Bill Braden

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions this afternoon are for Mr. Roland, as the Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board Secretariat, the workforce of the Government of the Northwest Territories and, further, the affirmative action policy and our human rights policy, Mr. Speaker.

A constituent of mine has brought forward a scenario, whereby her age and her place of birth are apparent barriers to her getting an equal opportunity for a job in the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, I took this situation to the government some time ago and I am wondering if the Minister could...

Mr. Chairman, I move we report progress.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. One more question in this area. The Minister mentioned some 66 people or so that has been an historic average over three years. Related to the capacity of the centre, is that number of remand clients…What is the percentage capacity that they would take up over the period of the year? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So looking at the forecast for the coming fiscal year 2005-06, we are forecasting a deficit of $14,000, which is pretty good bookkeeping on almost $12 million in sales. I will give the department that. I am just wondering why there is a need to plan for a deficit. Can we not amend some prices in there to at least be able to forecast a break-even or a modest surplus here? How tight or fine-tuned can we get at this point? I am questioning why we should see a deficit there. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Hay River remand situation has received a lot of air time in the Assembly in the last few days, to the extent that a lot of the detail, I guess, has really gone over or under or around me. But I have tried to look at this in the sense of what are we doing, what kind of an impact are we having on the delivery of essential justice services to a community and to a region of the Northwest Territories? The arguments that the Minister has made, Mr. Chairman, in favour of the amount of money that could be saved, where the service could be relatively easily and...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Perhaps that's a discussion we can have in another forum. I guess I would ask the Minister now, based on the principle, the idea that we have some $21 million in net book value in infrastructure that is, in effect, providing a subsidy to those customers. If we take the principle that government as a whole is assisting a certain category of people, despite and by virtue of where they live, and that if we're going to accept this as the kind of subsidy that our government wants to provide, then why don't we consider it in that large basket? It's more the principle...

Thank you. The scenario there was better than I might have imagined. I can only say that I do look forward to the business plan. Related to that, Mr. Chairman, are the ample signals, the very clear and loud signals that we’re getting about the anticipated increase in crime and the need for policing caused by super-development, the huge developments that we’re on the cusp of. The proponents for the Mackenzie Valley pipeline at a workshop in Inuvik in December made no bones about it that with the level of activity, the number of workers concentrated over a relatively short period of time, that...

That's right, we did it. Mr. Chairman, one thing that I think is worth keeping in mind with the petroleum products division is it's my understanding -- correct me if I'm wrong -- that while the division is mandated to certainly recover the cost of the product and the cost of overhead and operations, the cost of the infrastructure of the tank farms and all the ensuring liabilities and environmental work and things that go along with it, are not recovered. They are absorbed by the government at large. That has been my understanding of the way we set up our PPD. Is that essentially still the...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yesterday we had quite a good debate on a number of aspects of justice and the administration of justice in the Territories. Our motion, Madam Chair, had a focus and a purpose on it in that it sought to encourage the government to do more to enable communities to be more involved and to take greater responsibility in the administration and in the sentencing, the accountability on the part of the offender and hopefully the restoration of that person back into the good books of the community, if you will.

The aspect of this that has intrigued me for some time, Madam...

Thank you, Madam Chair. With your indulgence and committee’s, I would like to recognize two people in the gallery who have joined us this afternoon. They are constituents of mine in Great Slave. Fifty years ago tomorrow, Madam Chair, Tom and Muriel Eagle got married. They are planning a celebration or one is being planned for them for tomorrow. I am very pleased to welcome them to the Assembly and appreciate this opportunity to recognize them and wish them many, many more years. Thank you, Madam Chair.

---Applause