Frame Lake

Statements in Debates

Debates of , (day 51)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said, where we’ve seen significant changes in project costs have been through the construction management process and this government is not prepared to undertake that process for this building. We are going to get the full set of plans done and then go out to public tender. Once we have the results in, we will award the contract. That way you know what the cost of the building is going to be. Thank you.

Debates of , (day 51)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The estimate that we have was provided by Public Works and Services. It is a Class 'D', so an initial estimate, and it was prepared by Public Works and Services within the last few months, just since fall. Right now they have estimated the cost to be about $41 million.

Debates of , (day 51)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t believe we need anything further to empower anybody to follow up on things. A DEA has the authority now to ensure that kids are attending school; it could become a child protection issue if parents aren’t ensuring that their kids attend school. We already have the tools to do it from that side, but that is not going to work. That doesn’t help the kid to be successful. Forcing them to be there when their parents don’t support them being in school is a waste of time. We have to work with families to make sure that the families are supportive of kids being in...

Debates of , (day 51)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to challenge one thing that the Member said and that is that truancy is becoming more and more of a problem. In fact in the last 10 years, the attendance at school has increased dramatically across the Northwest Territories.

---Applause

Ten years ago the attendance rate for high-school-aged children in the Northwest Territories was less than 40 percent; this year it is well over 70 percent. We are making impressive strides in getting children all across the Territories to attend school.

If the Member wants to look into it, I have been asked this question...

Debates of , (day 51)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Strong, dynamic women have contributed to the sustained development and progress of the North. From March 6 to 12, 2005, we celebrate International Women’s Week to recognize the contribution women have made to our society. Today has been designated a special day to honour their contributions.

With the national theme “You are Here - Women, Canada and the World,” I want to acknowledge women who have helped shape the North through their wisdom and actions, both big and small. Northern women improve our world everyday, by making a difference in the workplace, representing...

Debates of , (day 50)

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Member asked about cost overruns at the North Slave Correctional Centre. There were some overruns. The Member is talking about the two previous years so we’re going back some time even before the life of this government, but there was some over expenditure at North Slave compared to budgets for the year-end at March 31, 2004. There will likely be some over expenditure this year as well. Although at this point we can’t even predict that, because of the pay problem that happened not too long ago that all Members are aware of. So it’s going to take some time to...

Debates of , (day 50)

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As Members will know, following the review of the draft mains, the standing committees gave the government some advice on reinvestments or putting money back into the budget. The government did respond to some of those, but that was not specifically as a result of any specific pot of money. Obviously any new money that we had would be part and parcel of the reason for agreeing to it, but that was the process that was followed.

Debates of , (day 50)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. There are a number of criteria. The process is outlined on our web site, but it is not advertised in any other format. I would certainly be happy to write to the Member with the details. There is a committee that has to consider all of the requests. There are a certain number of criteria. If an applicant meets those criteria, they apply to the committee. The committee then makes a recommendation to me. Then I would sign off on it, based on their recommendation. So I would be happy to write to the Member, and he can share the criteria with the residents he is...

Debates of , (day 50)

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The announcement will have been made to employees in the same sort of format, whether they were full-time employees or casuals. So a number of them will have probably been contacted that way. They are all members of the union, so the union will likely have worked with them. But I would be happy to take the Member's advice and make sure that we have our staff talk to the casuals directly about what the likely impact will be on their employment with the closure of the remand facility. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Debates of , (day 50)

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That’s an average for a correctional officer, but it would depend on where the positions were. If it’s a lawyer, it would be different; it if it was a director, it would be different; if it was a clerk, it would be different. I can’t give you an average figure off the top of my head.