Sandy Lee

Mr. Speaker, the emergence and prosperity of the diamond mine industry have benefited our city and many surrounding communities enormously. However, if this labour dispute continues for much longer, more workers may choose to leave the city, as some have done already, and we will lose much of what we have gained. We will lose not only the skilled tradespeople, but also their spouse, many of whom are employed in many important sectors in our economy, whether they be teachers, nurses or small business operators. Goodness knows, Mr. Speaker, we cannot afford to lose any of them from our...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate his answer in this regard and I could advise him that I’d like to continue to work with Cabinet and the Minister on this project and overall long-term care strategy for all those in need in the Territories, because I think the national trend and all the health indicators suggest that it’s better to have our people in need of care outside of the hospital setting and in communities. So, Mr. Speaker, I’m just wondering, for those who are not aware of the business plan and capital process, when would it be that those parties could be advised as to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I realize there are lots of VIPs in the gallery and everyone else I would like to welcome them, but there are a group of people that are really important and they are the senior citizens from Aven’s Court. It includes, of course, my mother and all her neighbours. I would like to welcome my mother, Taejeong Lee, and the lady who lives behind her, Sandra Taylor, the lady who lives next to her, Esther Braden, and the man who lives across from the field, Mr. Ed Jeske, and Vivian Squires who just started working for the Seniors' Society and is looking after...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on this, the very first occasion to speak in this Fifth Session of the 15th Assembly, I'd like to take this opportunity to speak about something that has been at the forefront of my mind over the least seven weeks, and that is the labour dispute between Ekati diamond mine and its bargaining unit, the Union of Northern Workers.

Mr. Speaker, I believe I join everyone else in the House when I say how encouraged we are that the parties are back at the negotiating table as we speak, and how much we wish, in the interest of all parties involved, that they will...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is what’s most frustrating about this exercise that’s been going on for a very long time, because I don’t believe that the Minister and the governance council, from all of my meetings, that they really understand the QSR has a different problem than the rest of them. I am not interested in Minister talking about what his experience is like as a regular insurance payer because that tells me he does not recognize the unique circumstances under which this group finds themselves in, and they need attention, and they need careful review, and that has not...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As always, the Minister is burning up valuable question period time defending the status quo and not answering my question. Mr. Speaker, if he wishes, I’d be happy to go over the whole list. You know, I could do that just as well. My question is very simple, Mr. Speaker. Even with the subsidy, there are no categories that I have in front of me that have seen a 25 percent maximum increase four years in a row. These groups are stuck, and there’s nobody telling them what they can do to get out. There’s no way for them to get out of a different category. There’s no...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to speak today once again in support of the cause of the quick service restaurants in Yellowknife. As you are well aware, this issue has been on the front burner for a number of us, and I am not sure we are getting any closer to resolving and addressing some very real and legitimate concerns that these QSRs have. Make no mistake about it, Mr. Speaker; unless the WCB, the Minister and the governance council do something positive and do something soon, we risk putting some of these businesses out of business, Mr. Speaker. I am not going to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, would the Minister ask the governance council to at least take a leadership role? I mean, if he’s just going to ask the governance council and have the governance council come back and say, I could do that job just as well. You know? I could write a letter to the governance council and he could come back and say sorry, Ms. Lee, I considered your option and it ain’t going to happen. So I’d like to know what he can do as the Minister of WCB responsible for the portfolio and who’d have to answer to if businesses go down, what’s he prepared to do as a Minister...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are to Mr. Dent and it’s following up on my Member’s statement. Mr. Speaker, we have a situation here where businesses like Tim Horton’s, McDonald’s, Quizno’s, Pizza Hut and all those businesses that are in Yellowknife have seen the increase of WCB rates at maximum levels for four years in a row. That’s more than double over four years. I have, in front of me, assessment rates for the last three years for all the other categories that WCB has, and no one has seen that kind of increase four years in a row. They have been doing everything they...

Thank you. So I’m understanding that this is the government spending on government employees as a government employer, not as the government as the health service provider under the Department of Health budget. Is that right?