Brendan Bell

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have, for some time, been without an NWT manufacturing strategy, and it’s been something that we’ve discussed and wanted to move forward on. I’ve asked the department and the BDIC, the newly created BDIC, as part of the terms of reference for the program and service review they have embarked on, to also consider what we might do and what kind of support we might better provide to the manufacturing sector. It is difficult. There are many hurdles in order to have a viable manufacturing sector. We’re very distant from markets. The cost of inputs, labour and utilities...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the question of an RCMP presence in the Northwest Territories, I have indicated the RCMP did submit a business plan to this government that deals with the need for resources going forward. We have decided to approach it with a three-year response. We are into the third year of that response coming up in the budget session. We will have additional resources for the RCMP but, again, the level of detail that the Member is looking for is probably something that we had best deal with in the budget session. I can tell the Member that additional resources are coming...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday, I indicated I believed the dog was already present in the Northwest Territories. In fact, that was wrong. I understand the dog will be here November 6th and will be based in Yellowknife but available for use right across the territory in their operations. I think we can look forward to that. That gives us some additional capacity in this regard and it’s much needed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That’s not my department. It is the federal government’s Crown prosecutor office. I don’t think we have seen a case to date, I don’t believe, where the Crown prosecutor’s office, for lack of resources, has had to stand down a prosecution. I can’t imagine that that would be the case. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the Member is absolutely correct in saying that when the RCMP is taxed and pressed because of the level of activity, they end up having to, first and foremost, respond when crimes are committed. They want to and are committed to doing proactive work, working with the community, working with the schools. We know that their presence alone in a community goes a long way toward acting as a deterrent, and that's something that is very important. So the RCMP is absolutely committed to that approach.

As a government, we've been responding to the RCMP's needs through...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to provide an update to Members on the implementation of the Protection Against Family Violence Act.

It's appropriate that we are joining people across the NWT in marking this week as Family Violence Awareness Week. It is a serious problem in all of our communities, in all types of families.

This law has been in force for just over six months. It allows victims of family violence to get protection quickly and easily over the phone. People can get an emergency protection order within a few hours from any community in the Northwest Territories, or they can...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll admit that I’m not familiar with the “Made in B.C.” program. The concept sounds sound, and I can give the Member my assurance again that as we investigate an NWT manufacturing strategy, we’ll look at all these possibilities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is something that’s come up in my recent consultations with chambers of commerce across the Northwest Territories. We had some discussion around such an initiative in Fort Smith, I believe. It is something we’d like to look at. We’ve talked internally about our arts and crafts and how to ensure there is a premium and additional margin for people producing arts and crafts in the Northwest Territories. We’ve talked about branding and tags that would have some reference to the artists who created the crafts. But with that and with that branding certainly will come “Made...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. April 1st of next year is our new budget year. At that point, funds will flow to the RCMP from the government. I know the Member is aware that we fund 70 percent of the operations of the RCMP; 30 percent comes from the federal government. The commitment is already there. We will be discussing that and have been discussing that through the business planning process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated earlier, it is a priority of the government to work with the RCMP to come up with an approach for policing in our smaller communities. I think it is a reality that we will never have detachments in every community in the NWT -- some of the communities are too small -- but we are going to try to increase the number of detachments that we have. Having said that, it is very important that all of our communities have a police presence and have an adequate response by the RCMP. That is something that we are targeting. We have a working group of senior...