Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The committee today wishes to deal with Bill 15, An Act to Amend the Deh Cho Bridge Act; Bill 16, An Act to Amend the Motor Vehicles Act; Bill 17, An Act to Amend the Territorial Parks Act; and Bill 18, An Act to Amend the Public Utilities Act. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Oh, okay. I don’t want to argue with the Chair. I would like him to answer it, yes.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chair, I move that consideration of Tabled Document 53-16(6), Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 2, 2011-2012, be now concluded, and that Tabled Document 53-16(6) be reported and recommended as ready for further consideration in formal session through the form of an appropriation bill.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m going to ask the Minister if he sees this as a good model. We see this in other areas such as economic development where a municipality or a community will hire an economic development officer and it will be funded by the territorial government to work… There will be a contribution from the municipality and a contribution from the territorial government for a position like that. I see this position of a full-time fire chief as similar in the sense that this is work, a lot of the work that could fall within the mandate of a territorial government employee. So I see...

I would like to ask the Minister if there are any precedents in the Northwest Territories for communities that would find themselves in the same situation as Hay River where they would have a full-time fire chief on the municipal staff, if there is any specific funding earmarked to support that position in view of the tasks that person can take on that relieve pressure on the fire marshal’s office. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to talk about the adequacy of support and funding for the volunteer fire department in Hay River.

Mr. Speaker, the volunteer fire department has a very long history in the community of Hay River. It is a group of very dedicated and continually trained workers who are on call for the safety and protection of our community at all times.

A long-time firefighter, Chief Ross Potter, recently became a full-time employee of the Town of Hay River, so Hay River now has a paid full-time fire chief. Mr. Speaker, this is a very good service for the community and it...

I think I’ll just let it go at that. There’s probably a forum in which these kinds of issues can be raised. Another concern I have -- and the Minister doesn’t have to answer if he doesn’t want to -- it seems like this is a bit of a strain here. The Minister is not looking up. He didn’t make eye contact with me once during this entire exchange, while I was speaking or while he was answering. So I’m not sure how meaningful this exchange is here today, but maybe I’ll save my comments for a different forum. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I primarily want to speak to the issue of the shuffling of the funds between the health authorities. I’m sure there are explanations for why these things happen. Let me throw out a couple of examples.

Perhaps a community or health authority doesn’t have any doctors on staff, so maybe Stanton is sending out locums or physicians and that’s showing up on their budget and not on that other health authority’s budget. I’m sure there are some large ticket items which would explain some of this. I have a concern with it if we are not able to provide that kind of information in...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The committee wishes today to deal with Tabled Document 53-16(6) and Tabled Document 54-16(6), both supplementary estimates. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, if the Town of Hay River could quantify a certain amount of work of that nature that is being done and were to submit a proposal to MACA for an offsetting contribution to support this position in Hay River, is that something that Municipal and Community Affairs could support? I’m just thinking it would be more information if there were an actual detailing of that type of work that’s being done that would normally fall under the mandate of a territorial government employee. Thank you.