Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the whole issue of ranking of our nursing staff has come up a number of times over a number of years and involves the union, ourselves, the nursing fraternity, and we’re trying to address this. When the Government of the Northwest Territories went through a job evaluation process and ranked its employees, initially we had come to a conclusion that a nurse is a nurse is a nurse and they were all paid at one level. That was implemented and put in place. The nursing groups challenged that, appealed it. We then went through the process and accepted that we had...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to introduce Bill 7, Pharmacy Act. This bill reflects a significant number of differences from the existing Pharmacy Act to ensure the public receives quality pharmaceutical service and care, and to modernize the definition of the "practice of pharmacy."

Many stakeholders were involved in the development of this act, including the Pharmaceutical Association of the Northwest Territories, the NWT Medical Association, the Registered Nurses' Association of the NWT and Nunavut, the NWT Medical Director's Forum, and the regional health and social services...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to share news about the continued success of the training of community health representatives. Aurora College offers the Health Sciences Program which certifies new community health representatives and re-certifies existing community health representatives. The regional health and social services authorities provide financial support for this training.

During each training phase, the students interview retired community health representatives and capture the historical perspective of those who lead the way in health promotion. The students gain a great deal...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Weledeh, that Bill 20, An Act to Amend the Income Tax Act, be read for the second time.

Mr. Speaker, this bill amends the Income Tax Act to reflect and address proposed changes to the Income Tax Act (Canada) that would lower the income tax rate on large corporation dividends received by Canadians. The bill would lower the Northwest Territories income tax rate on those dividends. The bill would not come into force unless the proposed amendments to the Income Tax Act (Canada) come into force. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Frame Lake, that Bill 13, Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 2006-2007, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am aware that, within the department and our hiring practices, we have tried to come up with some unique ideas or processes of coming up with nurses. Part of the problem is because there is such a large vacancy rate that occurred at one point, we had to come up with this idea. In fact, I believe before we, as we now term it "agency nurses," that was some of the practices that came in place with individuals. Of course, in a work environment, when you find that there is a large demand, there is also the other side of the equation that comes into play where they then...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the area of nurse pay or bonus systems, the government has, in the past, worked with the union and internally to come up with a system. It was put in place. It was there for a short period, trying to encourage the nurses to stay in the North. As well, part of the bonus was to reward them for their years of service. That worked for a little while, but we found as well that, in some cases, as we no sooner made the payment to some of the individuals, they left the Northwest Territories. So it didn’t quite work out how it was designed. We have tried...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are in the process of developing that policy. In fact, in my Minister’s statement here I’d provided sort of a framework as to where we’re going and some of the questions we have to ask and some of the partners that we need to work with; for example, our community leaders and aboriginal leaders, as well as our business leaders. In fact, in November as we’re going out to start this leg of the work, going to meet with those groups to begin to put the framework together. Of course we’re always ready to meet with Members and go through that process as well...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, as with most legislation that flows through this House, as the Member stated, the bill itself, the law that gets put in place follows with regulation being worked on. I understand that they're aiming for April, but Ms. Kennedy can provide more detail, as well, on that.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the idea of the macroeconomic policy unit has been discussed by previous governments that we should take this direction. Ultimately the final direction came from FMBS prior to this year’s budget we’re in now. Thank you.