Norman Yakeleya

Mr. Chairman, certainly the Minister is very correct that at one time that we thought that we could -- and when I say we, we in the Sahtu -- thought that with Sahdae Energy could look at the potential of hydro to feed the compressor stations. Using that, however, doesn’t seem to be getting much attraction from either the community or the proponents, so it’s kind of like it’s a no-go there for now. It may change tomorrow. However, there is a compressor station that’s very close to Tulita. It’s almost going to be like a jet engine, I guess, and close to the community. It’s a loud compressor...

Mr. Chairman, it has been a while since I heard everything in sync over here. I have a couple of questions for the Minister. First one is the P3 project policy. I understand that within the Cabinet, probably discussed it that something that we would see in terms of bridges or infrastructure in regards to transportation in terms of we have a look at the P3 policy in terms of going forward.

There are some discussions by my members in the Sahtu to talk about whether the government is interested in a P3 project. They make reference to the Deh Cho Bridge and that project and if there’s something we...

The issue here that’s before us and we have dealt with this in a number of areas, I wanted to ask about the Bathurst caribou regarding initiatives in terms of monitoring this herd in this specific area and the ban of this herd in this area. I wanted to ask the Minister about the monitoring efforts. I heard on the radio that there are wildlife officers out there, community members are out there working for ENR. I guess myself in looking at this issue, the question is how is it that we had over 100,000 caribou and then four years later we have only tens of thousands of caribou? Is there any idea...

Just on the increase of active positions from 187 to 194. Could the Minister elaborate a little bit on the increase?

The other question I have, Mr. Chair, is on the contribution. We have actuals of $46,000, but we haven’t budgeted anything this year. Are we expecting some dollars on that or what is this contribution various to support natural resources and the environmental issues?

Thank you for the clarification of the fiscal years. In saying that, that is quite a length of time between now and the years that the Minister quoted. I guess this is an issue that will be out there a bit. How do we deal with this issue? Because I think this issue is pressing. How do we look at issues that we can support families today who want to be productive people in their communities, yet at the same time this issue here of assessing the maximum rent when they’re still over their heads for them being contributors to the people in their communities?

Mr. Chair, I wanted to ask the Minister regarding the fire damage compensation. Have we lapsed funding on this policy? Have we compensated fairly the people who either lost their ability to trap in a certain area or around their cabins or have we used all this money up? Are there any leftovers?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are to the Minister of the Housing Corporation. Over the last number of months and years, actually years, I received a number of complaints and inquiries from constituents who have secured employment recently and already live in social housing units, or from constituents who have jobs and only recently managed to get a social housing unit. Many are single people just starting out, single parents or families with young children. The problem is that as soon as they get a job or those who have jobs move into social housing, they are assessed the maximum rent...

Mr. Chairman, dare I say that this policy here will be coming shortly for the community in terms of the value at risk preparing for the upcoming season here in terms of having a look at this. Mr. Chairman, one time in my life I did fight fires for four seasons with the old federal government program and, when the GNWT took over for them, I was still a firefighter. I know that when there were fires that were initiated by either lightning or man-made, we were out there to put it out right away. Slowly we moved away from that. I am happy to hear that the Minister is looking at this important...

I do want to let the Minister know we do appreciate the support he’s given in the past to some of the elders on other issues in terms of traditional knowledge. They have come forward and I’m not too sure how to take this in terms of engaging the elders on traditional knowledge. So I’m asking more specifically in terms of the Sahtu elders such as the ones in Colville, Fort Good Hope and Deline, they have expressed clearly to me, as in Tulita also, that they want to get together. These are the elders that have used the land and they know about the land and they want to talk about the climate...