Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, last month, several hikers along with myself and the Premier and some youth have hiked the Canol Trail. Mr. Speaker, it's a beautiful area, very sensitive. There were a lot of good discussions that happened there. One of the things I wanted to ask the Minister of ITI and his responsibility for this park here, proposed management park, is in terms of the protection. Can the Minister provide to this House an update as to how this park will be developed and managed in the next coming years in terms of what can he say to this House in terms of giving...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Frame Lake, that notwithstanding Rule 4, when this House adjourns on May 17, 2007, it shall be adjourned until Wednesday, August 15, 2007;

AND FURTHER that any time prior to August 15, 2007, 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 thereupon the House shall meet at the time stated in such notice and shall transact its...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are many stories. I have a letter from the Yamoga Land Corporation president; I have a letter from the Deline Land Corporation; I have a signature from the chief of Deline in terms of asking the government to consider. I know what the Minister is saying in terms of an RFP going out. They're saying consider having this service in the Sahtu. Why can't we, if the successful bidder is from Yellowknife or Inuvik, have an aircraft based on the Sahtu region? Why do they have to be based in Inuvik or Yellowknife? Why not have it in our region? This is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I asked the Minister if he could make a commitment to convince me that this was the most cost-effective way. We are talking about people’s lives, Mr. Speaker. It takes two, three or four hours to get into our communities on a good day. On a bad day, it may be six or eight hours. We are talking about people’s lives. So I am asking the Minister, the Minister said there is no personnel in terms of the type of service we have in the Sahtu and that the cost is too much. How much is too much, Mr. Speaker, in terms of our people’s lives? There has never been a...

Mr. Speaker, I want to recognize two of the Pages from Norman Wells that are here to join us: Joel Erb and Kacee Hunter. They are both from Norman Wells Mackenzie Mountain School, and they did a fine job of looking after us.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I also want to recognize the love of my life. I love you, hon, and she certainly swept me off my feet from the Deh Cho, because there was no bridge.

---Laughter

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my Member’s statement is going to be on the issue of our regions coming to age, Mr. Speaker. I have had the opportunity of being able to accompany the Minister of MACA, Mr. McLeod, and also Premier Handley, leader of the Government of the Northwest Territories, to attend the Association of Municipalities meeting in Norman Wells, along with my colleague, Mr. Hawkins.

Mr. Speaker, the issue I am talking about is in our regions, the smaller communities; they seem to be lacking certain basic essential services that other centres have in their communities. Still...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, am going to support this motion here, as Mr. Ramsay has indicated, in terms of having some transparency in this government in terms of having some discussion. I, too, see the benefits of the Deh Cho Bridge being built across the Mackenzie River, as I also have aspirations for a Great Bear River bridge being built across our land, and other bridges that need to be built down the Mackenzie Valley here.

Mr. Speaker, I, too, was quite amazed how this project received quite a lot of attention in the last couple of weeks. I know we have gotten some other briefings...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My written question is for the Premier of the Northwest Territories.

The Protected Areas Strategy and the Mackenzie Valley five-year action plan provides a blueprint for establishing a network of ecologically and culturally significant areas in advance of the Mackenzie Valley pipeline. There have been some successes, but we are not moving fast enough.

Please provide a detailed account of activities that the Government of the Northwest Territories has done to encourage the federal government to expediently approve the interim land withdrawal application for the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again, I ask about the services in the Sahtu. Take a Twin Otter from Yellowknife, fly it up to Colville Lake, it’s a short runway. It takes a good four or five hours. There is no nurse in Colville Lake. Take a plane out of Inuvik and also fly into Colville Lake. You had services in Norman Wells. Fly over those mountains into Colville Lake, pick up the person, bring him into Norman Wells and fly him out to either Inuvik or Yellowknife. You are talking about lives here, Mr. Speaker. So my question is why are the bulk of medevac flights out of Yellowknife...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I spoke earlier in my Member’s statement about the region in terms of catching up to the 21st Century. This issue I want to talk about is one example of the government catching up to the Sahtu in terms of services. I want to talk about the medevac services. Mr. Speaker, I had a question for the Minister of Health and Social Services regarding a decision of this government not to split the medevac contracts between regions as they have done in previous contracts for this type of service for our region. The reason, we were told, was to save money. How much...