Glen Abernethy

If I can get the Premier to give me a bit of a sense of the timing of the review and when they expect that to be done. Specifically, I’m curious about whether there will be any additional supports or any sort of framework around supports that are going to be provided to the sector during the ’09–10 fiscal year.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Premier, and it’s related to my Member’s statement on the voluntary sector. I’m curious: who is responsible for the review of the sector financing? And how will whoever is responsible for that review ensure that participation of this sector is included?

Thank you for all of that information. It’s very good. As I said, I liked the plan you put in with respect to distributing that money amongst the departments so they could plan for it accordingly.

No real question, but just a bit more of a statement. In the case of this particular item, as an example, it is something, in my opinion, that should have been able to be planned for. We’re probably going to approve it today. I see no reason not to approve it at this point, giving the department some credit, given the fact that the budget just came down and this is a new process.

In the future, as...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. A couple of seconds ago I asked that question on the wrong page. I’d like to ask that exact same question on this page on this item.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That’s good. I understand the process. I kind of like the process that you’re implementing with respect to giving the $15 million to the departments so they can plan, and I understand the timing on this.

I still think this is something that the Department of ITI could have done some forecasting on and done some planning on. They could have planned for it in the normal budget process, and they wouldn’t be coming back. They had $10 million in supp, which is for emergencies. Now we have $9.5 million for emergencies. Every time we whittle it down on something that should...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In reviewing this supplementary appropriation, I have no problem, given most of the money is coming from the feds or is carried over from the previous year. However, at the beginning of the budget process we were told that the supplementary appropriation available was changed from $25 million to $10 million, as $15 million was transferred to the departments so they wouldn’t have to come back for supps on a regular basis.

In the case of this department, $555,000 minus the $33,000 — $518,000, is being asked for out of that $10 million supplementary appropriation fund that we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I encourage you all to bear with me. I’ve got a few pages here to go through. Today is the final day of Bill 8, the Appropriation Act of 2008–2009. There’s been a significant amount of debate on this bill, inside and outside of this House. We have heard a significant amount of talk from the Union of Northern Workers, who have continually stressed that for years the GNWT has underestimated its budget surpluses and has overestimated its expenses. Further, they stress that a job-cuts budget is a bad budget. They clearly want the Regular Members to vote this budget down.

Cl...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are actually to the Premier. I would ask the Minister responsible for the Department of Justice or the Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, but I think my questions combine both of those departments.

Today I made a statement about equal and shared parenting. Within the GNWT I think it’s important that we support equal and shared parenting. It’s in the best interests of the children, which is a clear tie to our strategic plan. First, I’ll focus a little bit on justice and then focus on health.

First, on justice. Within the current court...

Mr. Speaker, this is why I was asking the Premier. I agree with what he has said. At the same time, I think it would be important for this government to work on having parents who are going through crisis and divorce avoid the court system completely. This is where the justice system can actually come in by requiring that parents who are going through divorce go through mediation. This is why I suggested that the Premier provide the answer rather than Health and Social Services or Justice. I believe it’s going to take real collaboration and partnership for those two organizations to work...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We certainly live in interesting times. These are the days of two incomes and increasing rates of divorce. These are the days of large, beautiful houses yet increasing numbers of broken homes. These are the days when many families are crumbling, and children are being raised by one parent.

According to this Assembly’s strategic plan, our vision is to have strong individuals, families and communities sharing the benefits and responsibilities of a unified, environmentally sustainable and prosperous NWT. Within that vision we share a goal of working with families...