David Ramsay

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that this committee recommends the Minister responsible for the Workers’ Compensation Board direct the Governance Council to overhaul its reception protocols, security practices and client and public relations functions to provide a more accessible and responsive level of service. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to start off by thanking everybody that was involved in putting this report together. That includes the Workers’ Compensation Board of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut and, as well, the injured workers who were talking to many of us through this whole process, and the Auditor General of Canada who took us by the hand and helped us through this process. I think they are owed a great debt of gratitude. As well, I do want to mention Mr. Braden and his work in the area of helping injured workers. He is a real champion of the cause for injured workers...

Yes, thank you, Madam Chair.

Yes, that is the way this bill is set up, Mr. Braden. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have Ms. Janis Cooper with the Department of Justice; to my right is Mr. Glen McLean, CEO.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am pleased to present Bill 15, Elections and Plebiscites Act, on behalf of the Legislative Assembly’s Board of Management. This bill will combine the current Elections Act and the Plebiscites Act into one act with the core components of each being maintained. The new act allows for a reorganization of the major components of the existing acts, the updating of definitions and language, clarification of some existing provisions, the addition of new provisions to address such matters as campaigning, access to multiple dwelling sites, restricting the use of electoral...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think it gets back to priorities and setting priorities in the government. I could tell the Minister right off the top of my head where $2 million could be easily found, and that’s repatriating the jobs from his department back to the Housing Corporation and scraping the macroeconomic policy shop that’s planned.

But, Mr. Speaker, I wanted to ask the Minister, given the fact that there’s a shortage of trained childcare workers here in the Northwest Territories, what strategy or plans does the Minister have to help us get more trained childcare workers here...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Back in February, I had asked a number of questions to the Minister of ECE in regards to day care spaces and inequities that exist amongst day care providers. Mr. Speaker, as I pointed out in my Member’s statement, the government spends roughly $32 million a year on corrections and just under $5 million on early childhood development. This is a ratio or something that just shouldn’t be allowed to happen. I would say that if we tried to get those numbers a little bit closer in the next 20 years, we wouldn’t be spending as much in the area of corrections, Mr. Speaker...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that this committee recommends the Minister responsible for the Workers’ Compensation Board locate the Appeals Tribunal offices separate and apart from the Workers’ Compensation Board and that this relocation be undertaken as an immediate priority. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, with me I have Mr. Mark Aitken from the Department of Justice, legislative branch, the director; to my right I have the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, Mr. Tim Mercer.