Bob Bromley

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that committee recommends that when developing future strategies, that government departments undertake public consultation in a thorough, transparent, meaningful public engagement process, free of perceived biases, with ample opportunity for public response and a reasonable time frame for dialogue between government departments and all Members of the House;

And further, that expertise in public interest policy be an integral part of such strategy development exercises.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It’s obvious the Minister hasn’t heard a word that we said, the ongoing record of committee bringing concerns to the Minister and getting no joy.

I appreciate that committee’s done a good job laying the issue out here in this report. I hope the Minister will, at some point in his life, read it over and really take it to heart.

The motions that I have are the motions that are in the paragraphs on the last page. There are no changes to those. We thought, let’s formalize them and just see if the Minister might eventually acknowledge that a lousy job was done on the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks for that commitment, I think. Just my last question here. The tabled document, the letter from the Environment and Natural Resources to the Wek’eezhii board. The Wek’eezhii board is saying they want to put some teeth into the legislation and require that securities for liability assessed be provided within 90 days, and the department is fighting this, and of course, the result is that it might take six months or a year. I don’t know. It’s probably been more than a year. It’s probably been years, in fact, for the Ekati Mine without providing this security. This...

The Minister sounds like he’s changing direction here, and I would ask him to do some research in this area and provide to committee exactly what is going on here, without any input from committee, I might add, other than what we’ve had in the House, and obviously, that doesn’t seem to be holding any water.

I’ve heard officials from the Minister’s department and division that deals with securities indicating that the promise to pay will be accepted, so maybe I could just get a commitment from the Minister to start with, that he will come to committee with this before any final decisions and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said in my original question, I’ve been following the events leading to the creation of this council. It is, I believe, a very positive development, or will be when implemented, and the sooner the better. But recognizing the need to do this carefully and well, can the Minister give me an idea as to how much progress has been made and when he hopes to implement the health leadership council? Mahsi.

In the past I’ve been concerned about inefficiencies and inconsistencies relating to our delivery of health care services across the territory, as has, of course, the Auditor General of Canada. Lack of common procedures, duplication of resources are problem areas.

How will the proposed new health leadership council address concerns in the areas of inconsistency and inefficiency in the delivery of services? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d also like to recognize Tracy St-Denis, a Weledeh constituent and very active in all kinds of areas, which I very much appreciate. Mahsi.

This week is Living Wage Week in Canada. Many people in the Northwest Territories don’t earn enough at their jobs to pull themselves and their families above the poverty line. The concept of a living wage is based on the understanding that a person working full time should be able to support themselves in their community.

This movement is gaining traction in many places throughout the world. It addresses income inequality, one of the biggest obstacles to economies everywhere. Paying employees a living wage can change that for millions of Canadians. In fact, employers in about 30 cities are set...

I think I’ll just leave it at that. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think my colleague Mr. Hawkins, chair of the EDI, I agree with all the points that were made. Basically, the concerns in particular were emphasized on the development of the Mineral Development Strategy and I think were well laid out in the report.

Just to do a quick review, basically there was a stakeholder engagement panel made up of industrial representatives put together by the Minister. They went out and did consultation. We had serious concerns that the public interest was not represented on that panel and that a lousy job – speaking straightforwardly here – was...