Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have some questions for the Minister of NTPC. I notified the Minister today of the issues with billing services in my region when it’s minus 27, minus 23, minus 30 and there’s a disconnection of services to some of the houses by NTPC for billing of about $300 or $400. Is there a policy within NTPC regarding disconnection to houses that the families are not there, they are on duty travel or in the bush and there’s no one there to deal with the billing issue? Is there a policy within NTPC for disconnecting a home at temperatures that are below a certain degree?

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the Minister, in light of what he said, will the department, sometime within the life of this government, come forward with a bridge strategy in the Mackenzie Valley in terms of the bridges that I listed off, come to us and we could have some discussion and know, hopefully, that we can put as much energy as we have done into the Deh Cho Bridge into the other bridges that we need in the Northwest Territories?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask questions to the Minister of Transportation in light of the Minister’s comments to the Deh Cho Bridge that we’re out of the water. I think we’re out of the water and may be high and dry on the land, but we’re moving on. I want to ask the Minister about the Deh Cho Bridge situation. There are other bridges to be built in the Northwest Territories. I want to ask the Minister, once we’re done -- hopefully we’re done dealing with the Deh Cho Bridge issue here -- that we can focus and concentrate on other bridges in the Northwest Territories. Would the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am aware also that particles of toxins from southern pollution like the Alberta tar sands do stick to the algae that the fish eat. Fish is the main food in many of our homes in the Northwest Territories, especially my people in the Sahtu. So I want to ask the Minister in terms of what type of current monitoring is happening in the Northwest Territories to the water and to the fish. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. I look forward to that discussion with the Members after he’s had some discussions with the Minister of Finance Canada.

Mr. Chair, in terms of the time frame to complete the bridge, we’re looking at 2011, in terms of this time frame and the amount of work that it is required, we aren’t too sure how things are going to unfold next week or the day after. We’re under a time frame. There are certain consequences of not meeting the time frame. In his good judgement and estimation, can the Minister of Transportation say that the quality assurance of the project, things that we...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to ask about the toll fees and when the Minister will have some type of solid information in terms of the new information that we’re going to get for the toll fees in light of what some things that may happen in terms of revenue coming in for the payment of the bridge.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister consider withdrawing the reference question to the court?

Will the Minister commit to discussing any future decisions to refer matters to the Supreme Court with the Regular Members?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The decision to refer the question of the GNWT’s legal right to impose restrictions on the aboriginal people from the harvesting of caribou is not a good sign of consensus government. Regular Members should have been involved in the decision to refer this matter to the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories. The legal right of the government to ban aboriginal people from caribou harvesting is a major question. The result of the court hearing could have serious implications not only for the caribou hunt but for the future discussions regarding aboriginal rights and...

I’ll just close off with a question here. A comment and a question, I guess. When we first started out with this type of discussion around the Deh Cho Bridge, we always want to look at two things: the best scenario and the worst scenario. I think today we are dealing with the worst scenario. That’s reality. That also takes a lot of courage and leadership and foresight to deal with this type of issue. But we are dealing with the worst scenario today. It’s right before us.

I want to ask the Ministers about dealing with the worse scenario and this bridge being completed, what if some poor guy...