Sandy Lee

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have a couple of questions to put on record of some of the concerns and questions of clarifications that came up during our committee process. One is, I would like to ask the Minister and his staff if they could give one example or situation that symbolizes the need for having this legislation. Why was there a need to include volunteers and students in the definition of employee? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A short final supplementary. My riding of Range Lake was a great beneficiary of George Jones' concert. We had lots of people from all of the communities at Tim Hortons. Even without any prodding, I have had people from Tuktoyaktuk and Paulatuk telling me, "We don’t want any trailers in my home town." They have already heard about this. There is nothing confidential about the 1,400 Novel trailers. If the Minister is not going to give us this information, I want to know when he is prepared to ask the Joe Punches of Trout Lake and all the people in Tuktoyaktuk and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have to tell you that this proposal was received without a lot of…It was not very well received, let me just say. There were just lots of questions that the Minister has not been able to answer at the committee level.

Instead of providing the information that Members need to make good sound judgment about such a mega project, he has taken the initiative to invite anybody who wants to come and see this trailer in Calgary. I have to tell you, Mr. Speaker, there are some really nice trailers in my riding. I know what a trailer looks like. I don’t need to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to set aside the whole issue about getting money from the federal government. That is totally another issue, and it doesn't really matter how much money we get, it is how we fund our programs. Let me tell you, in this House, all the people that work for us, they still get paid if Members don't show up, if one of us don't show up. Why is it then okay for day care not to be paid if a child doesn't show up? That makes no sense. Overhead costs are exactly the same. I would like to ask the Premier to look at questions like that, about are we being fair in our...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my understanding is that this issue has been going on and there have been problems expressed to the Minister, difficulties that the society has been experiencing for the last year. I don't know why it has taken until the midnight hour to figure this out.

Could I ask the Premier, if the director provides the government with the information, would the Premier work with the Minister of ECE to do all that the government can do to keep that facility open, and give them the reasonable assistance that they need to get through? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In 1978, when I came to Canada and spoke no English whatsoever, my first best friend who taught me English was from Newfoundland, and her name was Rhonda Rodgers. Denny Rodgers is Rhonda Rodgers’ little brother who was in grade school. Now he is here as a chair of WCB, and his daughter here is paging. That really makes you think about how life runs its course as it should. It is a great pleasure for me to recognize Mr. Rogers in the gallery. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak today in support of a public awareness campaign that will be launched at noon in the Great Hall tomorrow by the Yellowknife Foster Family Association. Mr. Speaker, as much as it is our fervent desire that every child have a safe and healthy home, sadly this is not the reality in our society, especially so in the North. When there is a child in need of alternative care, often we rely on foster families to step in and fill the need. In an effort to raise awareness and encourage caring individuals to become foster parents, and to encourage...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to do one follow-up on that, and that is, I don’t think we can assume that the contract that the Department of Health might have with the Centre for Northern Families or a women’s shelter will be the same as the YWCA providing a contract under protection against violence legislation. The government may enter into contacts where the core part of that contract is to reveal personal information. Then you may get into another contract where the personal information about somebody is completely irrelevant to the carrying out of that contract. When you...

Thank you, Madam Chair. My second question has to do with something that’s mentioned in our committee report, and it has to do with the presentation made by Ms. Hache. We had a really good debate and discussions about this during the public hearing process, and the question she had was whether or not she, or any other NGOs, would be obliged to give confidential information to bodies like Yellowknife Health Authority or groups like hers who enter into a lot of contracts. She had a fear of sort of being blended in with the rest of the government apparatus, and, thereby, being required to...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the Standing Committee on Social Programs met to review Bill 3, An Act to Amend the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, on June 20th and October 11, 2005, in Yellowknife; on June 22nd in Fort Smith; on June 25th in Hay River; and on June 27th in Fort Resolution.

The committee would like to thank the Minister and all the witnesses who spoke on the bill. The committee heard concerns about Bill 3 from one witness, Ms. Arlene Hache from the Centre for Northern Families. Ms. Hache expressed concerns that the bill would have the effect of...