Robert C. McLeod

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Monfwi, that Bill 14, An Act to Repeal the Pawnbrokers and Second-hand Dealers Act, be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. It’s not our intention to dust this off and keep pushing it off. I have not gone to the Cabinet table yet. We are planning on doing a little more work on this and then once the opportunity arises, we’re looking for some funds, and I will approach FMB and see if there’s a possibility that we can gain access to some of these funds. But in the meantime, we do recognize that things are changing across the Northwest Territories and I’ve heard from a lot of folks out there. I’ve heard from NWTAC, I’ve heard from Members in the 16th and 17th. So it is one that I have committed to...

I said we’re revisiting the issue. The question has been raised. The Member said what, 13 times. I think it was a lot more than that, but at the time, because of the lack of communication across the Northwest Territories, telecommunication, it would have been difficult to work on or implement this system. So with the improvements, we are going back. I have directed officials to revisit this issue and see if there are ways that we can possibly implement this program. We’re working with the communities to implement this program on a stage-by-stage basis. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Kam Lake, that Bill 13, An Act to Repeal the Curfew Act, be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. If the Member doesn’t want to take my word for it, then we’ll put a letter together and send it to the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, 911 is a concern across the Northwest Territories. We’ve heard about it in the many meetings we’ve had. I have asked officials to go back and have a look at it, considering the fact that technology and telecommunications have improved throughout the North. So I have committed to revisiting the issue. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I was paying attention. I was just looking for it on my iPad.

---Laughter

And I found it. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thanks for the opportunity to introduce Bill 13, An Act to Repeal the Curfew Act. The Curfew Act is old legislation and is no longer required. Municipal governments have the authority to pass bylaws to establish curfews.

With respect to designated authorities, the Curfew Act provides that the Commissioner may establish a community as a curfew district upon receiving a petition signed by two-thirds of the parents of the community. No designated authority has shown...

Mr. Speaker, I don’t believe we’ve downloaded the responsibility on to the communities. I think communities have embraced the new responsibility they have. In many of my meetings with the communities and meetings with the NWT Association of Communities, they have pointed out the fact that they do like the New Deal, it was called at the time, where a lot of the responsibilities were devolved on to the communities. They weren’t downloaded. I just wanted to make that point again.

It’s a tough question to answer, because when we’re talking about the infrastructure, I’ve been saying it here for the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As a government, we have a lot of programs that are designed specifically for our youth. Unfortunately, the capital part of it is not a part of the support that we give to our youth. We have a number of programs, and I think the Member pointed them out before, Youth Ambassadors and all the programs we have. If there is a desire by the youth in the community to have a piece of infrastructure, I would advise them to go speak to their local government, who have the authority to distribute the funds in the community.

I have to say that in many of the communities I have...

The community has an allocation from this government for their infrastructure and they will determine on their own what they want to use that money for. If it goes towards an arena, again, that would be their decision, and our role in it is to support the community and help them find other sources of funding or secure bank financing if the need arises. But we will work with the community and explain to them what some of their options are.