Sandy Lee

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, indeed the news is out about the Northwest Territories diamonds, oil and gas, and our exceptional economic situation is making good copy in southern newspapers. Our economic growth is almost 10 times greater than the rest of Canada, and our employment rates are also breaking all records already without the pipeline. In Yellowknife, we have full employment, statistically speaking, already.

Mr. Speaker, the future indeed looks very bright, but there are many in our communities who are very concerned about the social impact the explosion of booming economy...

We have been negotiating this for as long as we have been a government, as long as we have had a Legislature here, as long as we became a responsible government and no longer populated by appointees from the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs. Every Member of this Legislature who ever ran and got elected has had on their agenda devolution as their major task.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe what is happening with this pipeline is so huge, we are spending a lot of energy and time talking about how we get the most financial benefit, how we get resource revenue sharing. All of that is important. We have many people spending lots of resources working on those to get the best deal possible. I think there should be the same effort, energy, and resources put on by this government. You get the money from the company, but is the government working with the partners that could work out a specific plan to get ready for the pipeline development? Are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The report, for example on page 5, has a whole section on community wellness. This is not just a women’s issue, but it is done by the Status of Women Council. It is coming from a woman’s perspective, which I believe also is always a better and enlightened perspective.

---Laughter

Mr. Speaker, if you read through this community wellness section, it really provides the government with concrete steps that the government could take to get the people ready for the megaprojects. It talks about child and homecare services, improve the information services like a helpline or...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. I would like to conclude by recognizing the very good work done by the Status of Women Council of the NWT who, in July of 2004, released a report titled Review of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Terms of Reference of the Mackenzie Gas Project. It is an excellent report with two very neatly organized tables included in the report that tells us what we need to do, what the mitigating steps are that we could take to get our people ready and to make sure that our people benefit from it in a maximum way. I would just like to say that all...

Good question.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as Members, we get so much information that we are not always certain if we might have just missed something when something comes up. I believe the consensus in AOC is that this whole issue has not been brought to the committee yet. We are well aware that the government is moving ahead with centralizing human resources sections of the government, which is what most of the Members in this House wanted. Going by what people are saying on the street, it is moving forward. I am really thinking that any changes to the appeal process should be part and...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If you look at the budget for 2003-04, the budget for the fuel was $320,000, but the actual expenditure was $620,000. That’s $300,000 more. It’s almost 100 percent more than what was budgeted. For power, the budget was $440,000, but the actual rate was $1.018 million. That’s $578,000 more. That’s more than 100 percent of what was originally budgeted. I think maintenance costs are maybe two-thirds of a PY more and one could see that as something that could happen, but for heating fuel and power, we are talking about 100 percent more than was originally thought. This...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as many Members are aware, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. As it has for the last 13 years in Canada, and for the 11th year in Yellowknife, CIBC Run for the Cure was held on October 3rd of this year. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to also advise you that this year CIBC Run for the Cure was held in many of our northern sister communities including Inuvik, Iqaluit, Hay River, Rankin Inlet, Norman Wells, Fort Simpson, and Fort Smith. Once again, Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to report to you that Yellowknife has kept up with its reputation for breaking...

Thank you. I appreciate that because I know that the Members have talked about the rising incidents of violence and vandalism, and there are lots of schools in Yellowknife that are subject to all sorts of incidents of nuisance or violence or vandalism. There are lots of windows being kicked in, or where there are youth roaming around and stuff. I have had the occasion to talk to the school boards about the increasing costs and I know there is some concern about not only extra insurance premiums you have to pay for the extra cost of covering those damages, but also preventive measures they...