Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since day one of the 16th Legislative Assembly there has been a significant amount of discussion on climate change and making responsible environmental decisions. As outlined in the NWT Greenhouse Gas Strategy, the GNWT committed to lead by example by adopting a target reduced greenhouse gas emissions from its own operations to 10 percent below the 2001 levels by 2011.

This was, and is, a reasonable first step. Leading by example is rarely wrong. I have to say that we have done a lot of good in-house. We have adopted biomass in many of our buildings and have worked with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That’s fantastic news. Has there been any consideration by the Premier to make that type of training mandatory for individuals within the GNWT who are responsible for the design of policy and writing policy within the government? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

During my last round of questioning on this topic back in March 2009, I referenced a number of outside organizations who have already done a lot of work and research on gender-based analysis. In the development of this position paper were any of these outside organizations contacted and asked to provide input and feedback on the value of gender-based analysis within the GNWT?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On March 9, 2009, I made a Member’s statement in this House on gender-based analysis. It was the second time I made a statement on this and asked questions on this topic. Today it will be the third.

Gender-based analysis makes gender equality issues visible in the mainstream of society, taking into account the full diversity of men and women. This type of analysis contributes to the redress of past and systemic discrimination and contributes to the development of a mission policy. Implementation of gender-based analysis policy builds upon the good work done by the...

I’d like to thank the Premier for that. I think that that’s good news and I’m happy to hear that something is going to be done by the end of the calendar year. I understand that full-scale implementation is a significant undertaking, but obviously we must start somewhere.

Educating staff seems like a reasonable place to start, at least to me. The GNWT currently delivers a lot of training for staff. In March 2009, the Premier indicated that the Executive Council will also be working on some training documents and a training schedule for the implementation during the upcoming fiscal year, which...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Premier and are in follow-up to my Member’s statement on the implementation of a gender-based analysis policy for the GNWT.

On March 9, 2009, in follow-up to some questions that I had, the Premier indicated that the Executive was developing a position paper. To date, I haven’t seen anything released from the Executive on gender-based analysis and I was wondering if the Premier could please provide me with an update on the progress of this initiative. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In signing my name to the conflict of interest complaint against the Premier, I accepted the process in place to deal with these types of concerns. On Friday last week we received the final ruling of the complaint that was filed by the six complainants. As I understood the process and agreed to it beforehand, I am willing to support the conclusions of the adjudicator. Therefore, I will be supporting this motion today to accept the report. However, in doing so, I want to be clear that I support the report in its entirety, not just the fact that the complaint was...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to follow up on a Member’s statement and questions made by my colleague Mr. Ramsay from two Wednesdays ago. Over the last several months, I received a large number of letters from parents and students who attend the Ecole Allain St-Cyr. They continue to be concerned and frustrated that their children are attending the school without gym facilities. I share the frustration.

Physical education is a critical portion of a child’s development. It is about providing children with the knowledge, skill, capacity, value and enthusiasm to maintain healthy...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We were elected in October 2007, and immediately after being elected, we worked together as 19 Members to develop a comprehensive strategic plan for the people of the Northwest Territories. After that, Cabinet was selected and given the task to lead the bureaucracy and implement the collective strategy plan.

As a Regular MLA, I feel that my role is to bring forward and help address constituent issues and concerns; review, discuss, debate and either support or reject bills; review, discuss, debate and make recommendations on government business plans; bring forward ideas...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to talk a little about the secondary diamond industry in the Northwest Territories, specifically the cutting and polishing plants.

The Northwest Territories is a leader in the diamond industry within Canada. The North was the first jurisdiction to bring cutting and polishing of Canadian diamonds to Canada. Bringing the industry here wasn’t without significant challenges, many of which the Territory and the company cutting and polishing diamonds overcame. Others are still posing challenges.

As a government, we provided funding, facilitated training...