Glen Abernethy

During my Member’s statement, I talked about transparency and accountability, particularly related to the Deh Cho Bridge project. My question is directed to the Premier.

I am glad to hear that information related to the cost-of-living analysis is going to be coming our way — hopefully, by the end of this session — and I think that is a great first step, but it’s just a first step. I hear people in the community, residents, whether they support the bridge or whether they are opposed to the bridge, asking questions. They don’t even understand what is going on. And they are looking for the cost...

During my campaign and in follow-up discussions with Members of this 16th Legislative Assembly, it’s clear that residents of the Northwest Territories expect a transparent and accountable government — no, actually, they demand an open, transparent and accountable government.

During this Assembly’s strategic planning session, it was further reinforced by the Members that accountability and transparency should be a priority for all of us, as well as the public service as a whole.

Unfortunately, the government doesn’t seem to be doing a good job of living up to this expectation. The lack of...

Me? Thank you, Mr. Chair. I liked the sessional statement. I enjoyed listening to it and I enjoyed reading it afterwards, but I also agree with the comments of my colleagues. There are some areas that obviously I and we feel could have been a little bit stronger. For me, I am not going to go over what my colleagues have already gone over, but there are a couple of areas that I wanted to address, as well.

On page 5 during the statement, you said it’s important that we have an effective and efficient government. This is critical to me. Our employees are our most valuable resources. Without...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. As I discussed in my Member’s statement, Education, Culture and Employment is providing grants through the NWT Arts Council to northern artists. When people go out and provide their product or finish their CDs or do their paintings or whatnot, what is done by ECE is basically an e-mail saying congratulations, this has been done, we’ve gave the person a grant, it’s great, whoo-hoo. It seems to end there. This is sad. There’s an opportunity for ITI to work closely with ECE to get this information...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Further, to the Minister, the host society is in a planning phase; they’re going to be delivering the games in March, which really isn’t that far away. If they could get some sort of commitment that they will be receiving the money, then they can continue with the planning. If they’re not going to be getting the money, they’re going to have to cut programs, which is going to affect the overall delivery of the games. So I would like a commitment from the Minister to get some sort of response to the host society as soon as possible, as early in December as possible.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to add to Mr. Hawkins’ Member’s statement made yesterday on the arts. Specifically, I’d like to talk about the disconnect I perceive between the support provided by the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to artists and the lack of follow-up with these artists, whether they are musicians, painters, writers, sculptors, or involved in crafts, by the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, who may be able to partner with these artists to promote the NWT and strengthen tourism across the Northwest Territories. If we give people a reason to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am aware of the document that you are talking about. To me, it didn’t address the artists that are out there being supported from the Arts Council. Like I said, there are a lot of musicians out there that have received money and are out there struggling to get their name known. It wouldn’t take very much for us to give them a little bit of a nudge through some of our marketing campaign to get their name out there and to utilize them, to ask them along when we are going out on tradeshows and whatnot as representatives of the North to say this is the type of music...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If it is approved, when do you think the money might be able to flow, or when does the Minister think the money might be able to flow to the host society? Because, as I said, they need the money; they need to get going and we want this to be the best games possible, so cutting the money would be a real disappointment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this question is addressed to the Minister of MACA. Ms. Bisaro spoke earlier this week about the Arctic Winter Games and the benefit the 2008 games will provide to Yellowknife and the Northwest Territories. One of the biggest challenges for the games has been the need to raise enough funds to host the games as expected by the Arctic Winter Games International Committee. The budget for the games is $6.6 million. Of that, $2.6 million has been contributed through various other government organizations -- federal, territorial -- which leaves $3.1 million...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I acknowledge the difficulties in doing those types of surveys and how often individuals who are upset or have poor morale may not be willing to respond to them because they don't feel that it will do any good. I encourage the Minister to get out there and have people get out and actually meet with staff, and go out and meet with those staff and encourage them to actively respond to those surveys under the understanding that they are confidential. Thank you.