Floyd Roland

I would say I’ve been apprised the Member of this Legislative Assembly question Ministers of the past about where they put their key staff. I have heard many Members of the Assembly talk about, for example, if we were to put in new positions, that we diversify and go throughout our Territory. I will express the concern to the board as we go through these stages of hiring a new CEO. I will share that with the board. Thank you.

The board has hired a recruitment firm over the last number of months, and has now in fact, I believe, made a recommendation as to who they would select. So during that process that ad was a part of it, and I just recently had a meeting again with the acting chair as well as the selection committee for that position. They reiterated to me that there was no preference given to either location, but I will commit to speaking with the board on this issue. Once again, thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Jackson Lafferty will be absent from the House for the remainder of the week to attend the federal/provincial/territorial Ministers of Justice meeting in Vancouver.

I would also wish to advise Members that the Honourable Bob McLeod will be absent from the House for the remainder of the week to attend the federal/provincial/territorial Ministers of Tourism meeting in Vancouver. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this subject has been raised in this Assembly a number of times by Members in this area that has been brought up today. I know Members were very concerned when the news came forward that, in fact, this program had been sunsetted and there wasn’t going to be a renewal of it. So we’re supportive as myself, as an individual from Inuvik Boot Lake, having two residential schools in our community and seeing both the negative and some of the positive impacts of that. I know that there’s a journey that needs to be completed. So I’m, in principle, supporting this.

I...

Thank you. Since that information is detailed ongoing discussions with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, I’ll have that redirected to Minister Miltenberger.

Mr. Speaker, we will encourage the chief negotiator to set up a meeting with committee as well as the work that we do in preparation. As our practice is, we will set up some time to sit down with Members to see what positions are being developed and how we should respond to some of those. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the chief negotiator on the regulatory reform file is in the very early stages of his consultation with all governments in the Northwest Territories. We’re going to track that involvement and the work that starts to flow out of it and see where things go from that point of view.

So it’s very early. Again, the meeting that we had was very preliminary and some of the basic sort of steps that are being looked at. We know that all the First Nations and aboriginal groups and governments out there will be paid a visit and we’ll see how they react. In fact, I think this may be a subject...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to take the opportunity today to say thank you, on behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories and all the people of the Northwest Territories, to Mr. Tony Whitford who has successfully completed...

---Applause

...his term as Commissioner of the Northwest Territories.

The way the Territory is governed has evolved considerably during Mr. Whitford’s lifetime and he has been present to witness much of it. When Mr. Whitford was born in Fort Smith, the NWT was still being governed out of Ottawa by federal bureaucrats. That began to change with the...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I guess this is the one time I get to speak in Committee of the Whole to a motion. That reflects more on the Assembly as a whole and as Mrs. Groenewegen has stated, the verification of individuals who would sign on the website is going to be absolutely critical. The one thing I’ve seen, and I’m sure all of us have seen in this new world and this new technology that is ever changing, is there are so many opportunities and things happen so fast and there is a certain anonymity to the Internet world, as they say, that would be somewhat difficult to prove...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know earlier in my Minister’s statement I went on to recognize much of the work of Mr. Whitford and his accomplishments and service to the people of the Northwest Territories. I can say from my own experience, being elected first in 1995, I did have the pleasure of serving with Mr. Whitford in the 14th Legislative Assembly as well as watching him do his work diligently in this Assembly as the Sergeant-at-Arms. More importantly, Mr. Speaker, the opportunity to work with Mr. Whitford has allowed me to build a friendship with someone who has such experience...