Bill Braden

Mr. Speaker, I know that one of the conditions that is outstanding is that of ongoing maintenance. On the YWCA for instance, this year alone is covering almost $70,000 in unfunded maintenance. This is everything from broken windows to fixing toilets and the kind of things that happen in a high traffic, high use building. Mr. Speaker, will any department or which department be looking at covering the Y for this very substantive and unfunded cost of operating that building? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask a couple of questions of the Minister responsible for FMBS, Mr. Roland. This regards the lease that our government supplies for the Rockhill Apartment building with the YWCA organization here in Yellowknife. The Y puts this building through very good use. It is part of a front-line social services infrastructure for families in need, emergency housing and transitional housing.

Mr. Speaker, the lease for this -- I believe it is a 10-year lease -- expires in May of 2008. The Y has been engaged for some time now in discussions with as many as five...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Mr. Glen Abernethy, a lifelong resident of the NWT and Nunavut and a constituent of Great Slave. Thank you.

---Applause

…to help build this important piece of infrastructure. Mr. Speaker, if Canada were to come in with $50 million, that’s roughly the equivalent of only 66 days, barely three months, of the taxes and royalties they are now collecting from our resources.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Two days from now, a major event, an historic event, will take place on the banks of the Deh Cho River and the community of Fort Providence. The event will mark the start of construction of the long anticipated, much beleaguered Deh Cho Bridge.

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Mr. Speaker, I am old enough…

---Laughter

…seasoned enough to remember the pro-bridge campaign of the 1970s when enterprising business owners here championed the building of a bridge, then estimated to cost in the single million dollar digits.

It has been a pledge of mine, and I think every other MLA for Yellowknife...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am going to speak in favour of Ms. Lee’s motion to bring these new amendments and new ideas back through the committee process to the general public. Madam Chair, this bill is certainly one of the newer and I think bigger ideas that this Assembly has undertaken. Just on the surface of that, we should never be afraid of looking at new ideas and applying them as they can be appropriated here in the NWT. Universally, we saw a need. We appreciate the need in every one of our communities, big and small, for new ways to address the problems of addictions, bootlegging...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is unusual, Mr. Speaker, that discussions about the appointment or proposed consideration of any individual be considered on the floor of the Assembly. This is something that is normally handled through another selection and screening and appointment processes. But while it is unusual to bring it in, Mr. Speaker, I would like to suggest that it is an unusual circumstance that this Assembly, and I believe the Workers’ Compensation Board, finds itself in.

As the motion referenced, there have been a number of major shifts and transformations and transitions undertaken...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I respect the point of order. A further part of this whole discussion, Mr. Speaker, was that there has been a longstanding expectation and many tantalizing offers or suggestions or hints that Canada would be coming into this, recognizing what a significant piece of infrastructure this is for this region and for Canada. Yet we still do not have a tangible certainty from Canada that it’s going to say we do have a responsibility to come into something like this. We do have evidence that this is a good thing for Canada because it is a significant part of the...

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Income support clients are covered for some benefits such as ambulance, dental and vision services, but some people with disabilities who cannot work and who collect CPP/disability pensions are not covered. Why does this discrepancy exist? Has or will this issue be addressed in the income support review?

Our government provides supported living for persons with mental health and intellectual challenges, but not for those with physical disabilities. Enhanced home care services and other suggested living...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the answer and the information. I must admit, I am not hearing anything that really substantively moves this along. I do appreciate that when a lot of departments get involved, things get a little less straightforward. Is the lead department the Department of Health and Social Services? Is that who is taking the reigns on this one on behalf of the rest of our government, Mr. Speaker?