Robert C. McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Section 26 of the NWT Safety Act gives the Minister the mandate and authority to establish the Safety Advisory Committee. The committee is established and they do report to the Minister. Thank you.

I’m not quite sure how to respond to that, other than saying I would have to follow up and see what some of the recommendations were, but I will follow up and see what kind of information I can gather. Again, I’ll commit to the Member that we will work with the community to come up with some kind of a plan to deal with the shoreline erosion. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I won’t tell him to use their gas tax money, but I will say you can use your capital infrastructure money that we provide to the community each year and they identify projects as a priority. I do know for a fact that in the latest capital plan from the community, they have identified some funds to put towards shoreline erosion. There’s no scope of work that’s been determined yet, nor have we had any requests for technical assistance, which we would be more than happy to provide to them. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that Bill 18, An Act to Repeal the Settlements Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, that Bill 15, An Act to Amend the Fire Prevention Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I will follow up on the Member’s suggestion. If we have tenants that are able to meet all their commitments, which in my understanding in this particular case, they were meeting all of their commitments, then it’s something that we have to have a look at. If we get into situations where it’s difficult for tenants to meet their utility costs and that, then that’s also something that we need to look at. But in the particular case, they were meeting all their commitments, so I will follow up on that and I will also follow up on the income and what constitutes seasonal employment and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am aware of this certain situation and I have committed to following up on it. The Member raises a valid point, though. We do have folks out there who are seasonal workers and at the present time they could be unemployed. But I have committed to following up on that, because all the reasons that he stated are correct. My understanding is they’re able to make all the payments and there really are no arrears. I am following up on that as we speak. Thank you.

The mandate was given from the Minister’s office. Thank you.

We do provide, through the capital infrastructure acquisition or plan, we provide all the money to the communities and this has allowed a lot of communities to deal with some of their infrastructure deficits and some of the infrastructure needs a lot sooner than they would have been able to had it been still part of the corporate plan, and this is just another example of that. You know, as a department, I mean, if we’re aware or we know of any other possible sources of funding out there that could assist the community, then I will commit to the Member that we usually follow any pots of money...

Thank you. I could commit to the Member that if it’s the request of the community, we’d be happy to go in there and provide them some technical assistance. I did say before that they have identified some funds in their capital plan to go towards the shoreline erosion, but we’d be more than happy to meet with the Member and the leadership in the community to see what we can do to assist them. Thank you.