David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. We will do that after a short break. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Thursday, May 17, 2007, I will move the following motion: now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Sahtu, that this Legislative Assembly strongly recommends the government not enter into a binding agreement committing it to the Deh Cho Bridge project until it has provided Regular Members with: an up-to-date analysis of the expected cost of living impacts of the bridge on Yellowknife, the Tlicho communities and the Akaitcho communities; the estimated social impacts and economic benefits for the community of Fort Providence; and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister could make me feel a little bit more comfortable today if he could tell me that the Department of Human Resources today is working on a comprehensive human resource strategy or plan long-term that is long overdue by this government. Are they working towards that, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the Hackett report, it also says that the Government of the Northwest Territories is completely out of whack with an organization of comparable variety where you look at employees per transaction. In a normal government operation, you look at seven. We have 24 employees per transaction, Mr. Speaker. What exactly is an organizational design specialist? Is this just to organize the 170 employees at Human Resources, or is this position government-wide organizational design? Thank you.

No, that’s good, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Perhaps I would look to the Minister of MACA for some more information on this, but judging what Minister Roland had to say, a lot of the work that these individuals would have been doing the past two years is something MACA would do just as a matter of course; community profiles, working with communities, setting up meetings. That’s pretty basic run-of-the-mill type of work, Mr. Chairman. I would like to ask the Minister responsible for MACA how he gauges the performance of two positions like this and how does he defend them coming again for renewal here, $291,000 for...

Thank you, Madam Chair. No, and again, I don’t want the folks that are out there that are working in the area of family violence, I want them to understand we are going through this process today in an effort to make things better for the work that they’re doing out there in the field and it’s oftentimes a very thankless job and I do thank them very much for the job that they provide this territory. So with that, thanks.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think I wouldn’t mind if the Minister responsible could give us an explanation on why it’s necessary to get this other baseline data when I think if you look in the right places, you can find it. My colleague Mr. Yakeleya said it earlier, we know what’s going on out there; let’s do something about it. Spending money on surveys and studies and reports and paying consultants, I think we’re past that. As one of my other colleagues mentioned, that’s yesterday’s news. So let’s move on with things and put the $75,000 towards something where it can make a real difference...

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I’ve got a number of questions on this as well and it follows up with my colleague Mr. Yakeleya. I guess first of all, the Action Plan on Family Violence was approved by the Assembly I believe 18 months, two years ago, now. It’s been around for a little while. I’m just wondering if these two functions, the survey and the territorial family violence conference, are items that are included in phase two of that action plan. Why is the Department of Executive coming back through supplementary appropriations seeking money to have these two things carried out when...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, too, will support the motion that is before us today on criminal records checks. Mr. Speaker, it is something I feel very strongly about. I believe the justice system in this country is too lax and it is no fault of young children, who have offenders molest them, that our jails and our justice system fails and lets people out of jail early that will re-offend. They are out there, Mr. Speaker. We have to take every step that we can to ensure that our children are safe in our communities and they are not going to be victims of sexual abuse perpetrated...