Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to say it’s a good day today for the seniors of the Northwest Territories, and by thanking the Minister and thanking this government for delaying the implementation of charging seniors rent until September. Also, to go a little further, then to implement a two-phased approach to the seniors’ rent by giving them the opportunity to look at the reasons why we’re going to implement the rent at a lower cost than what the Minister and the government really wanted to do.

Today is the beginning of June and I guess there is Christmas in June also, because it’s a good...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Minister has been telling us, the people and the public, through the newspapers, and telling everybody that we really need to watch our financial spending for the next couple of years before we start to look at how we reap what we sow in year three and four. The Minister, for me, has his hands on the pulse of the fiscal. He’s like when these big planes are flown and there’s the pilot and the co-pilot and he is navigator. The navigator is there to tell you how much fuel you have, what kind of weather, where it’s raining, everything. The Minister is like that within...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Minister is challenged with many, many challenges. Of course, our system is bulging at the seams with all the needs that we want in the communities that we face. As my colleague talked about Tsiigehtchic, it’s no different than talking about Colville Lake. It’s the same situation. It’s a different town, different time, and situations like that. The Health department is doing its best to get into the community from time to time and be there longer than a couple hours or a couple days. Thank God we have some pretty dedicated people that just need to deal with the...

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

---Unanimous consent granted

I’ll get to that area when we talk about the modernization of this act. I want to definitely see the nurse practitioners in there and how we can continue to support them in their efforts and make it easier for us, and I hope we can have some fruitful discussion when we get to that area. I’m just lending my support to those professions.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to ask the Minister, and maybe it might be in another section of the business plans, on the principle of the Nurse Practitioner Program. I’m not too sure if it’s in here or fits in this section or later on on these positions that are within the department of within the health board, so we have some graduates this year.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. It is my hope that our region and other regions will be treated fairly and acknowledged once and for all that our currency has been stretched to the limit in all of our communities. Please, we need help from this government.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To live in the North it is very costly. We all know how much it is costing us to live in our small communities, even in Yellowknife. When we come to Yellowknife or when we travel to Edmonton, we do the necessary things. We have to shop. We do this to seize the opportunity to bring back cheap groceries, clothing or material. A lot of our people are shocked to see how much things cost in Yellowknife. I am definitely in awe to see the prices in Edmonton. It has been reported by our government that to live reasonably well in Sachs Harbour, you would have to make about $95...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I look forward to the Minister’s information. Just on the principle again of the nurse practitioners, and the Minister can correct me if this is the place where I need to continue digging into this or just ask about it later on in the business plan, but I am asking the Minister on the principle in the policy of these active positions, if they’re working closely with the Sahtu Health Board or the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority, or any other authorities we have on these valuable positions and people that we have hired. Is there a policy in health that...

Madam Speaker, I give notice that on Thursday, June 7, 2012, I will move the following motion: Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Weledeh, that this Legislative Assembly strongly recommends that the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation delay implementation of the proposed changes to the seniors public housing rent scales until the corporation conducts a thorough and transparent consultation process with seniors across the Northwest Territories;

And further, that the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation develop and bring forward to the Standing Committee on...