Norman Yakeleya

From our experience from the oil and gas development, and specifically I now want to focus in on the Sahtu region, has the Minister, through his department, done an assessment on the economic benefits around the oil and gas activity that happened in the last five years?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to talk about the potential of the resource development we have in the Northwest Territories. We have seen it in the Sahtu region. Like any new technology, there’s always risk. We deal with that every day, from the time that Henry Ford came out with the Model T car to the vehicles we deal with today. There’s always potential risk with the technology that’s coming out.

Do we have the tools to manage these risks? I believe so. Again, like the vehicles, we have the tools to manage those risks. There are risks going to be involved.

We also need more research over...

Mr. Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories work more actively and closely with the Information and Privacy Commissioner on the implementation on the Health Information Act. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I too want to lend my support to our committee chair, Mr. Nadli, for the guidance and working with the Members here to have this bill before us. I also congratulate Mr. Miltenberger and his team for bringing this forward and having the flexibility and the foresight to see to this day here that the bill could come forward. It required some of the NEBS membership, also, and the hard work they’ve done with putting together with our Nunavut counterparts.

Also, more important were the hearings that we had here in Yellowknife that brought out some of these issues that make it...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Dolynny.

In market housing, a landlord who wishes to end a tenancy must generally obtain the agreement of the tenant. This means the tenant has security-of-tenure. However, since 2010, a new provision in the act allows a public housing landlord to end a fixed-term tenancy by giving 30 days’ notice, with a reason for termination. This provision contrasts with the security-of-tenure enjoyed by market housing tenants.

The committee noted that the matter of differential treatment for subsidized housing received considerable attention prior to the 2010...

Hydraulic fracking in the Sahtu and in the North here has been highly controversial. The issue of the hydraulic fracking, I want to ask the Minister, in his experience and in his term as the Minister, are there safe regulations right now, today, over the years that we have looked at this new technology in the Sahtu in the Northwest Territories that says, yes, it can be done, we can manage it, we can deal with the risks? Are we dealing with the facts rather than the fears?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I talked about the potential for the economic resource benefits in the Northwest Territories. I want to ask the Minister of ITI, on the assessment, has his department done an assessment of the oil and gas potential in the Northwest Territories? That is a remarkable resource. Canada right now has 8.8 billion barrels of oil that could be marketed. Has he done any assessment in the Northwest Territories?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that from industry. I want to ask about the enhancement of the program. Is it entire sections of the Mackenzie Valley winter road that they’re putting the money into this area here?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I certainly agree with the Minister that some of the specialized care needs to be in the South because we don’t have it in the Northwest Territories. Is there a critical mass in the North that could give warrant to discussion in this Assembly, saying maybe it’s time to consider? At this point right now, is it economic to continue to send our people down south for care?

I know there’s some discussion in the newspaper as to when residents in the North can maybe be seen as… Do we have the proper resources and facilities here in the North? I’m looking at one at the Stanton...

I certainly have to clear it with the Minister that we want to use the biomass, and I just want to make a point that some things in life are unpredictable. Biomass, certainly now, if you look at it, if the Minister is to do an analysis, it is costing us a little more than the fuel right now, I believe, and it’s a different form of energy use in our small communities. I just wanted to raise that point there that hopefully one day we don’t have to go outside the Northwest Territories to use fuel. Right now we’re getting this from Edmonton.

On my last point, I want to raise the point that I...