Bob Bromley

I agree. There are major, major challenges here. We should forget this agreement, this socioeconomic agreement, so called, and start from a new page now that we have the JRP’s excellent insights into our needs.

I also want to comment on the transparency and peculiarity of this public process. Well before these governments’ initial responses were drafted, the National Energy Board held its final public hearings to gather the comments of others with a critical stake in this outcome. These groups had to do that without knowing how governments would react so their comments could not be informed by...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Because the scope of the JRP is so broad and detailed and because this Cabinet has failed in its duty to provide the Members with adequate opportunity to provide input into this response, I will confine my comments to specific remarks on the most major recommendations and general comments on broad subject areas in the report.

I would first like to quote from the JRP report’s observation in the section Public Confidence and Government Preparedness. “Many participants in the panel’s review expressed a major concern about the readiness of governments to respond to and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I look forward to those reports. Many of the delays my constituent experiences in this case, sometimes lasting several months in duration, have been because the medical advisor simply was not available. Surely this can be resolved by having an alternate advisor for when the medical advisor is unavailable. Will the Minister recognize the dire straits of injured workers waiting for decisions and commit to putting in place a mechanism to deal with absent medical advisors to keep the process moving forward? Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, yes, that was a general question rather than specific to this advice. I am not aware that my constituent has been advised as per the Minister’s question there. I want to preface my next question, Mr. Speaker, by saying that on the many occasions with this file I have had to contact the Minister I have received some assistance. It is just my point is I shouldn’t be having to go to the Minister so many times for help. The WSCC used to have its own legal services providing advice to claimants but has backed off this support to provide only a worker’s advisor. When its processes are...

They depend on the commission for help in their times of greatest need. I have been impressed with this person’s patience, dignity, intelligent approach and calm in seeking meaningful relief. Because of his perseverance, he is often breaking new ground and doing so partly in recognition of the standard-setting impact he may have to help others that follow with similar issues. He continually asks the question: if this is what’s happening to me, how many more people like me are there out there? That’s a question I’ll be looking into with questions to the Minister. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I very much appreciate that commitment. I’ll look forward to seeing that in the business plans. I think it’s something we did talk about during the very first stages of this Assembly when I think the proposed initiative was $10,000, an extreme embarrassment to the people of the Northwest Territories. I know the department did finally put a slight bit more together, but it’s talking about the issue, it’s not doing. We are coming to the end of our term, so I’ll look forward to seeing that in the business plans. I’d like to understand that Cabinet realizes the role of the...

Thank you. I don’t disagree with really much of what the Premier said. The difficulty is that there are still pipes that are preventing this getting done and this government has been very ineffective at dealing with that. I’m trying to get some effective action out there. Right now there’s a questionnaire that’s been put and being distributed and it is extremely simplistic and highly unfocused. Was this all that came out of our so-called main effort that took us two years to complete the conference on volunteerism? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Finance.

What have been the costs by year during the term of the 16th Assembly to date and budgeted for this fiscal year for activities relating to the Mackenzie Gas Project including such costs as:

preparation for and participating in Joint Review Panel and National Energy Board proceedings;

travel and receptions by Ministers with MLAs and officials;

staff positions and contractor services; and

communications planning, promotional events, publicity and advertising.

Mr. Speaker, thanks for the Minister’s remarks there. We have a system where one agency polices the workplace, administers claims and makes the decisions, in this case, without knowing or admitting the discretion it has to vary recommendations of its advisors. What will this Minister do to actively, regularly and independently monitor the activities and judgements of the WSCC to put the injured on a more level playing field? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission. Jurisdictions have enacted workers’ compensation legislation to ensure every worker is protected when they suffer injury in the workplace, yet I can’t help feeling my constituent would have been wiser to have a car accident with instant free access to legal advice, medical examinations and other services through his insurance company. Why does it take months for WSCC to move files when all that is needed is the prompt advice of its medical and legal advisors? Mahsi.