Thank you, Mr. Speaker. WHEREAS the Government of Canada has enacted major revisions to a number of environmental protection laws, including the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, the Fisheries Act, the Navigable Waters Act and the Species at Risk Act, through its first omnibus budget implementation bill, Bill C-38, and is proposing further revisions under Bill C-45, which is currently before Parliament.

AND WHEREAS a vigorous environmental management regime is essential for the protection of our vulnerable northern ecosystems, for citizens’ participation in the management of our natural...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures would like to present a Report on the Use of Tablet Computers in Formal Session of the Legislative Assembly.

In its February 8, 2012, Report on the Use of Tablet Computers in the Legislative Assembly, the Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures recommended that:

Tablet computers such as iPads be considered as a type of laptop computer/hand-held device, subject to the existing conventions in the House regarding electronic communications devices.

This recommendation was adopted by a motion of the Committee of the Whole. As a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister responsible for the Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission (WSCC). Please provide:

information on the cost of legal advice incurred by the WSCC in the past four fiscal years;

information on the costs incurred by the WSCC for legal advice on individual case files in the past four fiscal years; and

information on the cost incurred by WSCC in support of its presentations before appeals tribunals in the past four fiscal years.

Mahsi.

I continue to make my point. Meanwhile, the Minister keeps the season closed for resident hunters while we’re at record numbers here with this herd. How, in this time of total caribou deprivation for resident hunter families, can the Minister restrict resident hunter quotas to zero for years and years?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let’s take a look at this glowing good work that the Minister refers to. My questions are for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. The summer of 2010, the Minister reports the Bluenose-East was at 100,000, at or near record numbers for this herd. The hunting seasons of 2010-2011, 2011-2012, 2012-2013 and now we’re talking about 2013-2014 are going by, have gone by, with no resident quotas. The Minister says these numbers give us an opportunity to open discussions. Well, they gave us that opportunity two years ago and now we’re talking four years of missed...

Thanks to the Minister for those comments. We certainly do need redundancy here in order to avoid this sort of situation. I just want to explore further the issue of backup for emergencies. The Minister’s 2010 answers to me promised a change in process and more staff training. Ms. Bisaro was told last week that there will be client service officer training, and the Minister has confirmed that. Because this is a financial payment function, and because the need for prompt payments is absolutely critical, will the Minister ensure that not only client service officers but an emergency backup in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Ben McDonald, a stalwart of Alternatives North and defender of the public good.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank my colleague Mr. Yakeleya for helping to bring this motion forward.

This motion is in response to the very deeply held concerns territory-wide about the loss of environmental review, oversight, and public participation that recent federal legislation passed and proposed is causing. Known as the federal omnibus Bill C-38 passed in June and C-45 currently under consideration, the impacts of these legislatives are more strongly felt and immediate in the North because the environmental management regime is largely federal here. This motion asks our...

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to waive Rule 93(4) and move Committee Report 7-17(3) into Committee of the Whole today.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to present a petition dealing with the matter of midwifery care. The petition contains 27 signatures of Yellowknife residents.

The petitioners request that the Government of the Northwest Territories commit to expanding the Midwifery Program to other communities in the NWT beyond Fort Smith for fiscal year 2013-14, by identifying the selected communities and committing to the continuity of this expansion with annual core funding. Further, that the Government of the Northwest Territories ensure that women feel confident and secure to stay in their communities...