David Ramsay

Again I’m just having trouble understanding the Minister’s logic because, yes, we have an investment in Fort Smith, but the same could be true for the Aurora Campus here in Yellowknife at Northern United Place where we as a government have contributed a tremendous amount of money into the Northern Nursing Program that’s now affiliated with the University of Victoria. So why doesn’t the Minister go out, round up all the students we have in southern Canada and put them here in Yellowknife so that they can get educated here in the Northwest Territories? His argument makes no sense. I want to know...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The argument the Minister is using doesn’t hold any water when it’s not fairly applied across the board to all people seeking post-secondary studies and going through apprenticeship programs. People should be treated the same. According to the Minister, they are not being treated the same. We have investments at Aurora College here in Yellowknife. We have investments at the college campus in Inuvik. We have investments here in Yellowknife. Again, why pick on apprentices? Why isn’t everybody treated the same, Mr. Speaker? Again, I want to ask the Minister, will he take a...

Mr. Speaker, the fact of the matter is that the young man is already in Edmonton. He is set up there. He has accommodations. He has transportation. He is comfortable in his surroundings there, which would be conducive to him succeeding at school and getting back here. If he has to come back here, he is going to be here for a few months earning second-year wage, not third-year wage and then he would have to go to Fort Smith. Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the Minister if it is okay to do this to young apprentices or if people getting their apprenticeship to force them to go to Fort Smith. How come...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to welcome the Leishman family, particularly Chris, who I haven’t seen for a number of years, and Ian. Welcome to the House. It always brings back memories of my childhood when I run into those guys. Nice seeing you guys.

I guess for folks out there paying the bills, it’s hard for them to relate to a lot of what the Premier has said. I mean, for most people, they just relate to what they have to pay every month. In fact, Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned earlier today, people are paying more for everything. I think the onus is on the government to come forward with a comprehensive, meaningful consultation with the public on what exactly you are doing to help address the high cost of living.

You can talk about all of the electricity rate reviews you want and everything else that you’re doing, but there are some things...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’ve got some questions today for the Premier and it gets back to my Member’s statement where, again, I’m asking about the high cost of living in the Northwest Territories and issues that have been brought forward to me from constituents. I’d like to start off with asking the Premier, has the lead Minister responsible for the Strategic Initiative Committee on Reducing the Cost of Living or the Premier himself had any discussions with the federal government as it relates to taxation of northern residents? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to again discuss the high cost of living here in the Northwest Territories today, and especially the community I am most familiar with, and that is Yellowknife.

Mr. Speaker, let me be clear; as a government with shrinking revenues, we cannot afford to lose one person from our Territory. It costs us $22,500 every time someone packs up and leaves, usually broke, because they are sick and tired of all their money going to pay bills. If a family of four leaves, it’s over $90,000 that leaves with them. This is happening. People are leaving and our government has...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As much as I personally feel that the money should be deleted, I am going to have to side with some of my colleagues from the smaller communities who feel that the money may find a good use. I have said this before and I think this is just an example of the government wanting to find a committee or do a study or maybe hire a consultant, and I think that is going to eat up a lot of this money. I think the money could be better spent, and I think that the committee has got to be on top of the department when it comes to trying to find ways and means to get nutritious...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I just wanted to maybe get some assurances from the Premier that any potential partnership that the Government of the Northwest Territories is looking at entering into will come back to the House and be done through legislation, Mr. Speaker. I just want to get some assurances on that. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Premier if the Government of the Northwest Territories, the NWT Power Corporation or anybody associated with Cabinet is currently working on any partnerships with ATCO NUL or ATCO Electric. Thank you.