Jane Groenewegen

The Committee wishes to proceed with the Main Estimates for the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations and, depending on how that goes time-wise, proceed to the Department of Public Works and Services.

Mr. Speaker, I’m not hearing that we actually do have a lot of flexibility to do some of those things, so that is a discussion I would like this government to embark on with the union. I really do believe there could be cost savings, and it could be a win-win situation for everyone.

I have a situation in my constituency, for example, where a person wants to retire, but they want to know that they can come back as a casual. Why can’t that kind of thing be facilitated?

Mr. Speaker, my questions are for either the Premier or the Minister of Human Resources. We as a government, as everybody knows, have been looking at ways to save money. The Regular Members got together and came up with a list of potential reductions. We submitted that to Cabinet. As yet, we have not had a formal response back to that, because we were told that those would require some analysis.

I would like to know what kind of flexibility we have. Everybody knows that during the 13th Assembly we came up with something called Donny Days, where non-essential service providers were given the...

Mr. Speaker, since we’re on the verge of a new SEED fund and setting up policies to go with that, would the Minister commit to undertake to ensure that if someone is applying for that funding to operate a business, which they then plan to operate on a regional basis, you would ensure that regional activity would not be impacting on existing businesses competing with them, causing market disruption?

Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement today I talked about the way in which the market disruption policy was interpreted when approving applications for business development funding. I’d like to ask the Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment what process his department uses to assess the potential for market disruptions when they’re receiving and reviewing funding applications.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to represent all of the members of the UNW.

Interjection.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that we report progress.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister is right in saying there is no resolution. It gets talked about year after year. And in support of, and in fairness to, all seniors of the Northwest Territories, what is it going to take to arrive at that political direction? I believe it is an urgent matter of this government. It should be a very high priority.

Mr. Speaker, on the other hand, we know that we have many seniors who are over the age of 60 who live in their own accommodation independently and who would benefit greatly from some greater support. Is there a plan in the NWT Housing Corporation or a way that somehow we could close the gap between giving one segment everything and giving others such a small amount that it really isn’t going to make the difference for them with the rising cost of utilities?

Mr. Speaker, when students take up studies in the area of law or medicine, these are more costly than other academic fields. Although our SFA support is very generous, it’s not generous enough when your tuition is $10,000 a year for law school and the cost of books is $1,000 a year.

Mr. Speaker, I cannot conceive of this government discontinuing support to someone who’s already out and going to law school, wanting to complete their studies. What if other areas of scholarships or foundation support don’t come through? Is the Minister suggesting that the student, if they don’t have the financial...