Daryl Dolynny

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to take a moment to signal and celebrate the accomplishments of one of my Range Lake constituents and whose business is also located in the riding. I’m referring to none other than Mr. Jeffrey Philipp, founder and CEO of SSI Group of Companies.

Some of you have already seen the December issue of Up Here magazine. The cover and main story featured Jeff, who, as the North’s rebel tech geek, has been named the 2011 Entrepreneur of the Year. This is an accomplishment that is well deserved and that I believe deserves recognition by the Legislative Assembly here...

Thanks for the Minister’s initial response. Even in its early stages we are hearing from certain groups saying they weren’t consulted during this Arctic review process. Can I ask the Minister of ITI why that was so? Thank you.

…is a new network built for communications of the Government of Nunavut that is providing increased efficiency while at the same time showing significant cost savings over older legacy systems.

Going forward, SSI already has a new investment worth tens of millions of dollars underway, working on the principle that benefits of innovation and competition should not be denied in the North, and where these investments will allow improvement to current services and introduce innovative new technologies to the North.

Members of the Assembly, thank you, and please join me in congratulating Mr. Philipp...

Thank you to the Minister for going into detail. Fundamentally, we would never want this to happen, but should we have an oil spill in the Arctic offshore similar to what we’ve experienced and seen that affected the world with the Gulf of Mexico, what does this review today mean to this government and to the people of the Northwest Territories?

No further questions, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is no doubt in my mind that the North boasts some of the most generous individuals and businesses that help support our most hardworking NGOs and registered charities in the North. Many of those NGOs and charities are with us here today, listening to our strategies on anti-poverty. However, in a lot of cases, small businesses and medium-sized businesses would love to contribute to a lot of these NGOs and charities only they can’t. They can’t afford to do so.

Because this is anti-poverty day I have a question for the Minister of Finance. Would the Minister of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My colleagues are sharing their thoughts today on poverty, in the hopes that we may begin the journey of preparing a proper Anti-Poverty Strategy framework. No matter what angle we look at, the message is very clear: It’s time to get the ball rolling on this strategy.

Countless volunteers and civic coalition partners have invested much time and energy as of late to get one anti-poverty chess piece off the concept table and into action. This much needed transitional facility is none other than Betty House.

My personal role started about a year ago, as president of the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am definitely in favour of this motion today regarding anti-poverty. It is obviously a very tricky subject. Obviously you have heard today a lot of supporting views from very different angles. I would like to attack this from a more pragmatic angle, an economic angle.

If I was to use the analogy of what we do here today as an automobile, as a government we tend to focus a lot of our efforts on tweaking with our engine, making our engine strong. That is not a bad thing, Mr. Speaker. That is not a bad thing for the Members to work on. But keep in mind if we were to use...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister’s response that we look into it and I appreciate the fact that money is tight. A further supplemental to that same question is sometimes businesses can’t afford to give money but they can give in-kind. That, too, would have a tangible effect for NGOs and registered charities to get the good work done that they need to do. Would the Minister of Finance consider, as well, equally in-kind tax incentives for, say, poverty?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s a privilege to have so many great volunteers and hardworking people that deal with a lot of serious issues in our community. More importantly, I’d like to make reference to one of my Range Lake constituents, Valerie Miyok, who is the administrative assistant for the NWT Literacy Council. Welcome to the House. Of course I would be remiss because of my statement today on Betty House and the tireless efforts of our true champion Ms. Dayle Hernblad, who is the homeless coordinator for the Yellowknife Homelessness Coalition. Thanks, Dayle.