Jane Groenewegen

With the greatest of admiration and respect I will say that I don’t think Ken would have won a congeniality contest and he had a famous licence plate on his van that would prove that. But he was good people with a strong presence and he formed an integral part of the fabric of Hay River. He will be missed. May he rest in peace.

Please join me in sending our sincere condolences to the Hunt family of Hay River.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to compliment the Department of ENR on their campaign to encourage people to recycle milk beverage containers. I think it’s very catchy. I think it’s Wash and Squash. There are very colourful ads all over the place encouraging our people in the Northwest Territories to add these beverage containers to the list of containers that we pay a deposit on and then receive a refund on when we take them back. It is very catchy and I think it’s catching the eye of people.

However, I want to thank the Member for Weledeh for bringing forward this motion, because I think...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to use my Member’s statement to pay my respects to a Hay River resident who recently passed away.

James Kenneth Hunt passed away, surrounded by his family, in Hay River this past Sunday. A celebration had marked his 90th birthday last year and a celebration and remembrance of his life will mark what would have been his 91st birthday in a service planned for Hay River tomorrow.

Ken had a full and interesting life. He started his career with the Hudson’s Bay and served in posts as diverse as Ross River and Lutselk’e in a time when the Bay manager was...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know the Minister will probably feel that she’s already answered this question, but let me say again, for the benefit of the public, the government is trying to create a program that makes sense, that is sustainable going ahead in the future, that this government can afford, and the Minister is committed to meaningful consultation with the stakeholders involved in this and will do everything in her power to make those affected have access to input into this new system that will come into place. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, is there any other jurisdiction in Canada where the general population pays absolutely no health insurance premiums? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, for people who are in a higher income bracket, but still, people even in a higher income bracket could not be prepared for something like the type of cost associated with certain medications, and always the technology, the medical sciences advancing and things that are available. Mr. Speaker, is this government doing anything to make those people aware of private insurance plans outside of this government? What is this government doing to suggest to people who can afford it that perhaps they should be looking at private insurance plans to cover those kinds of costs that are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve been waiting on the supplementary health benefits issue because I’m sitting here listening to the debate and dialogue. It is very easy to sit on this side of the House and ask for the world. It’s kind of a little bit irresponsible, though, because we know that it is not sustainable to give seniors over a certain age unlimited, unfettered, non-means-tested access to supplementary health benefits. We know that. We know it cannot be done. So where is the creativity in the Department of Health and Social Services to look at things?

If we want to address the working poor...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Once again, this weekend, I was reminded by a constituent of a situation which exists in the Northwest Territories and I am going to attempt to describe that today, Mr. Speaker.

When a family member observes a child that is in some form of risk or potentially in harm’s way, it is a natural affection of a family member that would cause that person, that parent, that adult to reach out to that child to remove them from that situation or at least provide some kind of respite from that home to care for that child. This happens with aunties, grandparents, cousins. All kinds...

Mr. Speaker, it’s interesting, because I have been approached over my years as MLA many times by grandparents, particularly, and in the case of a person I met with on the weekend, it was an auntie who felt that they had to take it upon themselves to intervene in a situation for the safety of a child that was related to them. How subjective is the need for intervention on the part of child protection workers? How subjective is that grounds for intervention? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In follow-up to my Member’s statement today I was talking about the fact that in the Northwest Territories it is natural, it is common, and it is a good thing that family members, extended family members will intervene in a situation where a child may be at risk, a family may be in crisis. It is not always the government that has the opportunity to observe or respond to those kinds of needs. The problem is that when someone does this on their own initiative, it then absolves the government of having to take any responsibility for the situation. The reality is it costs...