Bill Braden

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Maybe I am looking for too fine a layer of detail here. There are also increments that the bill proposes to increase some allowances, the cost of doing business for Members at least outside of Yellowknife. Do we have some estimate of what the increment is there, Mr. Chair?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will be speaking in favour of the bill with a couple of comments that, like my colleague, I would like to note for the record. As the Minister explained in his opening remarks, these are measures that we are bringing into play not for ourselves or this Assembly, of course, Mr. Chair, but as criteria and conditions I think that will improve the environment for our successors in the 16th Assembly.

Some of the amendments, as Ms. Lee has noted, will adjust for some of the variances and the discrepancies that our out-of-town or out-of-Yellowknife colleagues have experienced...

Mr. Speaker, one of the key ingredients in this is the understanding, support and collaboration of the provinces in Canada. The report by the Council of the Federation really is a striking endorsement of our goals. I wanted to ask the Premier what his plan is for continuing to strengthen that relationship with the provinces, as he says we have done with the federal government, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess I would ask, is this really all in Minister Prentice’s hands? I think this is a process that all three territories undertook, as well, in good faith. We made investments in it and I remember considerable discussion among our committees and at levels of this Legislature. Do we have a new northern vision process under Minister Prentice, or is it, in reality, a continuation of the Northern Strategy process that we have already agreed to and already put significant investment in, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the past few minutes I have seen a constituent of mine, Mr. Lee Selleck in the gallery and I would like to welcome him to the Assembly. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister responsible for the Workers’ Compensation Board.

Can the Minister provide statistical information over the past five years as follows:

the number of WCB applicants whose claim included a medical diagnosis of chronic pain;

the number of those same applicants who succeeded in obtaining temporary short-term benefits and permanent long-term benefits; and

the number of Workers' Compensation Board claimants whose benefits were affected if they were diagnosed as suffering from chronic pain.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, another aspect that I will continue to seek satisfaction on before this project gets my approval is that through it we really take on some leadership and some vision in our housing agenda, Mr. Speaker, and use this to create a sustained housing industry for the Northwest Territories. Between this project and the Affordable Housing Strategy, we are talking $300 million, something in the neighbourhood of over 1,200 housing units created here. How is it that we have not yet seen how we can use this as a springboard for the creation of a true housing industry...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions this morning are for Mr. Krutko as the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation and the arrangements of the negotiations for the Novel project.

Mr. Speaker, I share the optimism of this Assembly that this very innovative program can play a major part in helping us solve our very, very chronic housing situation. But like some of my colleagues, I have some considerable concerns about the business deal and the degree of risk and exposure that the GNWT is undertaking in this.

Mr. Speaker, it is quite apparent that the negotiation is very fluid and we...

Mr. Speaker, it’s about this time of year that the departments, all the departments begin assembling their business plans for the coming fiscal year. In this, especially in the social program envelope departments, Mr. Speaker, are the core or the service agreements with a number of these organizations. Mr. Speaker, is FMBS going to really seriously look at the variances that have been so well illustrated by a number of these organizations and the difficulties they are having in our competitive job market? Are we going to address this for the coming fiscal year, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions this morning are for the Minister of Finance and perhaps FMBS, and this relates to the arrangements that our government has with many non-government organizations in the delivery of services for our government, Mr. Speaker. Very recently, the voluntary sector and our government put together a study on this area and the study poses a number of very useful questions. I think they’d do well to be heard in the Assembly this morning. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask, for instance, what policy or legislative change or program guidelines would enable more NWT...