Calvin Pokiak

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess the question that I have for the Minister, Mr. Speaker, is I’m really unsure that his department makes sure the patients, when they travel back and forth from their home communities, are taken care of with regard to their travels. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would just like to wish my wife, Mrs. Pokiak, back home all the best for Valentine’s Day, along with my family. It’s really tough being away from home, but we are down here working for the people and representing people of the NWT and our constituents.

I got a call this morning, Mr. Speaker, with regard to a long-time resident of Holman, requesting that I recognize Mr. Gary Bristow, the former mayor of Holman. They will be recognizing him with a supper tonight. On behalf of the people in Holman, Gary Bristow, we wish you the best of luck in the future.

Also, as...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Does your department work along with the drafted terms of reference right now or is that taken care of by the government? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. General comments, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I’d like to thank Mr. Roland for his budget speech yesterday. I didn’t have a chance to shake his hand until this afternoon. Just a few general comments I’d like to make with regard to the budget speech.

I agree in looking at the $300 million debt limit, but I agree that if we can show that we can finance the debt, I think it’s a good move to make.

A couple other things here, too, are with regard to the expenditure measures. One of the things I found interesting was how government has prioritized what’s important in terms of where spending should go. To me it’s going to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to talk about the pipeline discussions that went on this morning on CBC Radio. I found it very interesting this morning when people were calling in, and I think the majority of the callers were in favour of the pipeline. On the one hand, in the Finance Minister’s statement yesterday, he indicated that the government is in support of the Mackenzie Valley pipeline. I think that’s working in the right direction. On the other hand, the problem we are having, Mr. Speaker, is we are still talking about resource revenue sharing. On one hand, the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Right now, there is a joint review panel doing an assessment of the documents provided by Imperial Oil. There is a process going on right now, Mr. Speaker. NEB is doing their own review of the socioeconomics of the program. Are we moving too fast to say yes or no? Can we just let the joint review panel do their work, the NEB do their work, at the same time we, as government, can sit down and iron out socioeconomic agreements without resource revenue sharing? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My statement today has to do with patients and escorts travelling outside of their home communities for medical treatment; and in particular with regard to communications between the airlines and the travel agencies.

Recently, Mr. Speaker, in the last two months I ran into constituents, both at the Inuvik and Yellowknife airports, who were returning home after receiving medical treatment at the Stanton Territorial Hospital. On the first occasion, Mr. Speaker, an elderly 86-year-old woman with an escort arrived in Inuvik, and must have travelled from her home community...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My Member’s statement today will cover a number of congratulatory greetings and condolences. Mr. Speaker, I would like to welcome and congratulate Mr. Robert McLeod, MLA for Inuvik Twin Lakes, for his recent by-election victory held in Inuvik. I am confident that Mr. McLeod will represent his constituents well and I look forward to working with him during the 15th Legislative Assembly.

The Members may recall in the fall of 2004 there were four individuals considered lost during a hunting trip. An extensive search was conducted, but to no avail. The families recently...