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. As my final supplementary on this issue, which we know we’re going to continue to work on, Mr. Speaker, could I just ask the Minister to reconfirm his support for this project and similar projects in the North for the seniors? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to take this first opportunity this session to ask a question to Minister of Health and Social Services and on an issue that he’s quite familiar with. It has to do with the efforts of the Yellowknife community to build the Alzheimer’s facility in the city, Mr. Speaker. This has been something that has been worked on by the YACCS and other senior leaders of the city for a very long time. A couple of years ago there was a suggestion by YACCS to the government for them to finance the money that was required to build the building as long as there...

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 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, 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. Chairman. On that, I understand these expenditures are for the increasing dental premiums and medical travel assistance. Is that right? I’d like to get some information on what the explanation is for these increases. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.