Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, would the Minister have a ballpark figure on what we would spend on medical travel, excluding that portion which is emergency medical travel which requires specialized equipment and aircraft? I just want the general, mainline carriers. What would we spend in a year on medical travel, approximately? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister has made reference to consulting the 19 Members of this House and I very much appreciate that and would look forward to having a look at those options once they’ve been generated. He did mention that these options were coming from within the department, so they’re internal options that are being brought forward and I’d just like to know if he’s had any early responses from any of the stakeholders in these areas as to how they would receive this change. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development. Mr. Speaker, everybody seems to be referring to newspaper articles today. I have an article here from the Yellowknifer, November 12th, 2003, and the headline reads, “Handley says RWED will be Split in Two: Potential Premier Provides Commitment to Upgrade Tourism.” I’d like to ask the Minister, Mr. Bell, what is the status of any kind of a plan or a study or anything to undertake such a thing as splitting RWED? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Also in keeping with the comment that I made in my Member's statement, I was quite shocked and appalled to have learned from income support clients who had received gifts of cash to buy gifts for their children over the Christmas holidays, that when they deposit that in their account and their bank statement is provided to the income support worker, that that was in fact also treated as income and clawed back. I just want to get it on the record from the Minister, is a cash gift at Christmas considered income to a low-income family for the purposes of assessing income...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Dent. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister what kind of training and credentials are possessed by and required by people who work in our communities as income support workers. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. We need well-trained and compassionate people acting on commonsense and compassionate policies and guidelines dealing with people in need in our communities. Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Also with respect to other sources such as IBA payments, I'd like to ask the Minister what is the status of the government's deliberations on determining whether income benefit agreement payments should be considered as income, or compensation or restitution for land and resources of the people that receive them? Is it income or is it compensation? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think it's very important that we nail that down and figure that out, because the people who come into income support offices do need a lot of assistance and are in a very vulnerable situation most of the time. I'd also like to ask the Minister what support services do these workers have at their disposal, and are they required to refer clients to those services in the communities, such as the ones I referred to in my Member's statement, so that they might not just be back on income support forever, that they might get the kind of help that they need?...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize the well-known local artist and musician and broadcaster, journalist Mr. Paul Andrew.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, since my constituency office reopened after the new year, we have had an extraordinary number of constituents contacting us regarding concerns with income support. I think all of us can attest to the fact that December is a higher-than-usual month for expenditures. First of all, it’s the middle of winter. Utilities and many other costs are at the highest they will be throughout the year. It’s also Christmastime and it’s difficult for anyone not to overextend themselves at this time of giving and sharing with family and friends. It’s no different for...