Bill Braden

Mr. Speaker, we seem to have a couple of options here. A number of the clients who try to get into this kind of program are on income support and there is really no provision for them to cover the extra expenses that they might incur. Meanwhile, we obviously do not allow ABE instruction on the same basis for funding as regular student financial assistance. Has the department been able to look at whether or not we can change our minds about SFA and help enrol these people on that same basis and help them get further ahead, Mr. Speaker?

Mr. Speaker, would the Minister or would the WCB, through the Minister, make available to this Assembly, and to the stakeholders, and the public, the draft or the proposed policy that it is going to submit to the courts to see indeed if the policy fits the needs of the stakeholders and not only the courts, Mr. Speaker?

Mr. Speaker, what actions will the governance council of the WCB take to address the shortcomings in its chronic pain policy, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, colleagues, Mr. Speaker. To the matter of the board’s failed policy on chronic pain, Justice Schuler has left this to be resolved by either the board or by a legislative action of this Assembly.

Mr. Speaker, this decision is a significant indictment of the failure of our WCB to manage in a fair and compassionate way, let alone a legal and proper way, the very reason it exists. I will conclude my statement with one more reflection on Mr. Valic’s situation. The sad part of this story is, as of today, Mr. Speaker, that he is really no further ahead today in his life than when he was...

Mr. Speaker, I’d certainly support something that’s more timely. If there’s a way of enabling our system to be more responsive, we invest already quite heavily in enabling organizations like the Native Women’s Association to deliver ABE, but it seems now with our society, our economy working the way it is, we’ve got to do some more to enable the students to actually participate in this. So would the Minister be able to bring something forward, perhaps as early as this spring, that would enable even a pilot project to get underway and see if we can find a better way to do this, Mr. Speaker?

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Mr. Speaker, I have a question for Mr. Dent as the Minister for Education, Culture and Employment. It’s a bit of a follow-up, Mr. Speaker, from an item that we discussed here in this Assembly last fall regarding the status of people who enter the adult basic education course, but who, in a lot of cases, Mr. Speaker, find themselves without the supports, without the cash flow to be able to continue in ABE and thus seem to end up back in that cycle of poverty and not being able to get ahead. When we discussed this in the fall, the Minister committed to looking at what could be done and I...

So, Mr. Speaker, the court is going to come up with rules regarding chronic pain and how it’s applied, not our own governance council, our own potentially Legislative Assembly, our own stakeholders. Is this responsible governance to go back to the court to tell them, to ask them to set our policy? Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, my questions this afternoon are for Mr. Dent as the Minister responsible for the Workers’ Compensation Board of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Mr. Speaker, our Workers' Compensation Board spends dollars, significant dollars, and retains a substantial legal talent to apply and interpret the rules and implement the procedures that hit holes when considering the cases of injured workers who bring claims before it. But Mr. Speaker, one injured worker at least has had to endure significant procedural steps and a significantly long period of time in order to get, potentially...

Mr. Chairman, thank you. Does the GNWT then have a policy regarding disaster relief or disaster assistance to communities? If we can recover 85 percent from the federal government under compliant costs, is the balance, at least of this expenditure, which would be around $150,000, covered by policy somewhere, or is this a one of a kind issue-by-issue consideration, Mr. Chairman?

Well, okay, this is, I guess we’re straying more into an area here of policy, Mr. Chairman, rather than direct consideration of the budget here. I guess, you know, the Minister said there is some discretion connected with what then is a category two or category three organization and where I’d like to see our government being more proactive is to direct each department to really proactively look at all of the boards or agencies or NGOs that we contract with to deliver programs on our behalf and strive to bring forward new allocations or new requests for funding, as the Minister just explained...