Great Slave

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 28)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a long question or a question demanding a long answer, but I’ll do my best to do it in a short period of time. The northern allowance is a negotiated benefit and it cannot be unilaterally changed or reduced or eliminated by the GNWT.

Many, many years ago – in the ‘90s – we used to have a housing allowance and a vacation travel assistance allowance. Those were eliminated as part of a negotiation. As a result, housing was rolled into the salary. At that time, there was a significant increase in salary, whereas VTA wasn’t. VTA became part of what is known as the...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 28)

I’m not familiar with the door issue, but I’ll certainly have Public Works and Services take a look at it.

With respect to the other items, they weren’t part of the original design. I’m happy to work with Education, Culture and Employment, and if they are interested in putting in those types of things, we, as the facilitator of building in the Northwest Territories for government infrastructure, will be happy to work with them and do as they ask.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 28)

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Monfwi, that Bill 18, Apology Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 28)

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that Bill 16, An Act to Amend the Justices of the Peace Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 28)

The transportation component provides compensation to communities relative to the value of the cost of return transportation between Yellowknife and Edmonton via air and/or road. The cost of living component provides compensation to communities relative to the average expenditures for a food basket of goods and services compared to Yellowknife. Yellowknife would be a base. We would be looking at the cost of goods or the basket of goods in every other community as part of the formula to determine what other communities are getting, but if we’re using Yellowknife as a base, we need to make sure...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 28)

I indicated in my previous response that transportation is one of the primary components of this. There are two components. There is transportation, which used to be the VTA, and then there is the cost of living component.

If you go back and look at the history of negotiations over time, when we got rid of the housing allowance in the Government of the Northwest Territories in the ‘90s, that amount was negotiated by way of an increase into the base salaries of all GNWT employees. So housing has already been incorporated in. If you look at the increases that have occurred to the salaries over...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 28)

Ultimately, the authorities are responsible for the schools themselves, but we do a lot of maintenance work for schools as negotiated. In the case of Inuvik, I’m not sure what the situation is with the snow, but I will certainly look into that and get back to the Member.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 28)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hear the Member’s point. We do planning studies with the department that is leading the build. In this case it was Education, Culture and Employment, and they identified the requirements, the things they would like to see in the building, the input from their staff, the input from the boards, the input from the community. All that is incorporated into the design. We build what is asked of us to build.

In the case of the school, we heard clearly from the board of education, from the Department of Education, and we incorporated state-of-the-art kitchen facilities, music...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 28)

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, that Bill 19, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, 2013, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 28)

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Kam Lake, that Bill 17, An Act to Amend the Protection of Family Violence Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.