Jane Groenewegen

Is committee agreed?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank the Premier for that answer. It’s a win-win for everybody. It has the potential to offset the high cost of living in the North. It has the potential to be the impetus for development in these mining operations that the Premier refers to. I hope that the Premier will really run with this and keep us apprised.

We need a development like the Taltson expansion in the South Slave. We need something. We need devolution to mean something for our people.

Will the Premier take up this particular project with his Cabinet colleagues and report back to us on...

Mr. Speaker, the Premier speaks of our borrowing limit and how that sometimes restrains us. In the past when we talked about projects like the Taltson Hydro expansion, we also talked about public funds combined with private investment, to see something like this go ahead. I was involved in those discussions. It seemed like a lot of that expansion kind of got all mixed in with transmission lines over the East Arm of Great Slave Lake and transmitting hydro to the diamond mines and so on. There was a real interest from the private sector in investing in the expansion of the Taltson Dam and I...

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Mr. Miltenberger.

I’d like to call Committee of the Whole to order. We have two items before us today: Bill 11 and Bill 20. What is the wish of the committee? Ms. Bisaro.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize, in the visitors gallery today, a resident of Hay River South, Mr. Jack Rowe, a businessman in Hay River and the president of the Rowe’s Group of Companies, who employs not only in Hay River where they are based but also a large number of people in the South Slave. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, your committee would like to report progress. Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of Committee of the Whole be concurred with. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m very honoured today to second this motion. This is history in the making in the Northwest Territories.

If I could go back to my campaign material for the last five elections, I’m sure I’d see devolution at the top of every platform, and that is also a part of a platform that I believe everyone in this House ran on. It is an amazing feat, indeed, to see the agreement that has come into place that is before us today.

I see that the newspaper, the Yellowknifer, says that MLAs have no say on devolution. I would like to know about those hours and hours of briefings that I...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am going to follow up on something that was alluded to in my colleague from Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard’s, Member’s statement when he was talking about the renewal of health care cards and the length of time it’s taking. I’m going to talk a little bit more about something he referred to at the end of his statement, and that is a satellite health insurance office for Hay River.

The division of heath care services located in Inuvik is called health services administration and has 22 positions that deal with health care card registrations, renewals, vital statistics...

As a result of the things that I’ve shared here today, and my colleagues have shared here today, I would like to see this government come out with a statement saying that they recognize and appreciate the valued work of NGOs in our territory, and that those NGOs go towards making this territory and the lives of many people better than they would be, and that this government cannot do everything alone, and that we support, encourage and thank those NGOs who do this work for us. Can this government send a message like that out? Thank you.