Weledeh

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 74)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the Rules of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, dated May 27, 2015.

Mr. Speaker, this document reflects the comprehensive review of the rules undertaken by the Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures to modernize our rules and to better reflect our current practices and procedures. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 74)

I don’t know what to say, Mr. Speaker. What is it going to take? We have a brand new hotel going in this summer; we have the Explorer Hotel being expanded; we have the increasing size of Niven as more and more development takes place there. Somebody is going to get hurt.

When will the Minister fix this situation and protect our people? Thank you.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 74)

I didn’t hear an answer to my question there, but I haven’t been totally unsuccessful. Over the seven-plus years I’ve been working on this, we got traffic slowed down a little with the new speed limit and we actually got some streetlights. So there’s been a little progress there, which I appreciated. This is over the course of many Transportation Ministers.

Heroes do not grow on trees. I ask the Minister, would he like to be a hero? Thank you.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 74)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m very pleased to greet a resident of Weledeh, Karen Johnson, and, of course, her daughter is serving as a Page today in the House, Linnea Stephenson, and I’d also like to recognize Jacob Schubert who is also a resident of Weledeh. Mahsi.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 74)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This issue, this concern, this opportunity was first raised in the 16th Assembly. I know the Minister will recall that, as well as my colleagues. Work was started then.

I would also like to add my voice saying job well done. I would like to thank the professions that have also contributed quite a bit, as well, and the heavy lifting that’s done by our legal department and all involved in getting legislation to this point.

I know there are a number of professions that are waiting to be added. I know the public is going to appreciate this regulation of professions so they can...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 74)

I realize that and committee has had extensive discussions on opening it up to the possibility of employers contributing more, because we believe that there were, in fact, some that did. My question is: Are there any that do provide more than 50 percent?

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 73)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate those comments. The one thing I very rarely hear and I don’t think I heard again, was working with industry, which was, in fact, where our biggest growing use of energy is happening, and we know that our Greenhouse Gas Strategy is absolutely useless in terms of providing guidance for them. We know that we’re doing pretty good internally, but we’re not doing very well with outreach. Of course, the biggest one is industry, which, as far as I can see, is getting nothing in terms of the requirements, guidelines, direction on how to be more efficient and switch...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 73)

Thank you, Madam Chair. The biggest increase in the budget for the Legislative Assembly is the compensation and benefits, $1 million roughly. Could I get just some explanation of what this is about? Thank you.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 73)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a Page who’s a resident of Weledeh, Linnea Stephenson. I’d like to thank her for all her service to the House the past couple weeks, and also Jacob Schubert, who I don’t know whether he’s working today or not, but thanks to all of our Pages. Mahsi.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 73)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just referring to the Speaker’s notes here, I see we are taking advantage of some efficiencies. I’m happy to see our General Election costs are anticipated to be only slightly larger than four years ago.

The 11.5 percent increase is obviously quite a bit compared to the departments, but I know there could be some reasons for that. I see about $860,000 of that is for the office of the Chief Electoral Officer for the election, so that’s 40 percent of that. I’m just wondering if there are any comments on what the rest of that is.

One other thing. I appreciated the...