Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Is committee agreed?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just two quick things in closing. I mentioned earlier that I had a constituent who mentioned some difficulties they had accessing the building, especially the interior doors. The individual was in a wheelchair and there was no electronic opener on the door, so it was very difficult. I believe that’s been rectified. If I can get the Minister to confirm that that has in fact been rectified.

The second part is that the Minister has mentioned that this facility is not just a Yellowknife facility, that it is a territorial facility. My question to the Minister is if they have...

I’d like to thank the Minister for that. One of the issues that has come to my attention, and I know it’s come to some of the other Members, has been the telephone system at the clinic itself. There appears to be a lot of frustration. Some people phone and they get busy signals or they get put on hold for extended periods of time. Now, I know that we have some staff issues and we’re trying to staff that place up, which might be part of the problem, but has anything been done to start addressing the amount of time that people are waiting on the telephones or have we put in more people to ensure...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier this summer the consolidated health and social services clinic opened here in Yellowknife. It is a great facility, Mr. Speaker. I have had an opportunity to tour the facility. I have had an opportunity to get into the background where all the clinic rooms are and we got to talk to the professionals who are going to be using those facilities, having a flow of people through and the types of services that are going to be provided on both sides, both the clinical side and the diagnostic side. Personally, I feel that there is a great opportunity here to help...

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. General comments. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you Mr. Bromley. General comments. Mr. Krutko.

Mr. Speaker, it is awfully nice when we are in agreement so easily. The Minister mentioned BizPaL. I think BizPaL is a great program, but I understand that the City of Yellowknife isn’t partnering with us on that. Right now, the City of Yellowknife has a lot of requirements for permits and whatnot. Has there been any work done with the City of Yellowknife to see if we can get them on side with us to help the businesses overall and reduce the amount of red tape? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I have a suggestion for the Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment. I recognize that red tape is not the creation of the Northwest Territories and that local, community and city governments, as well as the federal government, also contribute to the load. However, as the territorial government, we have the ability to contribute to solutions to help reduce the overall red-tape load. During question period today I will be asking the Minister to consider working with organizations such as the NWT Chamber of Commerce and NABA to conduct research on red-tape burns on our local...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In early October I attended the Prospects North Conference organized by the NWT Chamber of Commerce here in Yellowknife. It was a great opportunity to meet with and talk to businesses in the North and organizations interested in doing business here in the North. There was a lot of talk during the conference about resource extraction projects in the Northwest Territories.

Big projects are important, as they bring new money into the Northwest Territories, and I welcome them on the right environmental and social terms. These opportunities continue to be important and must...

I move that we report progress.

---Carried