David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the reason I bring it up here today is because this might be the only venue where I might get some answers as to what happened at the North Slave Correctional Centre. What is happening out at the North Slave Correctional Centre? I haven’t really been happy with any of the responses I received from what is happening there. It seems to be quite secretive. Mr. Speaker, if the Minister doesn’t want to answer the question about what happened to the employee who was assaulted one day and fired the next, I am wondering, Mr. Speaker, when he might be able to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question today is for the Minister of Justice who, earlier in the sitting of the House, stood up and mentioned the fact that employees at North Slave Correctional Centre could speak out without a fear of retribution from management at that centre. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister of Justice if, indeed, employees are being targeted at the North Slave Correctional Centre for conduct that they do in terms of questioning management. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know my colleague mentioned the fact that the Premier is on the verge of going to Ottawa next week, I do believe, and I’m just wondering if he can indeed bring up the issue of the trust fund again with the Prime Minister. I see the establishment of this trust fund as being beneficial to both the aboriginal leaders and governments in the Northwest Territories and our government, Mr. Speaker, because it should happen. We need to get that done. I’m just wondering if the government has any idea of what types of revenues we’re losing on a daily, monthly and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My statement today is going to focus on an issue that I’ve raised in the House before and one that I am very interested in seeing addressed. The issue is the establishment of a permanent trust fund for the benefit of all residents of the Northwest Territories.

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Mr. Speaker, as we are all well aware, the Northwest Territories is on the verge of the development of a Mackenzie Valley pipeline. Our government is spending a tremendous amount of money, time and energy on ensuring that we are ready for this megaproject, but the fact still remains that Ottawa will...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will start of by saying that I do support the motion and I do support the work of my colleagues on this side of the House as well as the government in asking the questions and putting this issue to the forefront today. I think it is important that it gets the air time it gets. I also wanted to mention that, now more than ever, I think it’s important that as Regular Members we support the Premier and we support his government in his going to Ottawa and trying to get us a deal. I know we have been at this a long time and it’s about time that we did get a fair deal.

I...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Premier. Back in March when I brought up the issue of a permanent trust fund being established in the Northwest Territories to benefit all northerners, the Premier stated at that time that he would have a discussion with Ottawa and with the Prime Minister in terms of the establishment of that trust fund. I’m just wondering, Mr. Speaker, if that conversation has taken place and maybe the Premier could let us know how that went. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger, and it goes back to some of the things I alluded to in my Member's statement in that we have pieces of government infrastructure that are underutilized. The Somba K'e Lodge is one of those pieces of infrastructure. That building is not that old and it cost the government millions of dollars to construct and build, and it has sat empty I believe for a lot longer than six months, as I had mentioned earlier.

The question I have for Mr. Miltenberger is why his department isn't...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thanks, Mr. Minister, for that. Being a new Member, it would be interesting to see what the real numbers are and have those two to compare these to. Just as a comment, Mr. Chairman, I would hope that the same budgeting process isn’t being used for the North Slave Correctional Centre that just was moved into in March and we won’t be faced with a supp sometime next year saying that the heating and the power and the maintenance costs on that are double of what was budgeted. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank the Minister for his response. With all the economic activity that’s happening in the Northwest Territories, the jobs, the money that flows from that, I mean, a strong economy is a good thing, but it also has some detrimental effects on society as a whole. Drug addiction is one of those detrimental effects, Mr. Speaker. I’m just wondering if the Minister has given any thought to the establishment of a dedicated drug and alcohol rehabilitation treatment centre in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks, Mr. Chairman. Then where would we find the actual budgeted amounts for that hospital? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.