Sandy Lee

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the past, the government provided funding for private sectors to hire summer students. I’m just wondering if that's included in the progressive employment or the other category that the Minister mentioned that I can’t remember. Can the Minister indicate as to what assistance is available for the private sector to hire summer students? Thank you.

Thank you. Is this a top up to the existing budget or are we allocating a budget to something that has been done without a budget?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask questions to the Minister of Human Resources and it’s in regards to the Minister’s statement he made yesterday about the summer student employment. Mr. Speaker, the Minister stated that in 2006 the GNWT provided employment to 343 summer students, and as of this week 195 students have been hired. I want to ask the Minister whether or not the number of student employment positions available has been reduced this year, because on the streets parents and university students are suggesting that government is not hiring as many summer students. A...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am wondering if this means that we may be going toward having to have another Territorial Court judge at the territorial level, not at the Supreme Court level. This is something that came up. For example, when we were dealing with public hearings on the Child and Family Services Act where there will be an apprehension time that might be brought forward more. We also recently passed legislation that would increase the access for legal aid lawyers and generally there is a slow process in the courts. The number of Territorial Court judges, I think there are four...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I join my colleagues here today to declare alcohol abuse and alcoholism our public enemy number one. Mr. Speaker, there’s nothing else that harms us more and creates more sorrow and hardship and prevents us from moving ahead and being the best that we can be than the overuse and abuse of alcohol. Inappropriate use of alcohol is condemning unaccounted numbers of our children to lifelong conditions of FASD and FAE. Alcohol abuse is keeping our residents out of schools and workplaces and into hospitals and jails. Alcohol abuse is a quick segue to our people...

Thank you. Just to be clear then, this is for the drafting of the law. How long will that take to bring forward? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a question under 2007-08 new initiative for $100,000 for delivery of ground ambulance and highway rescue services. It is on page 14, just before the hospital federal health care funding priorities. I know that this is something that has been in the works for a while because there is unclear jurisdiction and responsibilities with respect to this and lack of consistent rules about who is responsible for paying for ground ambulance and highway rescue services. I know there has been a study done on this to figure out what to do between Health and Social Services...

Mr. Speaker, I just want to close by saying that alcohol abuse and alcoholism is the number one public enemy in the Northwest Territories and we have to take this seriously, and I think in a positive way this is the number one solution. Once we address this, we will have a healthier population; we’ll have reduced costs in hospitals; we’ll have less people in jail; we will have less kids going through family violence, less women being violated. It is the key to our future and we must denormalize abuse and negative impacts of alcohol. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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…capacity. So would the Minister commit to coming up with a focussed strategy by August?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think the key to this is that it has to be focussed, easy to understand, concerted, and it has to be well-resourced; there has to be big money behind that. It has to be community-based; it has to be undertaken by people in communities and every community has to be able to make their own choice about how to deal with it and get totally involved. We also, I think, I believe in communities where there are no RCMP, I think having an alcohol and drug control officer who could enforce the laws that are already in the books about prohibition and control of...