Alfred Moses

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier I spoke about this Forfeiture Act and the proceeds of crime legislation. There are jurisdictions in Canada right now, such as BC, Alberta and Nova Scotia, most recently, that have a Civil Forfeiture Act and it has been brought up in the House before on this side of the House.

I would just like to ask the Minister responsible for the Department of Justice, is the department looking at establishing such legislation for the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have stood up in this House many times to talk about drug dealers and the bootleggers in the communities and what this government is doing to curb the activity and the harm that they do to our residents of the Northwest Territories.

I want to take it one step further today and I want to talk about what this government is doing in terms of creating a proceeds of crime legislation, such as a Civil Forfeitures Act, like the provinces of BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec. What this act would do is freeze, take possession of or forfeit any property that’s used...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of my colleagues just made a good suggestion here that when we do seize some of these assets, that if we sell them that we can start building some compounds to store them, so that might be an option here.

I would just like to ask the Minister, in terms of seizing property, has the Minister looked at doing any types of freezing on businesses that run illegal activity, freezing either if it’s a hotel or maybe a restaurant, has he done any of that type of freezing in terms of the Forfeiture Act? Thank you.

The assets that would be seized, I know that storage has become an issue, but we also have some departments that have big compounds that might have storage space that we can use.

Would the Minister, seeing that is an issue he said has been brought up in discussions, would he work with other departments, such as Public Works and Services, Department of Transportation and possibly MACA, to see what kind of storage space they have in their compounds to utilize those for such property that would be seized? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just in light of the events that took place last year in the communities that were put at risk and not only that but having enough resources in terms of manpower, I think that the motion brought forth that we have before us is a motion that shows government supports our forestry division.

I honestly think that keeping the 215s, we need as many resources as possible along with the 802s, and I think they would be more efficient in terms of having initial attacks with the fires. Having more fleets would also be a safety mechanism, so we wouldn’t put some of our individuals on...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that Bill 33, An Act to Amend the Elections and Plebiscites Act, No. 2, be read for the second time.

Mr. Speaker, Bill 33 amends the Elections and Plebiscites Act to:

replace the provisions for advance polls with a new special voting opportunity;

modernize requirements relating to campaigning, including requirements with respect to campaign advertising and sponsor identification;

require candidates to file statements from banks or approved institutions in support of their financial reports;

increase the number of electors for whom...

I understand that if you do it for all thermal communities that it would get to a high cost burden on government. However, this year alone, ’14-15, we’re subsidizing heating fuel for public housing, affordable housing units in the Northwest Territories to the tune of $9 million. You add to that electrical power, water and sanitation, this year we’re subsidizing all communities to the amount of $25 million, almost $26 million, and that’s not even including any supplementary appropriations that we might see come before committee at some point. So, we’re doing it right now for public housing...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’ve heard some really good questions from Members on this side of the House today in terms of how we’re trying to address the cost of living in the small communities and all communities across the NWT. We’ve also heard subsidies. Just in terms of heating fuel, this government over the last five years, including this fiscal year, has subsidized public housing units and affordable housing units to the tune of $39 million in heating fuel alone. We have residents out there who pay market rent or who also own their own homes.

I’d like to ask the Minister of Finance, seeing...

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to waive Rule 69(2) and have Bill 33, An Act to Amend the Elections and Plebiscites Act, No. 2, moved into Committee of the Whole.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister is correct in looking at alternative energy sources. A lot of those in past budgets, committee on this side had to do a lot of fighting to get some of those into the operating budgets.

We’ve got about 80 homes for sale in Inuvik. That means people are leaving and wanting to leave. They can’t pay their heating bills or their power bills because it’s too high. That’s 80 homes. That’s a lot of people leaving the community.

I’m not asking for a subsidy throughout the whole Northwest Territories. My Member’s statement and my questions today are specific to Inuvik...