Kevin A. Menicoche

Thank you, Madam Chair. The committee wishes to consider Bill 4, An Act to Amend the Education Act.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I cannot be in favour of something that doesn’t have an adequate dispute resolution attached to it. With that, I will end my comments. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am glad the Minister clarified some of the allowables, as it were. I don’t know; my gut feeling tells me it’s an uncomfortable amendment. I know it’s already in there, but this particular amendment is uncomfortable to me. I don’t think it’s really thought out. Once again, we end up in a situation where something sounds like a good idea when we discuss it in generally, but when we put it into practicalities, it just doesn’t work out. I think here is another system that is just not going to work out because it’s the individual, the taxpayer, who is going to end up...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. With respect to the amendments on Bill 9, I, too, would like to voice my concern with respect to the municipalities being able to collect outstanding fees that are owed to them through the taxation bill. It is laid out clearly here in the chair's opening remarks of the dispute mechanism that is noticeably absent. Already in the small communities, people are disputing their taxation bill because of overlaps of band and territorial government land issues or just confusion of who owns what land. That confusion already exists. Now we are also giving...

Mr. Chairman, the committee wishes to consider Bill 8 and Bill 9.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With respect to the procurement of office space in Fort Simpson, that’s exactly what has happened, Mr. Speaker. There was no opportunity given to this other provider. He’s got office space. It’s a prefabricated building, which is like a trailer. One of the reasons he was given, Mr. Speaker, is because it’s a trailer-type office space and the government says they don’t even consider that. If I asked a written question today to ask the government to list all the trailers that we do rent throughout the NWT, I am sure it’ going to be there. This reason is not acceptable...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the honourable Minister of Public Works and Services with regard to the procurement practices of our government. Recently in Fort Simpson, the PWS leased some office space locally, and I am here to say that I don’t think it was done properly in following a proper procurement process. There were no tenders put in the newspapers or asking the general public to bid on the contracts, Mr. Speaker. So I would like to ask the Minister today, what is the procurement process when you are looking for office spaces in our regions and communities?...

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I guess I have to ask the right question. Can the taxpayer lose everything he owns because he owes an outstanding water and sewer bill, yet his taxes remain paid up? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I guess I just have difficulty in playing a part in allowing somebody to lose their house and their land because they owe a library fine and they refuse to pay it for whatever reason, but they are maintaining their land taxes diligently, as many hard-working people do. If they have a dispute over water and sewer services and they aren’t paying it, it appears that we are allowing a system where they can lose access to their house and land because we are allowing the municipalities to tack on these bills and outstanding fees on the taxation bills. As a government, we...