline and explain this process to the people in Deline.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I talked in my Member’s statement about the calculation of income on rents and I want to ask the Minister here, probably for people who are in public housing who get the rent assessment, and they go through the calculations of income to pay the rent, and they pay CPP and EI when they’re working, and when they’re not working they also ask for their income and they also get calculated on their EI. Some of the people are saying that Housing is double-dipping into the rental income. I want to ask the Minister if that’s true.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Thursday, October 25, 2012, I will move the following motion: I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that, notwithstanding Rule 4, when this House adjourns on October 25, 2012, it shall be adjourned until Monday, October 29, 2012;

And further, that any time prior to October 29, 2012, if the Speaker is satisfied, after consultation with the Executive Council and Members of the Legislative Assembly, that the public interest requires that the House should meet at an earlier time during the adjournment, the Speaker may give notice and...

The Premier outlined some hard facts for us to consider. He also indicated that the power is in Ottawa here.

I want to ask the Premier, other than knowing these facts here, has he or his Cabinet given any thought to how we can deal with some of these significant changes that will possibly be coming to the Northwest Territories regarding this bill.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Premier questions on the recent omnibus bill in Ottawa and the impacts it could have in the Northwest Territories, especially on devolution and the regulatory reforms, and other acts such as the Fisheries Act, that it would make some changes in the Northwest Territories. I want to ask the Premier if he had his Cabinet do an analysis of this bill that’s coming, that’s actually being debated in the House in Ottawa.

The Minister has indicated the government’s commitment. The Town of Norman Wells is compiling a business case and needs the support in writing from the Government of the Northwest Territories, to put together and complete their business case for funding. They are looking at this as urgent, and since it has to go through different levels of hurdles, can we count on this government here to provide some sort of comfort letter that they would give the town for a solid business case?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The fact that the town of Norman Wells’ natural gas will be turned off in 2013 for business and 2014 for residents, the Town of Norman Wells has initiated a process where they want to look at the biomass energy district heating initiative. I want to ask the Minister, and I’m not too sure if it’s the Minister of Finance or one of the Ministers who are the lead on this initiative with the Town of Norman Wells, if they are helping them put together a business case where the town then can go to the federal funders to look at some funding to support their alternative heating...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d also like to recognize my brother-in-law and colleague – he looks so relaxed I didn’t even recognize him at first – Mr. David Krutko.

The activities in the Sahtu could greatly improve the economic base in the Northwest Territories. If they are right, the geologists, the ones I talked about, are right on the amount of reserves that are in the Sahtu, and the exploratory companies now want to go into developing it further and go into production. This is what I’m looking forward to the Minister’s responses to the impacts that could support the Sahtu infrastructure. Right now, because we don’t see too much, we are seeing, what, two, three, $300 million being spent in the Sahtu? We’re talking billions here. That’s quite wild right...

I will relay the comments of the Minister to the community of Deline and I look forward to working with the Minister throughout this Assembly to see what possibilities are out with the extension of the runway. I’ll take it as that.