Norman Yakeleya

I know there’s probably a little more complexity on the answers, but 800 positions that the government has right now, there are 400 they’re actively trying to fill. So the other 400, what happens? There’s active and inactive. Is that correct and can the Minister also put a financial figure to those positions that are vacant?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I’ve listened to the Finance Minister and went through the budget address and looked at some of the highlights, I was quite pleased with some of the initiatives happening in the Northwest Territories, certainly the long-held dream of Cece McCauley in Norman Wells on the Mackenzie Valley Highway and the work towards that, and the government is responding to the oil and gas activity in the Sahtu and other areas around the Northwest Territories that the government is responding with the fiscal restraint that we’re operating under. Of course, the new day for us will be...

I certainly look forward to the speed of light communication that we have with today’s modern technology.

I want to ask the Minister, once we have looked and identified the gaps, we look at the residents and the people of Norman Wells. They say they are short $10,000 or $12,000. Will we have the means? Can the Minister put together a funding project, a budget somewhere saying that will help them so that they will not be hurt so much financially? That’s what I’m looking for, is somewhat of a commitment so the residents of Norman Wells can know that the government here is looking to help them on...

Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the Minister of Finance, the money man, on the question with the residents of Norman Wells. They are going to be shutting off their natural gas by Imperial Oil and converting their utilities, and there are quite a few families in Norman Wells that just are doing their best; they don’t have the extra 15 or 12 thousand dollars to make a full conversion for their residence.

Is the Minister of Finance working with his colleagues or the Town of Norman Wells to look at the number of families that are going to require the additional 10, 12, 15 thousand dollars to make that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I certainly appreciate the commitment the Minister is making in this House for the residents of Norman Wells. I also ask the Minister if he would be willing, when some sort of a plan is in place, that he come to the town of Norman Wells and present this plan on how we are going to help the residents of Norman Wells with the conversion as to what requirements they need and what programs are available to them, or what type of loans we will give them as a government. Also, I will ask the Minister if he can inform his federal counterpart. Where is the federal government on...

I would ask the Minister also if this could be done as quickly as possible, because there are families, people in Norman Wells who are looking at the conversion. Right now they are saying, who is helping us? Which government is there? Imperial Oil is giving a little bit of a hand, but yet they are left with the bulk of the cost of the conversion.

Can the Minister come up with some solutions as soon as possible? For example, maybe setting up some loans through the Housing Corporation office. We have to come up with some solutions, so I want to ask the Minister, can this be done within this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Some time ago I sat down with an elder in Fort Good Hope and listened to the elder. One of the phrases I got from the elder, after listening to the elder, was “our land is holy.” I was trying to figure out what the elder was meaning.

Some time ago over the past several months, the Sahtu people have lost three dearly loved elders and a young mother and a young grandmother. These elders passed away some time ago, one last week and certainly the young mother from Deline, and they returned back to the land.

I recall when I was a young man in Tulita when the elder was talking...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We know the government is going to be entertaining some of the main estimates in the next couple of months. Is this something that the Minister can foresee that it’s something where we could have some of these discussions within the main estimates?

The Take a Kid Program is one of the most successful programs that I’ve witnessed in this government. It’s a good program; however, it’s geared towards high school students. I would like to ask the Minister what about the students who are outside the school-age system, the 18, 19 and 20-year-olds that are walking around, young men, ladies, where they want to go out with a trapper, what type of funding support can they give to them so that they can go out to the trapline.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m going to do my Member’s statement from a song that is sung by Merle Haggard. No, it’s not the one We Don’t Smoke. It’s called The Fighting Side of Me.

I hear people talking bad about the way we do things here in the House, harping on words we use in debating and griping about the way things ought to be. I don’t mind switching sides and standing up for things I believe in, but when you’re running down my fellow MLAs, they’re walking on the fighting side of me, running down a way of life our countrymen have fought and died to keep. If they don’t love it, leave it. Let...