Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. I would like to ask the Minister if he has witnesses he would like to bring into the Chamber.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said in my Member’s statement, it’s a pleasure to have the Grade 6 students from Hay River in the gallery today. I would like to name them if they could just quickly jump up so we can see you. First of all, before we do that, Ginny Groenheyde, one of their teachers and Bob White is one of the teachers. Also from the PA school, Carolyn Carroll and I would also like to recognize my assistant Wendy Morgan who put a lot of work into this. Now for the students: Keisha Kipling, Jaeda Larocque, Ben Corneau, Allee Geade, Madison Sabel, Tanya Maher, Irene...

Thank you. I would like to ask Mr. Roland if he has opening comments.

I call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of the committee? Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am astounded at the Premier’s willingness, given the track record here and given the circumstances; I am still baffled by the one-more-time concept. I don’t know why he would put himself in that kind of exposure. It’s a job. What Mr. Zoe does for this House is a job. We place confidence in people to do certain jobs. Amongst ourselves we say let’s give that person that job. I don’t think he’s doing Mr. Zoe any service by putting this kind of pressure on him. This is not something that somebody has within their own power to change. I think he is putting Mr. Zoe in a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, just in follow-up to that, the Premier is asking the Members of this House to have confidence along with him that something like this is never going to happen again. Mr. Speaker, we all know that these kinds of issues do not go away by themselves. People struggle with these kinds of things their entire lives. This is not something that you can just wave a magic wand. It takes serious effort, serious commitment and serious work in order to overcome some of these things. We know that. So the Premier is asking us to have confidence in him, but how...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What does the Premier have to say to the people of the Northwest Territories who come here from other jurisdictions who are hardworking contributors to the northern society? What does he have to say to those people about whom these comments were made? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in follow-up to the questions to the Premier with respect to the Member’s statement and the response of Mr. Zoe to this very serious matter, I would like to ask the Premier more questions.

As a preamble what I want to say is I don’t think we can negate the body language we are getting from Mr. Zoe in the House here, for which I also call the Premier responsible. I am not seeing a person one bit sorry or taking responsibility. I am seeing someone sitting over there shaking their head at me with a big attitude. That is not helping his case, might I say.

I...

Thank you, Mr. Roland. General comments on the bill? Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Premier wanted the job as Premier. He wanted to be the leader and now it’s time to show some leadership. What is the purpose of delaying action with respect to this conduct that has been displayed by Mr. Zoe? What is the delay? Are you worried about hurting his feelings? Are you worried about embarrassing him? Are you worried that no one else can do the job? What is the purpose of a delay? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.