Jane Groenewegen

Hay River South

Statements in Debates

Debates of , (day 17)

Thank you. The Minister beat me to it by saying I brought this up before. I’ve got a very thick file on this subject here, Mr. Speaker, and the correspondence goes back to letters to Mr. Antoine in the previous government even. I mean it’s been at least 10 years that I’ve been talking about this. This is a good program, the concept is good, but the actual working out of it is kind of untenable. It has for some people who are the would-be recipients of this support to take drastic measures. Like, in instances where one person who is on title is disabled and the other isn’t, where they’ve...

Debates of , (day 16)

Committee, I would like to call us back to order, please. You had indicated earlier that you would like to proceed with Bill 11, Tourism Act. At this time, I would ask Minister Bell if he would please bring opening comments on the bill. Minister Bell.

Debates of , (day 16)

Is committee agreed?

Debates of , (day 16)

That’s it, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Debates of , (day 16)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to direct my questions today to the Premier. Probably just going back in history a little when our government had a lot more wealth than it does now and the concept was that people got together and they sat around the table and they had little horse-trading sessions and they decided which communities and which regions were getting jobs and programs and capital projects, and they divvied up this big pot of money and everybody went away from the room relatively happy. Well, as we all know, that’s not the way things really work around here anymore...

Debates of , (day 16)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

A good deal of discussion during our public hearings centred on the role of the medical advisors in the workers’ compensation system, and in particular on what happens when their opinions conflict with the opinions of outside physicians. As the workers’ advisor told us, the issue of “objective medical evidence” accounts for about 60 percent of his caseload. It is also a factor in many of the WCB’s long-unresolved claims.

As the report states at paragraph 157, “the medical advisors’ views carry considerable weight with caseworkers, claim managers and the Review Committee...

Debates of , (day 16)

Thank you, Mr. Bell. At this time I would like to ask Mr. Villeneuve, please, if he would provide the committee's comments on the review of Bill 11.

Debates of , (day 16)

Thank you. Then we will proceed with that after a short break.

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Debates of , (day 16)

I call Committee of the Whole to order. We have quite a number of items before Committee of the Whole today. What is the wish of the committee? Mr. Braden.

Debates of , (day 16)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do appreciate the Premier’s confirmation of that fact, because I do think that there are people out there who think to the contrary. The other thing is, in the distribution of the work that we do here in the Assembly, some are Regular Members and some are in Cabinet. Again, another perception that’s out there in the public is that somehow being at the Cabinet table is beneficial to your riding more so than the rest of us who sit around here. I have said many times, I see us sitting around here as equals. We assign certain responsibilities to Members of the Cabinet...