Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the people in the Sahtu region’s favourite song is “On the Road Again.” They just can’t wait to get back on that road again. Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the Minister if his department would consider, because of the increased volume of traffic in the Sahtu region and the oil and gas exploration, moving one of the offices to have some presence in the Sahtu. Because right now our offices are outside of the Sahtu, for example, in Fort Simpson and other regions. I want to ask the Minister if he would consider having his office presence in the Sahtu region. Thank...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to recognize a former high school teacher, Ms. Roslyn Smith, in the gallery. Thank you.

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Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Just reading the opening comments from the Minister, for general comments, Madam Chairperson, I want to say…Like my colleague Mr. Menicoche mentioned, in the Sahtu region housing has been a really big issue for me in terms of the services, the building of houses, and just basic, general housing. I believe, over the past year, we have made some progress in terms of taking care of those needs. We are still a long way in terms of the housing programs, especially for the community of Fort Good Hope which is in dire straights in terms of home repairs and...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I was at a negotiation session one time and I read where it says in order to get to the Promised Land you have to negotiate your way out of the wilderness. I think that’s what we’re doing here. I think the Northwest Territories has a lot of promise and things could happen in the Northwest Territories. I think right now with this Northern Strategy, that the Premier is giving us an opportunity to look for vision in the Northwest Territories; things that we’d like to see in the North.

Within the 15th Legislative Assembly we have only a short period of time...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, three communities in the Sahtu are going to be directly impacted by the proposed Mackenzie Valley pipeline. They are very afraid in terms of the social impacts. There is increased exploration activity in my region right now and we are seeing the impacts. We are also seeing the benefits. However, the people are really concerned about the social impacts in terms of family violence and alcohol. So again, Mr. Speaker, I ask the Minister what specific things is his department going to do to ensure that people in the Sahtu will see some benefits in terms of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question today is to the Minister of RWED, Brendan Bell. Mr. Speaker, I heard on the reports that the communities may have a difficult time in terms of the National Energy Board or the Joint Review Panel in terms of the social impacts of the pipeline. I understand that the report is evidence-based in terms of the impacts of the pipeline. I wanted to ask the Minister of RWED is there anything that his department is doing in helping the communities get this information to the boards that gives them more weight on the impacts that pipeline would have on...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is my last point, Mr. Chairman. I look forward to the electronic project that will be happening in the Territories.

The last point I want to make is regarding the physicians in the Sahtu region. We have allocated some positions in the Sahtu. I guess the dollars will be spent by the Inuvik regional health board in terms of dictating or the decision-making with the Sahtu region. Do we wait until the Sahtu has set up the health board and from there they have some authority in terms of the physicians coming over to Sahtu? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I guess the way this budget is structured, all we do is give comments to these communities. I am not sure if the Minister can provide it today, but I am looking for some assurance that the communities like Colville, like Fort Good Hope, like Deline who already has Telehealth in their system, but I am not sure it’s being used to the extent it could be used, rather than have our patients wait or be delayed or not be sent out if they don’t have to be. How’s that? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I support the Minister’s initiatives in terms of expanding Telehealth. I am looking for some concrete answers that Telehealth will be in the small communities that don’t receive physician visits; for example, Colville Lake. Colville Lake receives two visits per year for eight days' worth of services for a doctor to be in a small community. That’s ludicrous. It’s a crying shame that we have physicians visiting two times a year.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, want to say to the government not to take the cotton balls out of their ears, but take the acorns out of their ears. That’s what we are doing in the Sahtu in terms of the financial picture that Mr. Roland indicated we have. We have a wealthy territory here, Mr. Speaker. The roads that go into the Sahtu and small communities in terms of the amount of money that comes out of these regions. The picture that Mr. Roland painted for us in his budget address, we have a surplus in the small communities. I say again, some of these larger centres take the services for...