Charles Dent

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are only two authorities in the Northwest Territories that continue to complain about the approach we are taking. Almost all of the housing authorities across the Northwest Territories are working together with staff from Education, Culture and Employment. Particularly with the new change in the Income Support Program, what we are hoping to do is to have a case management approach which brings people together from the Housing Corporation, Health and Social Services, Justice, if necessary, and Education, Culture and Employment to ensure we are delivering the...

I seek unanimous consent to proceed with first reading of Bill 19, An Act to Amend the Student Financial Assistance Act.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, over the next period of time, I can commit to the Member and the residents of Gameti that this government will explore all options. If there is any way possible that we can meet the community’s desire and still get the construction done or the materials in over this year’s winter road, we will work to achieve that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, not every employee has to enter their time. Positive time reporters and shift workers are the ones who would most often take advantage of the opportunity to do that. If they are not doing it, then it has to be done manually by somebody. If there is an issue around it, that process could be handled at the hospital. But what we find is that most people want to enter their own time to make sure that it is being done accurately. Obviously, when you have somebody else do it, there is a chance that there is a mistake. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are committed to making sure that we offer good educational programs in all communities in the Northwest Territories. This government, as the Premier noted in his sessional statement today, has a pretty good record in making sure that we are putting a lot of money into education. Mr. Speaker, we are, though, going to have to take a look at designs of all of our schools, given the prices that we’re seeing them come in at. I want to make it very clear, Mr. Speaker, that in communities across the Northwest Territories, very many communities, we are using portables...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In fact, if they’re being paid now, they’re already on the system. So the system is actually delivering their cheques to them as we speak. What we’re talking about here is upgrading the software and we can’t go back to the old software because the old software is not being supported anymore. So we can’t get the new tax tables or if the system doesn’t work, it’s not being supported. So the requirement is to move to a new system. So either its upgrade PeopleSoft or find entirely new software in order to get people paid. The issue that has been has been the Absence...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure today to recognize a long-time friend and well-recognized senior in Yellowknife, Mr. Ed Jeske.

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Ed called me the other day and gave me heck for not consulting with him before deciding to retire. I appreciate the fact that I made my decision before I called him. With Mr. Jeske is Vivian Squires, the executive director of the Seniors Society here in Yellowknife. I’d also like to recognize a constituent who’s been in the gallery many times over the years that I’ve been a Member, and that’s Ms. Barb Wyness with the UNW. Thank you...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have a significant dollar figure and outstanding invoices to the contractor who was to deliver the system in a working state to us and we are in the process of ensuring that we are satisfied that we have a working system before we would even consider paying those invoices. We are also tracking our extra costs. So we think that we have some protection and we will be working to ensure that we do our best to make sure that we are delivered a system for the price we were told we would get it for and protect the taxpayers. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member noted earlier this week, I informed her that there had been no problems with information access of the PeopleSoft system after the implementation of self-service function for departments. However, since that time, I have been informed that there were some problems with the information access during the initial rollout of the program in some departments. These problems were dealt with quickly as soon as they were identified. Mr. Speaker, I intend to follow up with my department on this issue and determine how we can ensure that these types of issues do...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will review the situation with the Premier and discuss what might be an appropriate response. Thank you.