Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the projected cost savings of $400,000; the audit report indicated that with no persons leaving and no positions lost through attrition, that in fact the savings were only about $267,000. With the number of $267,000 in mind and given our budget planning process one year out unfortunately would mean that there would be no reinstatement of services until the following fiscal year. Would the Minister agree to an interim evaluation? If these numbers are all being tracked now, would he agree to an interim look at this in six months so that if the savings are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the indulgence of my colleagues here, I want to recognize at least half of the visitors in the gallery here. Mr. Delorey is going to recognize the other half. I know it is a large group, but thank you. Their parents are going to watch this tonight on APTN, so when I call your name, jump up quick so the camera can scan you because we have a lot of names to get here.

The parent volunteers who are here today with us are: Lori Lafferty, Kandace Jameson, Beth Green, Shannon Buckley, Dawna O’Brien, Dale Hoose, Brenda Hall, Max Rodway, Leslie Lobb, Gayle Croucher...

Mr. Speaker, I would like to seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to ask about the recent announcement of Diavik diamond mine with respect to the waiving of the cost or the contribution of the employees towards travel to and from their work, so now employees who reside in southern Canada do not have to pay anything towards that travel. Certainly there was a very extensive socioeconomic agreement put in place at the time that Diavik and BHP were coming online, and our government, I believe, worked very hard to ensure that maximum benefits to northerners through the socioeconomic agreement addressing things like...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to recognize of Member of Parliament for the Western Arctic, the Honourable Ethel Blondin-Andrew, Minister of State for Northern Development; and her spouse, Mr. Leon Andrew. Also I’d like to recognize His Worship Mayor Gordon Van Tighem, the mayor of Yellowknife.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, just for clarity, in my Member’s statement, I talked about the relocation and transfer of employees. Some other Members made reference to this being a move to offer employment to people who lost their jobs as a result of the Justice closure in Hay River. In fact, Bosco Homes is a private contract; there is no opportunity to transfer. It is not the intended purpose. The gap was referred to of 18 months, but was not the intended purpose to relocate to absorb the laid-off employees from the GNWT in a private contractor’s personnel group that would be considered...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Earlier today, during Member’s statements, we heard from Members about the concern raised about relocating the Territorial Treatment Centre program from Yellowknife to Hay River. The issue of access was raised. What is the government’s policy with respect to regional access to territorial programs? There must be a policy in place which addresses this, because I know I spoke to this issue about services south of the lake until I was blue in the face in the last session. How big of a part...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I devoted an extraordinary amount of air time during the budget session to the loss of Justice jobs, programs and services in Hay River. It potentially directly impacted a total of 40 jobs. It impacted the open custody young offenders' facility, our court registry and the closure of our remand unit at the South Mackenzie Correctional Centre.

I am pleased to recognize that the planned closure of the court registry was reversed. The closure of the remand centre proceeded on April 15th, in spite of a unanimous motion of the Regular Members to reinstate the...

Thank you. I certainly recognize the fact that we lost approximately 20 government jobs at Dene K’onia, including permanent and casual, and that 20 new private sector jobs will go some ways towards mitigating the loss in the community. As far as Hay River goes as a community, has thought already been given to the profile of the community in terms of opportunity, education, and ways of integrating these young people in programming in the community? Has Hay River been assessed from that perspective? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is my understanding that the thinking that precipitated this discussion about relocating this facility and this program was related to the availability and suitability of infrastructure which the territorial government presently owns and has maintained and invested money in. I was wondering if the Minister could speak to that issue of the infrastructure to accommodate the program in Yellowknife versus Hay River at this time. Thank you.