Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’m going to speak today about a topic I have brought up, I think, pretty consistently in the last 15 years that I’ve been an MLA. I don’t know how many terms you have to be elected or how many years you have to serve in order to get some of these issues resolved, but please don’t make me come back here again. I hope this can get resolved soon.

Mr. Speaker, the Senior Citizens and Disabled Persons Property Tax Relief Act, an act of this government, permits a municipal taxing authority, by bylaw, to exempt the eligible property of a disabled person from a...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, today we would like to deal with the bills in numerical order. So Bill 2, Forgiveness of Debts... Well, let’s just say Bill 2, 4, 5, 7, 10 and then moving on to Committee Report 5-16(4), Report on the Review of the 2008-2009 Human Rights Commission Annual Report. Thank you.

I’d like to ask the Minister if any of the consultation and work that’s being done on this act is to the stage that it could possibly be tabled this session or the May session. When does he think the legislative proposal for the amendments might be forthcoming?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated in my Member’s statement, the Senior Citizens and Disabled Persons Property Tax Relief Act is a piece of legislation of this government that enables municipalities to offer tax relief to property owners in their taxation area who are either senior citizens or have a disability.

There is something inherently unfair about this. If one of the recipients is in a relationship, is a common-law or partner of the person who is a senior or person with disabilities, if by sharing title to that property, they then become disqualified from receiving this tax relief...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister of ITI as well. My colleague Mr. Yakeleya raises the issue of domestic product for a domestic market. We have long had a lately untapped resource in the way of our fishery and for years we’ve been asking the government to do what they can to make the fortunes and life of the fishermen better. I’m, of course, speaking of the fishermen on the Great Slave Lake and the quota of fish that does not get harvested from that lake, which is determined by the Department of Fisheries to be sustainable.

Mr. Speaker, a landmark decision has now...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that consideration of Tabled Document 78-16(4), Supplementary Appropriation (Operations Expenditures) No. 3, 2009-2010, be now concluded, and that Tabled Document 78-16(4) be reported and recommended as ready for further consideration in formal session through the form of an appropriation bill. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Speaker, it’s a small Territory, we all know who the board chair is for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation, and I want to say -- and Mr. Voytillla knows this -- that I’ve always had a great deal of respect for what he has done for our government and his many years as deputy minister and how pleased I was when he became the chair of the NTPC board. Would the Premier convey to Mr. Voytilla, please, that we would appreciate his support as the chair, because he would be a very key person in these negotiations; that we would like him to participate with our government in trying to find...

So these are fairly large numbers. I don’t know how they compare to previous years, however, the Minister has indicated that the demand for southern referrals and placements is increasing and I don’t know what is contributing to that. He said there are emerging issues, but certainly in terms of the sustainability of the support that this requires, it would be good if we knew what those emerging issues are so that we could perhaps do something to kind of put prevention or stem the increase in some way, because I’m not sure if this number in this group of people who are in need of these...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Premier and the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation. Mr. Speaker, I would hope that today, through some questions and answers here in the House, we could set the record straight. Mr. Speaker, at the outset of any sensitive negotiations of course we can’t fully predict the outcome of those negotiations, and no doubt, there will be obstacles and challenges to try to achieve the goal that we have of trying to see value added from the Rare Earth’s mining activity in the Northwest Territories. We...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Something that has always been of concern to me is the amount of money that we spend on facilities in the South. There are two items here, one is for increased costs associated with children in residential care outside the Northwest Territories and the other one is the increased costs with adults in residential care outside the Northwest Territories. I know that we went some distance toward our ambition to repatriate some adults with the assisted living facility in Hay River and they have the capacity for 10 full-time residents or clients in that facility, but it seems...