Floyd Roland

Thank you, Madam Chair. We are purchasing the units back from our employees. This is the tail-end of a program that was in place by the government where we tried to encourage employees to buy units in communities. If they were transferred or left their positions, then we would buy back the houses. The residual number of units were transferred over to the Housing Corporation when the program shut down. These are a number of the last units. I don’t have the actual number. There are not many left, but this is fulfilling our end of those agreements. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, when the plan came forward, there was no identified office space. It was a plan that we knew would go into gear. We had approved the money for the O and M side to hire the lawyers, to have the other staff in place, that we would be needing office space. Based on the design of what would be required, there was an estimate made of the needed alterations to any office space out there, and based on that we had approved it because it was needed to get it in place, to have the doors open potentially by October 1st. We know now that that's not what happened...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The program itself was originated back in the days of the 13th Assembly, I believe, 1994. A program was initiated. The total amount of the program was for $15 million and eligible groups were able to apply for it. A formula was established based on the general hunting licences held by each region. That split out that money. It had to be matched by the organization. So if an organization wanted to see this, they had to come up with their dollars and it had to be put into a separate account and then they could start accessing it for those harvesters. The amount that’s...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think, as the Government of the Northwest Territories, we are one of the leading jurisdictions when it comes to recognizing aboriginal rights throughout Canada. For example, we have provided National Aboriginal Day as an actual day that is recognized as a paid day off for employees of the Government of the Northwest Territories and have put it in as recognized throughout the North. So I think we have examples of being proactive here. I would gladly discuss with the Member the specifics of what he is looking at. The whole civic leave area is one of...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I will provide the numbers; sorry about that. The first one was $60,000 for health authority, Fort Smith, for the community counselling program. The birthing room was $90,000. Inuvik improvements to office space for positions were $355,000. Office space for medical and support staff was $350,000. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the reason that it’s come forward in this manner is that there is a large backlog of work that needs to be done to get this facility up and running. This avenue was chosen to try to meet those needs and the timing of it. It was felt that this needed to be done to meet the needs of the public interest in this area. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the work around the Yellowknife Airport and the discussions with CATSA were ongoing for quite some time. The department had hoped to conclude their discussions with CATSA to include it into the normal building cycle. Our concern was that as a result of what was being required around the baggage handling system, it was going to have further impacts on the facility and we were trying to secure more funding. Those discussions, unfortunately, carried over the timeline that would have allowed them to go into the previous business plan process when a decision was...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, what happened here is that the original amount was approved under O and M. It is for capital work. It is being transferred over to the capital side, so it is just being registered as a negative here. It is not being taken away and the money reduced. It is being transferred to the capital program. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Maybe I will have the Minister of Health and Social Services provide a response to that. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, part of the other end of this is from the insurance side in ensuring that we don’t sustain major losses. Risk assessments have been done in a number of areas to ensure our facilities are safe, that we have the proper procedures in place, and that in some cases we’re not over insured as well as not under insured. Also ensuring that they’re safe to go in because we sure don’t want to be caught in the situation where we lose any more. Thankfully there were no injuries as a result, beyond that of the fireman who was trying to help extinguish the fire that...