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Good afternoon everyone, and welcome to Yellowknife and to the 42nd annual Geoscience Forum. I want to thank the Dettah drummers for sharing with us their traditional songs, a welcome start to a conference that always delivers excellent speakers, presentations and more.
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Good morning ladies and gentlemen.
It is a pleasure to be in Seattle, and to once again have an opportunity to address the Pacific NorthWest Economic Region forum.
The territory represented by PNWER, and the jurisdictions it represents, embody the very best of both Canada and America – hard work, ingenuity, respectful and sustainable development of resources, productive competition, creativity, innovation, and cooperative coexistence.
Mr. Speaker, entrepreneurs and small business owners in the Northwest Territories are committed, passionate, and extremely hard working.
I would like to take the opportunity to recognize a particularly dedicated business owner, Mr. Francis Anderson. Mr. Anderson has been the owner and operator of Saville Enterprises, a thriving hardware store in the Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk, since the age of 19.
Mr. Speaker, as a result of devolution, much of the lands and waters of the Northwest Territories are now the responsibility of our government. We had prepared for this eventually by getting our policy house in order through the development of the NWT Water Stewardship Strategy and its Action Plan. We built these documents collaboratively with our partners, in particular the Aboriginal governments of the NWT. They represent a huge success, and they demonstrate how innovative we are here in the North.
I am very pleased to report another critically important success.
Mr. Speaker, as part of devolution, the Government of the Northwest Territories took over responsibility for the management of environmental liabilities and securities for resource development projects in our territory.
The regulatory system in the Northwest Territories provides for environmental protection, including terms and conditions within various authorizations. Security provides additional protection to ensure that there are funds to address environmental liabilities if proponents fail to take remedial action.
Mr. Speaker, over the last few days the future of energy and the approach of the Government of the Northwest Territories to energy in the Northwest Territories has been explored, deliberated and discussed at length.
The 2014 Northwest Territories Energy Charrette has generated a great deal of interest throughout our territory and beyond. Over 120 people participated in the entire Charrette and there were many more who attended the public discussion held on Monday, November 3rd.
Mr. Speaker, later today I will be tabling information that provides a summary of housing results from the 2014 NWT Community Survey.
The NWT Community Survey is a household survey conducted by the NWT Bureau of Statistics every five years. While there is a variety of important information from the survey, most important to the NWT Housing Corporation is the measure of core housing need.
Core housing need tells us how many NWT households are having housing problems like affordability, overcrowding, or poor housing quality and not enough income to address these issues.
Mr. Speaker, this Government is committed to improving the health and social services system in the Northwest Territories. Over the last year, I have travelled to every region of the NWT to consult with residents, communities, Aboriginal governments, and staff in the regional Authorities. Everywhere I go, I have heard from people that they don’t care about bureaucratic boundaries and regional silos. They just want the best possible care for themselves and their loved ones. They want to be sure that we can afford to provide excellent care into the future.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to share the Northwest Territories three year baseline results of the Early Development Instrument referred to as the EDI results. The EDI is a population-level tool that measures children’s ability to meet age appropriate developmental expectations at school entry.
The EDI measures five areas of a child’s development, including their physical health and well-being, their language and cognitive development, their communication skills and general knowledge, their social competence and the child’s emotional maturity.
Mr. Speaker, NWT businesses keep our economy strong, employ local residents and supply us with goods and services. Several NWT businesses have been recognized for their success lately and I would like to take this time to highlight some of them.
