Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think that the Minister not being informed of this by people in his department is a great sign of disrespect for him, and disrespect for Members of this House, and disrespect for the public servants. I would like to ask the Minister, what is he prepared to do in the event of this information where he was allowed to stand up and publicly make a declaration in this House to me that there was no breach and not one person from his department called him to correct the record? What is he prepared to do about it? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I fully assume that when the Minister informed us that there had been no breach of information, was what was in his knowledge at that time. However, that raises other questions. Mr. Speaker, I called the Minister a month ago. Other Members called the Minister and inquired when we had begun to hear about this breach. Then I again asked, on the record in this House, and I thought that surely after asking in the public that somebody in the Minister’s office or in the Minister’s department would have taken the opportunity to set the record straight and have the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize the Pages from Hay River South who have been serving in the Legislature this week: J.J. McKinney and Joseph Lirette. Also in the visitor's gallery today, Mr. Tom Lakusta and his son, Adam, and again my constituency assistant, Wendy Morgan. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Chair. I agree with this idea of using extended families for the placement of an apprehended child. I just have two caveats or concerns about that. I think that extended families should receive the same remuneration to care for that child as would a foster family that would not be related to that child. The reason being is that sometimes, just because it is an extended family, it doesn’t mean that they don’t have other obligations, a job or may need to procure childcare or support. I think sometimes it has been the thinking of the system that if you put a child with an...

Thank you, Mr. Braden. To the motion.

What is the wish of the committee? Mr. Lafferty.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will support the amendment. I think it is important to get public opinion on this and, hey, there’s an election campaign coming. What a great election issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Speaking of the Premier, I understand it is the Premier who is responsible for the appointment of deputy ministers, and I would be very glad to hear the Premier is going to be involved in this, and I'm sure the people in the public service will be glad to hear that the Premier will be involved in this as well. Like I said, at this moment, I'm not feeling real assured about trying to get the information of these same people who weren't forthcoming with the information, with something as serious as a breach, for over a month. So I would like the Minister's response to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have further questions for the Minister responsible for Human Resources on this breach of confidential information that was held on employees' files. Mr. Speaker, I think that the Minister acknowledges this is a very serious situation. When I questioned him in the House about it before when he repeatedly denied that it had occurred, he responded to the issue of a protocol to notify the people affected, and I quote from unedited Hansard: "I don't know what the exact protocol would be, but you can be assured that we would consider it to be a very serious...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Standing Committee on Governance and Economic Development conducted public hearings on Bill 5, Northwest Territories Hydro Corporation Act, in Yellowknife on April 18 and 19, 2007; in Fort Smith on April 23, 2007; in Fort Resolution on April 24, 2007; in Hay River on Wednesday, April 25, 2007; and in Inuvik on April 26, 2007. The clause-by-clause review was conducted on May 10, 2007, in Yellowknife.

The committee would like to thank all the witnesses for their comments and the Minister and his staff for presenting the bill. The main purpose of the...