Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Premier, the Cabinet and the Ordinary Members of this House have all been working hard to bring economic development into the Northwest Territories. One of the best possibilities in many decades to improve the economy of the South Slave is the potential of the value-added processing of rare earths at Pine Point, and it’s up to $500 million of investment.

Mr. Speaker, in July of last year the GNWT lost the investment of Fortune Minerals Hydromet plant and 80 value-added jobs when they were courted by the Saskatchewan government with their low power rates and...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I move that consideration of Tabled Document 62-16(4), NWT Main Estimates, 2010-2011, be now concluded, and that Tabled Document 62-16(4) be reported and recommended as ready for further consideration in formal session through the form of an appropriation bill. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the House there’s been a lot of discussion around the number of days that the health care professional or the nurse or the doctor would visit the community that people could have access to the service that they like, but they do not stay there. It’s not a continuing thing. I understand the resources would not necessarily allow the very small communities to have someone resident there. Has the Minister ever considered approaching this from the possibility that there may be retired, semi-retired people who have been involved in health care their whole life...

So I understand that it is an operational issue to some extent and that regional health authorities have the ability to determine how to distribute those resources. What role does our government play in setting the standards of health care delivery on the basis of a population or a community? Surely there must be some role that our government plays in terms of determining the level of service. I think that there had been some considerable work that had been done on that. What role does our government have in determining that?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, pardon me if I sound excited about this, but we’ve been talking about the Great Slave Lake fishery here for years and always felt that a big impediment to the fishermen, realizing the potential in the industry was the monopoly by the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation. So I would hope now that with the motion I’m sure that will be conveyed formally to this government, that the government will begin to put together a plan and a strategy to assist the fishermen to process and market their product. Could the Minister please tell me if such a plan will be...

I’d like the Minister to identify what he means by liabilities. Could he list some of the liabilities of being removed from the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation regime? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that consideration of Tabled Document 84-16(4), Supplementary Appropriation (Infrastructure Expenditures) No 1, 2010-2011, be now concluded and that Tabled Document 84-16(4) be reported and recommended as ready for further consideration in formal session through the form of an appropriation bill. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So for the benefit of the folks at Avalon, for the Premier of Saskatchewan, for the public, for those of us in the South Slave who would like to see such an amazing economic opportunity come our way, for all intents and purposes, would the Premier state that Mr. Voytilla’s comments in the media are formally retracted? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I didn’t really hear any answer. I guess the Minister said she doesn’t know why the number of placements required, what’s kind of contributing to that need for specialized services in southern Canada. I’m glad to hear that the department is keeping a close eye on that, not that we want to deny or deprive anybody of specialized services if that’s what they need, but when you look at the cost of care and these costs can be anywhere from $250,000 to $450,000 per client per year, and you look at that over the course of a person’s lifetime as an adult, if there’s no change in their conditions, I...

Mr. Speaker, I can’t, of course, quantify what kind of damage might have been done by that very blunt and categorical dismissal of the opportunity to provide power at a rate that would be competitive enough to see this processing take place here in the Northwest Territories. But, Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Premier if he could advise those who are in positions of leadership in these organizations, which are really the, you know, it’s really the role of the shareholder in these types of things to be the spokesperson, if it’s possible for the Minister to communicate to people the...