Sandy Lee

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table a letter from Arlene Hache, executive director of Yellowknife Women's Association to the editor of News/North; Bob Webber, Canadian Press; and all MLAs dated October 23, 2006. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Obviously, the Minister is stating that there is a provision on the clients affected in a situation like this, but I would think that it has something to say also about what the government in this kind of situation has to do to not interfere in getting employees and employers back together. I am suggesting that allowing these clients to be treated elsewhere and not checking to see if that is in breach of any contract is prolonging this delay. So I would like to know if the Minister could comment on what he is prepared to do, further than writing a letter, to bring...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to ask some questions to the Minister of Health and Social Services in regards to the labour situation at Nats'ejee K'eh. Mr. Speaker, I am not clear. Certainly, I sense that it is a great deal of concern to all of us that the valuable program being offered at that centre is no longer being offered, that the clients are outside of the NWT jurisdiction getting their treatment and that 22 of our employees or our residents are off the job. I do not understand exactly how we could accept the situation that looks a lot like a replacement worker...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as an immigrant to this great city of Yellowknife, from the beginning I was blessed with great teachers at the school and great family friends we met through church and other activities who helped us a lot and made it possible to get on with our life here and become contributing members of our society. Over the last 30 years I have seen Yellowknife change and become not only the biggest aboriginal community in the North, but one of the most multi-cultural cities in Canada. The vibrant aurora tourism and diamond industry and other economic opportunities have...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have a motion. I move that this committee recommends the Minister responsible for the Workers’ Compensation Board direct the workers’ advisor to draw up a proposal to provide for assistance to workers who need expert medical evidence or legal assistance with judicial reviews to move their case forward.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just briefly, I think it’s clear here there is a deadline here of the end of 2006, but I believe the officials at WCB are already aware of the recommendation, obviously, and in our discussions and in public hearings and the Auditor General’s report findings showed that WCB could do much better in communicating its programs and policies and its decisions and such in the letters and the way the staff conveys messages to injured workers and such. But I just wanted to make it clear that in speaking and in putting this motion forward, I think that the whole general issue...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a short comment I wish to make for the record. I don’t want to repeat the issues that Mr. Braden so ably put together, but I just would like to state that I think we have to look at this as a new opportunity to finally do something on this issue that has been with us for a very long time. I am encouraged. Perhaps it is not a bad thing that, as the committee presents this report that reflects the work of committee over the last number of months and it is an accumulation of the workers who came forward to tell their stories once again and the work of the Auditor...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to speak very briefly in support of the bill. I think it’s a bill that contains lots of provisions that would clean up, so to speak, or enhance or improve our election procedures and set more clear rules and guidelines on certain areas of election rules where there are more grey areas than we would want to have had.

I am in support of this bill. This is quite a lengthy bill and one of the things that it is doing is to set the time for the election and it’s now going to be known with certainty. I don’t think a lot of people who are not familiar with this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Could the Minister indicate whether this is a governmental plan to let this situation continue in that it would allow these treatment contracts to continue on indefinitely and thereby really making it less urgent for the parties to get back together? Does the government not see a huge problem in that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would suggest, though, by allowing…The Minister hasn’t answered whether or not there are any provisions in the contract with this board of this treatment centre that would prohibit the services to be placed elsewhere the way it is now. He hasn’t answered that. If the government continues to let this go on, is the government not complicit in letting the situation continue on, because it so seriously weakens the bargaining position of the workers and the union thereby not making it necessary for the employer to go back to the table? Thank you.