Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can I ask the Minister for a breakdown of utilities? Is this the total cost that we give to the Housing Corporation or that’s what they collect? Is $26 million what you’ve been talking about?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I welcome the Minister and his staff. I wanted to make my general comments to the latest NWT Housing Community Survey and the summary of the housing results.

I see in the core need that in the Northwest Territories with market communities, the core need is at 13.1 percent and in the non-market communities the core need is at 32.3 percent. If you look at the definition of core needs, it has to do with suitability, adequacy and affordability of housing. Under those definitions, certainly the non-market communities are just about triple the number in the core need than the...

I want to again ask the Minister to challenge the schools. You know, there are people in what the Budget Dialogue talked about, putting hammers and screwdrivers and wrenches into the young hands. You know, there are kids that are very, very intelligent, very smart. You know, just the hard work. So how do we get them into the schools maybe where it’s exciting where they want to be in school? Is there a challenge in the schools that the Minister can challenge the school and say, any schools in the Northwest Territories who have a certain percentage of attendees, you’ll somehow be rewarded with...

In today’s life, students bring with them lots of issues to school. Some of these issues they have they need support on. Is the school now looking at ways to help the children with their emotional and mental issues, so they can have support other than to hold on to them and not deal with them? That sometimes prevents a child from attending school. Is there support for them such as counselling services in our small schools for the kids?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the 2013 Alberta Achievement Tests, they talk about factors that give our smaller communities and larger centres test results. One of the biggest factors that brought our percentage down was the children’s attendance in schools.

I want to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, in order to raise the level of success for our young people, what is the department doing along with education boards in communities to ensure that children go to school, stay in school and bring their grades up? Right now, the biggest factor is children not attending school.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will have opening comments to the Minister recognizing that this is an operational and maintenance budget. I’m hoping to put another plug in, I know it’s not time for infrastructure but I will still continue with my consistent plea for an RCMP presence more consistently and maybe permanently in the communities without a detachment. For example, Colville Lake. I know the department is working on that with the Fort Good Hope detachment and doing their best to make sure the presence is in Fort Good Hope. I’m going to just remind the Minister that I will continue until our...

That’s a lot of…(inaudible)… Can I ask for a breakdown in regards to what we’re paying for in the Sahtu communities and other communities, a breakdown of the utility costs? Also, the funding we give to the regional corporations, the regional offices, is this money we provide to them being expended through the year? In other words, is this what we’re doing for the communities in the Sahtu? The money is being expended and they are using the money for what it is intended for in the communities. Thank you.

Just listening to the responses and to the comments of the Members, I want to ask the Minister and staff that are compiling data, a very interesting note here I made, the NWT Housing Corporation is processing electricity bills, you said about 30,000. Are we going to get some of that data to know what we’re spending in the Sahtu as a result of the fuel, because that’s a big indicator of operation of the units and also for the electricity, water and the sewer. I guess I’m trying to get at a point where the philosophy of the Housing Corporation is going to state clearly that some of this...

Mr. Speaker, I have a document from the Fraser Institute dated December 2014, Managing the Risks of Hydraulic Fracking.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask my last question to Mr. Lafferty, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. We know that from the Sahtu needs assessment studies and indications from other reports that if you have Grade 12 or a post-secondary university or college degree, your chances of getting a job are a lot better than a dropout. We also know that people, like some of my friends, who have Grade 7 who have a successful business, so there’s a balance. There are Henry Fords and there are Thomas Edisons and Alexander Graham Bells in our small communities.

I want to ask the Minister...