Robert Villeneuve

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess it has just come to my attention that Nunavut and the Yukon have already had access to these Northern Strategy dollars and the communities are already putting proposals forward to spend some of that money. I guess the Minister is well aware of the divisiveness in the communities that has arisen because of these Northern Strategy dollars. Does this government have any plan of assisting these communities to work out and develop some good community plans to spend some of these northern infrastructure dollars? Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My question, Mr. Speaker, is to the Honourable Joe Handley. It’s just a question on some Northern Strategy dollars that have rolled out in the last couple of months. I just want to ask the Minister if any of these Northern Strategy dollars have been accessed by any of the communities in the NWT to date. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I guess in Yellowknife, for example, there are quite a few squatters out on the Ingraham Trail and squatters do pay property taxes, as a matter of fact. But they just don’t have any legal title to their property, whether a lease or what have you.

I guess just to get away from that, it’s not so much the squatter issue, but I’m more or less concerned about the issue we have today about property taxes and outstanding arrears in the communities that haven’t been properly assessed and all that. Are we just giving these responsibilities that the government had to fix the...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Minister. I just want to get this stabilization fund straight. I know in the past when some communities paid a little more than they would have had to offset the higher cost of fuel in some of the other communities, that wouldn’t affect the stabilization fund at all, or it shouldn’t. What criteria are used to get this stabilization fund implemented to a community? Is there some kind of cost ratio that is used to determine when a community needs some of the stabilization money to offset the high price in retail gas prices? How does the government...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was just wondering, I know the communities probably don’t want the government to decide how they’re going to spend these dollars because the autonomy has gone to the community level anyway. But I just wanted to ask the Minister if the government would propose or consider an option of being mediator to a lot of these community governments that are having problems with each other in developing good comprehensive plans on how they’re going to spend these dollars and where their priorities should go. Is the government willing to entertain a position of that nature? Thank...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

WHEREAS Rule 85 requires that Members be appointed to standing committees of the Legislative Assembly;

AND WHEREAS vacancies exist on a number of standing committees;

AND WHEREAS Jackson Lafferty has been elected to the Legislative Assembly on July 18, 2005, as the Member for Monfwi;

NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Sahtu, that Mr. Jackson Lafferty, Member for Monfwi, be appointed to the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight, to the Standing Committee on Social Programs and to the Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures. Thank you, Mr...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Friday, October 14, 2005, I will move the following motion: Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Range Lake, that Mr. Jackson Lafferty, Member for Monfwi, be appointed to the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight, to the Standing Committee on Social Programs and to the Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures. Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time, I will seek unanimous consent to deal with this motion today.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I also would like to say welcome to all the other MLAs, yourself included, Mr. Speaker, back into the House for this Fourth Session. I would like to extend an especially warm welcome to our new Member for Monfwi, Jackson Lafferty. I’d also like to say welcome to the Legislative Assembly staff, the new Pages, and all our special guests and the general public to the fourth sitting of this 15th Legislative Assembly.

Mr. Speaker, I’ll be brief in my Member’s statement today as I’m not really feeling too vocal today. That being said, I would just like to...

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to deal with the motion I gave notice of earlier today.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to recognize the members of the Tlicho leadership to the House. Also, one of my constituents, Mr. Tommy Lockhart, who also has his daughter here, Fiona Lockhart, who is one of the Pages until Friday; and Shiranda Bull, who is the other Page from Lutselk’e until Friday. Welcome to the House.

---Applause