Bob Bromley

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just on the issue of the funding for the devolution negotiations, I’m wondering if the dollars that have been identified for working with the partners… I believe there’s about $572,000 for working on negotiations related to resource revenue sharing. Does that include potential partners or is that identified for just the government working with the two Aboriginal groups that have signed onto the AIP? Thank you.

Thanks for the commitment from the Minister, once again. Mr. Speaker, last session I spoke of overlap and duplication and the development of programs for men who use violence with a GNWT program that had been developed without even the knowledge of all coalition partners. The coalition was created as a clearing house of this work and is recommending a three-year community-based pilot program to create a territorial program standard. Will the Minister commit to working with his Cabinet colleagues to support this program and ensure that the departments use the coalition forum as their partners...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are following up on my Member’s statement yesterday on the report from the Coalition Against Family Violence. They are for the Minister of Health and Social Services and Deputy Premier. Recent statistics, sadly, show that family violence continues to get worse. Two hundred and thirty-eight women and children came forward to violence shelters for the first time in 2010-11; that’s new incidents. NWT women seek escape from violence and shelter at five times the national rate. Ninety-two percent of 27,000 people responding to the 2007 survey said more...

I guess I would call on all of the House to ensure that the Auditor General’s guidance is reflected in that policy before it’s approved.

Just my last question here. Given that $17.4 million has been spent and the development costs for the project were estimated to be $20 million, we’re now over 80 percent expended on the budget for developing the project. Although it’s on hold, I understand from the chairman of the Power Corporation that development, or perhaps the Hydro Corporation development, is still proceeding or explorations towards a restructuring and so on. Again, presumably that would...

I thank the Minister for those remarks. I think many of us are disappointed that this project did not work out better and are still hopeful that something can be pulled out of the fire. I am concerned with one of the justifications for this sort of ongoing funding. That is that our partner is worthy of this investment essentially because they are contributing to project knowledge about financial structuring such as the P3 public-private partnership model. Now, I would hope that the government would not need to go to a vested partner that has everything to gain and nothing to lose, for advice...

Again, I thank the Minister for that somewhat unrelated comment. Thank you.

I’ll take that then as a yes to my second question. It’s just I have a little less confidence in it.

On the bigger picture, a number of my colleagues and myself have been trying to really emphasize the need for the whole public -- and I’m not talking about the Aboriginal groups here, I’m not talking about people of any particular persuasion -- I’m talking about the entire Northwest Territories to be consulted, residents of the Northwest Territories to be consulted on what we mean when we say sustainable development. What do we mean when we say a responsible land and resource management regime...

I’m wondering, does that mean we would expect an additional supp if we have other Aboriginal partners that sign on during the course of this fiscal year?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks again for the Minister’s comments. I guess I would just ask: will the Minister commit to keeping the House apprised and committee apprised with as much faithfulness as I commit to bringing forward concerns that I hear from the coalition to the Minister? Thank you.

I appreciate the commitment from the Minister. The 238 women and children last year, Mr. Speaker, the major coalition partners like the YWCA Yellowknife, the Centre for Northern Families, Inuvik, Hay River and Tuk shelters, NWT Seniors, Salvation Army and a host of others are our long-established and indispensible leaders and service providers in this area. So why is core funding for multi-year funding agreements for these groups even an issue? These partners are in for the long haul and shouldn’t be made to flounder between annual funding agreements.

So I ask: will the Minister commit to...