Robert Villeneuve

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. I move that subclause 96(3) of Bill 6 be amended by striking out "may direct" and substituting "may, in writing, direct". Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. During the public hearing in Hay River, Mayor John Pollard voiced concerns with clause 160 of the Bill, which continues the requirement for municipal governments to notify the WCB of building permits for projects in excess of an amount prescribed by regulation, which is currently set at $10,000. In his view, this provision places an excessive burden on municipalities. When the committee raised this issue with the WCB, they replied that they had not received any complaints from municipal governments that the provision is too onerous, but that a potential solution would be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am glad that the Housing Corporation is reviewing that. When can we expect this? I don’t see any real rocket science in this review, Mr. Speaker. There is a 1-800 number there. It is on the Internet. I have looked at it myself. It is not very expensive. Can the Minister seriously direct his department before they start installing these tub surrounds in those seniors’ units? Would they consider those premier bathtubs to be installed in all seniors’ units in the NWT? Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I use my Member’s statement to talk about some of the housing delivery issues and how the delivery of the housing pertains to this government’s new approach to program delivery, especially with the new income security model.

Mr. Speaker, the income security model has clearly stated that monitoring, evaluation and reporting are vital operational elements in order for this program to be successful and is based on the best available data, evidence and analysis of program recipients. I can only hope that this accountability process is diligently enforced and...

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. I move that clause 115 of Bill 6 be amended by striking out "one year" and substituting "three years".

Years of work, sorry, which began in the 14th Assembly with the Act Now report and first set of amendments to the act. The committee believes that the bill as amended represents a significant improvement over the existing legislation and will pave the way to addressing many longstanding concerns of employers, workers and Members, including those highlighted in the 2006 Auditor General’s report.

During the clause-by-clause review, the committee and Minister agreed to four amendments of a minor and technical nature in addition to the amendments already referenced earlier in this report.

Following...

Thank you. I just want to make a point that a lot of these seniors that do live in their own houses do require home care visits just for the very fact that they need a bath, Mr. Speaker, nothing more and nothing less. A bathtub like that for a lot of seniors that have mentioned it, say I wouldn’t need the home care to come over for three hours a day just to give me a bath because if I had one of these walk through ones, I could do it myself. I just want to make sure that the Housing Corporation really takes a serious look at it. It is not very much more than what the money we would save in...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I just have a request from the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation. This is just with regards to the new senior six-plex that is currently being constructed in Fort Resolution. The seniors' society is grateful for the NWT Housing Corporation moving forward expeditiously on this project and getting it done really quickly in the last few months. It has been moving forward really quickly. This is just a request from some seniors that are looking to move into this new seniors' unit. A lot of these seniors currently live in their own housing units right...

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, while some presenters felt penalties should be increased further and minimum fines be introduced, others in Fort Smith and Fort Simpson suggested that by extending off-sale, premise and liquor store hours, bootlegging would become less attractive and lucrative. For example a Tsiigehtchic resident suggested mandatory jail time as a solution while a Fort Smith town councillor commented, “I think when it comes to bootlegging, what you want to do there is try to defer that activity from happening. … But by restricting hours and restricting the amount of alcohol that’s...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know that if we…I just want to talk about basically government dollars in general related to social issues such as unemployment, poverty, education levels and the lack of opportunities and cultural identity here in the NWT. All those factors have something to do with the rates of suicide that we have here in the NWT. I think the government has to take a holistic approach when addressing suicide prevention in the smaller communities, because it certainly doesn't work with just providing suicide awareness programs at the community level. This has got to be a broad...