Bob Bromley

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister has indicated he was prepared to answer my questions, so I’m wondering how the Minister sees this legislation helping us to reduce our cost of living, our energy and electricity bills and our energy consumption. Mahsi.

I did have some comments on the climate change related aspects of this, but I think since this is happening more and more often and coming up repeatedly in this supp, I’ll just save it and talk about it later. Thank you.

Another commitment not made and this is what’s slowing us down on our work to deal with the cost of living, environmental issues and so on and causing people to leave or not come to the North. So, very disappointing.

I’m wondering: will the paper, should it be done soon, as the Minister indicates it might be, actually prepare the 18th Assembly to efficiently do what we have not done, and that is put an effective and timely act into place.

So, will the promised discussion paper be comprehensive, ready and waiting and enabling for the 18th Assembly as they begin their work? Mahsi.

Thank you. I think last year, the largest year we had on record, obviously, it was a challenge. We were a little more prepared this year as a result of having that experience. But I know there was a comprehensive review done by the department on the performance during our ’14-15 year that I’m sure we drew upon for the ’15-16 year. I wonder if the Minister could tell us any areas that we improved our performance and perhaps our proficiency as a result of that previous year’s experience. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Weledeh constituent Dawn Moses. Dawn I don’t think is the sister of my colleague here. Dawn is actually a Jane Glassco Northern Fellow of the Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation in policy and leadership development, so I am very proud to have her as a constituent.

I’d also like to recognize any other Weledeh constituents I’m not aware of in the audience and also, of course, congratulate all those who are winners of the Culture and Heritage Awards.

I’d also like to recognize Denise McKee and all her work on behalf of the people with disabilities...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was following and supporting the Finance Minister’s report on the fiscal situation we are leaving for the 18th Assembly, noting the volatility of the global economy, the mining industry and our economy; low revenues; and the need to diversify. That is, until he suddenly and illogically looped back to saying that, therefore, we have to pursue the highly volatile and uncertain extractive industry even harder.

People are drained of any remnant of enthusiasm for this old way of thinking and they pine for recognition of the real opportunities we do have for vibrant...

I think the Minister can see that there is a huge gap in the capital where we’ve known for years that the rate of increase is much higher than anywhere else in the Northwest Territories. I appreciate the commitments I am hearing him make to the extent that he can for trying to get after those, but even this 18-bed facility on anywhere near a comparative basis leaves Yellowknife in the dust. I would recommend that the department sit down and start bringing some fairness to this equation and start thinking on the scale that the data clearly shows is required. That’s a comment.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I welcome the Minister and staff here. I would just like to get some definition or characterization, so I’m using the right terms, of things like extended care versus long-term care, maybe a level of care. Could I get just a crash course on a few of those terms? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to the Minister for that. I would like to know how many GNWT personnel are we letting go as a result of this project and do we have any indication of how many of them will be picked up by the new provider. Is it possible to get a breakdown of those according to the various areas? I know there is building maintenance and so on by a very committed bunch of staff there, part of our GNWT staff that we’re losing. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I appreciate the 18th Assembly will have that role as do we. We are, right now, talking about the 17th Assembly as we set this up and discuss this budget. I would like to know there will be a commitment to get timely information from these monitoring teams to all Members of the Legislative Assembly.