Sandy Lee

But especially, I'd like to take a moment to thank the hard-working staff of the committee, Mr. Speaker. I have to tell you that we did intense travels: six communities in six days, covering places like Tuktoyaktuk, Ulukhaktok, Colville Lake, Behchoko. Not the most accessible places, but the operation went like a smooth, oiled machine. I want to just express our thanks, on behalf of the committee, to the staff. I want to thank especially Mr. Robert Collinson who has the stupendous capacity to put into words all of our thoughts and everything we hear from our communities, so if I could just...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to add to this. I will be voting in favour of this motion. I just want to state that, in our committee discussions about all that we heard, we were quite puzzled by the fact that, as of now, there is only one family services committee in the communities and that is in Fort McPherson. We also recalled when we were in Fort McPherson about a year ago, we were told that up to one-third of children in that community were being apprehended. I think the community felt really important that day getting to action and set up a committee and to not only deal with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this being the last day of the session before August, I would like to take a moment to highlight the activities of the Range Lake North School and Range Lake constituency.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate the Grade 6 boys and girls soccer teams who took both banners in the recent Super Soccer tournament. I would also like to take a moment to recognize the work of Range Lake North School Parents Advisory Group who has completed another successful family fun night a few weeks ago. This is a one night event where they raise over $10,000. They have...

Most importantly, if we don’t do this, we are increasing the chance of Nunavut going ahead with the port in Keewatin. Mr. Speaker, surely Members would not think that it’s better off for North Slave to not have a bridge and make it favourable for Nunavut. So, Mr. Speaker, I do not agree with the philosophy and the pretext of this motion because it does not do what I think we all should do, which is get behind this bridge 1,000 percent because it’s going to benefit us and it’s going to cost less doing it this way than any other way and this is the best time to do it than any other time we...

But, Mr. Speaker, let me tell you, I have been through many, many briefings where the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation and the Community Alliance sees this as a great opportunity for them to partake in all the activities that are going on in North Slave area that they have not been able to take advantage of. They’re not near the diamond mines, they’re not near anywhere in the pipeline corridor, this is going to be a P3 partnership project where they will be able to get some profit out of this so that they can spend that money to invest in their communities. Anybody who questions about the value of...

Mr. Speaker…Mr. Speaker, let me conclude by saying, if I may, if I may conclude by saying…

That’s what governments do. Governments build schools, they build hospitals, they build roads. We don’t always ask what’s in it for us in terms of profit. These are public infrastructure and governments are supposed to do that.

Mr. Speaker, for anybody to say that we are sort of putting this in the front of the queue at the expense of another, has not done enough research. Mr. Speaker, people out there expect us to act on some of the things. This has been on the books for eight years. I will submit to you, Mr. Speaker, this is one of the rare projects that actually went through a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think there is a need for the government to do more and do everything we can to create job opportunities for summer students while they are here. It enhances their work experience as well as giving them extra resources that they could use to go to school, which his very important. Could I ask the Minister to vamp it up a little bit and get more proactive and ask the departments to look for opportunities. If they have money in the budget to spend, if they could create jobs to make sure as many students are hired as possible. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Human Resources and it’s with regard to the summer student employment. Mr. Speaker, since the Minister made a statement a few days ago about the status of the summer student situation and the questions I asked yesterday or the day before about the fact that there appears to be a lot less summer students being hired this year than in previous years, I have received more phone calls from parents who really feel that this government is reducing the number of student jobs available. The Minister is indicating that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That concludes the Report of the Standing Committee on Social Programs on Matters Related to the Child and Family Services Act. Therefore, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Sahtu, that Committee Report 3-15(6), be received and moved into Committee of the Whole for consideration. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.