Statements in Debates
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, support this motion and encourage my colleagues to support it.
I think a review of the policy would not hurt, to tune it up to truly benefit Northerners. It won’t surprise people to hear that I would really see a progressive policy that favours those businesses that use local materials, local energy, local employees and so on.
Our economy goes through dips and dives and rises and heights and so on, and the BIP plays an important role, especially during the lower periods. To do it in right now, just because we happen to have a roaring economy, is not good...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to talk about revenue leakage, the loss of dollars, just like with a bathtub drain, out of the Northwest Territories, out of our communities. Solutions to plugging this drain would be a huge contribution to a healthy economic stimulus for the Northwest Territories. The Government of Canada announced this morning that $40 million is the subsidy that they provide for food mail for the North. They started to suggest that we grow our own food. What a concept.
This government subsidizes almost $140 million to various forms of cost-of-living expenses. When I...
Thank you, committee. As Chair I’d like to recognize that National Aboriginal Day is the day after tomorrow. It’s an opportunity for all of us to get out and do some of the sharing that the Premier mentioned and the celebrating of our aboriginal people and their cultures. I hope to see you out there.
Does the committee agree that that concludes the business before the Committee of the Whole? Is there a motion? What is the wish of committee? Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you very much, Mr. Robert McLeod. Any other speakers? Seeing none…. Premier Roland, would you have any response to the comments we’ve had in response to yours?
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Krutko.
Mr. Speaker, I will be ready and demanding, when next we gather, to finally reverse some of these trends and truly do good work for the benefits of our residents, our land and our families.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the specific case I have in the back of my mind, the person had considerable experience: over a decade and a half in mental health and addictions. It seems to me it should be appropriate and should be easily slotted in. I’m wondering why we continue to hire even short-term locums from afar when we could be building the experience of our graduates here.
The Minister did acknowledge that more needs to be done. I’d like to hear exactly what is being done, then, to address that need.
I probably don’t need to state that the role of nurses is particularly enhanced when they are from the community and bring the local and cultural understanding and sometimes even linguistic services to their work. Is this fully appreciated by our health managers, and what is being done to ensure that this appreciation shows itself in the hiring practices?
Mr. Speaker, our northern graduate nurses are choosing to leave the North. I would like to profile the experience of one of my constituents.
As a recent graduate of the nursing program at Aurora College in Yellowknife, she enjoyed considerable support throughout her training. Yet upon graduation she found that the reality is that there are not enough positions to satisfy the employment needs of our graduates. Furthermore, positions appear to be being filled not on the basis of qualifications or affirmative action policies but rather on perhaps who one knows in the system.
This person, who...