Sandy Lee

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to report to the Assembly that the Standing Committee on Social Programs has reviewed Bill 6, Engineering and Geoscience Professions Act; Bill 7, Pharmacy Act; and Bill 12, Garnishment Remedies Statutes Amendment Act, and wishes to report that Bills 6, 7 and 12 are now ready for Committee of the Whole, as amended and reprinted. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If you listen to the answer just given by the Premier, I think one has to notice how passive that answer is. It speaks about what the Prime Minister did or did not do, what Mr. Flaherty did or Mr. Prentice did. I see nowhere there what actions precisely the Premier has to take that shows that he understands that time is running out for the GNWT. The pipeline is going to go and we are going to have no deal and we are going to be sitting there like a loser. I would like to know exactly, in concrete terms, what can he show us that gives him any comfort that Mr. Harper has...

Mr. Speaker, I think there is a huge distinction with somebody saying, a Prime Minister saying, you have to show us that you are ready for business. You do that by approving a pipeline when there is no mention there whatsoever that he is ready to come to us with a resource revenue sharing deal. There is no mention of that whatsoever. There is no indication of this in the statement, Mr. Speaker, and that should concern us all.

Mr. Speaker, I think Canadians have learned that the Prime Minister is quite clear on what he wants to do and what he doesn’t want to do. People like him for that, or...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is good to see a lot of people in the gallery. As always, Mr. Speaker, I hope that I am not recognizing people who have already been recognized, but I would like to recognize one of my constituents, Ken Woodley, who is also with UNW. I would also like to recognize Arlene Hache and Carrie King. There are nurses in the gallery whose issues will be brought forward in the House in the days to come. Sorry, I don’t want to get their names wrong, but they know who they are. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to say again that this federal government has been very quick in doing things that they want to do. They have been very quick and they are operating on the assumption that they have a very limited time. We should be concerned that they have shown nothing, they have done nothing, indicated nothing that shows us that they are going to have this deal. So I would like to know and I can’t go just by what the Premier is saying, so could he produce some evidence from the Premier, a transcript from the meeting, a letter from the Prime Minister, a letter from Prentice...

Mr. Speaker, my question to the Premier is, how could he possibly think that the Prime Minister coming to our home saying you are not going to see anything until you approve the pipeline is a good deal for us? How does he interpret it that way? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are also on the sessional statement that the Premier made earlier today. Mr. Speaker, I was listening to it very closely and I noticed that the first six or seven pages or so are talking about the bread and butter programs that the government has been providing. I might add also that most of the money for those programs come from the previous federal programs like a New Deal for Canada, community capacity building, even $500 million funding that comes from the previous government.

I think we have to be all concerned about the lack of progress...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to speak in this House to express my deep concern about the federal government’s recent move to cut funding for very valuable NGO programs in the North. It is unthinkable to me, Mr. Speaker, that the federal government would cut $17.7 million in literacy funding when 42 percent of Canadians struggle with basic reading and writing. It should be a great concern to all northerners that, between just four groups, NWT Literacy Council, Volunteers NWT, Smart Communities and the French Cultural Association, our community...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as you can see in the gallery today, we have a very special person joining us along with her kindergarten class, friends and family. That is Mrs. Toni Auge from Range Lake North School.

Mr. Speaker, for 41 marvellous years Mrs. Auge has taught literally hundreds, or even in the thousands, of young minds a lifelong love of learning and caring for others around them. She began teaching in 1965 in New Zealand and has taught in Yellowknife since 1970. She taught in the teepee class at Mildred Hall and at the Yellowknife Playschool, at Sissons, and since it...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate his answer, but I am not sure if I got as much commitment as I would like to see, Mr. Speaker. I just want to build on his first answer and say yesterday in the House we talked about the merit of this government spending $320,000 to do a review on an office building. Mr. Speaker, a program like this, we are talking $20,000 or $30,000 a year to keep these youth off the streets and into a program where they can engage in healthy activities. Can I ask the Minister to make a commitment here to say that he will review this and he will do all he can to revive...