Sandy Lee

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I just want to ask some questions, not on a specific item, although obviously reference will be made to it. On this issue of the government coming back to us to approve something that has been approved before in principle, I think that as a budgeting process that has to be reviewed.

Mr. Chairman, we have a rule in this House where normally we are not allowed to revisit things that have been decided on. We are not allowed to revisit a new motion unless it is to be rescinded. So why is it possible, why is that part of the process that a capital project as...

Thank you, Madam Speaker and colleagues. May I just conclude by saying that, Madam Speaker, we have to understand that all over the NWT we have an alarming statistic of children with severe cases of behavioural, emotional and mental health needs, whether they be caused by FASD, a dysfunctional home environment or clinical issues. This centre in Yellowknife is the only network of specialized care we have and surrounding it are a web of highly specialized services that these children desperately need.

The right thing for the government to do is to strengthen what we have so that you can serve all...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I guess that is pretty clear here, but I think there are, and I am wondering if the Minister or the government has any plans to invite those groups who might be based in Yellowknife but share an NWT focus, whether they be chambers of commerce or numerous NGOs who might have particular work or objectives that although they are based here, they are not really Yellowknife groups but are territorial-wide based who might have something useful who could gain from these workshops or to be able to contribute to these workshops. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am going to be supporting this motion and in my comments I really do not want to express in that this is a Yellowknife-versus-other-communities issue. I don’t think that sort of debate enhances the work that we do in this Assembly, and I hope that in all decisions I make in this House that it is not ever about one community versus another community.

I am sympathetic to those who lost their jobs in Hay River. I don’t think that because Hay River people lost jobs now it’s time for Yellowknife people to lose their jobs so that the Hay River people could get their jobs...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I have to state once again that the proposed transfer of the Territorial Treatment Centre is not a wise decentralization move, but a reckless dismantling of a very fragile and crucial service for children, not only at the Territorial Treatment Centre but all over the North, who increasingly require highly specialized care. Rather than building up on its fragile strength, the government is proposing to start from scratch just because it’s politically expedient. I would like to ask the government to hold off this plan until a substantive assessment has...

Could I ask the Minister who is in charge of picking delegates in Yellowknife? Where would the NGOs or persons who might want to participate in this program or in this workshop from Yellowknife go in Yellowknife to find out whether they could be picked as delegates or not?

Inaction and omission is also inaction. The Minister is getting around this rule by saying well we're coming to you now and we're saying we want to do it in another place. I don't think that is what the spirit of what this rule is.

I've always thought that myself, as a Member of this Assembly, comes here and we review our budgets, we debate our budgets, and we vote on that. I have to have comfort when I'm leaving this place that the money that I voted on will be spent the way it was voted on. The government should not be allowed to just hold off and not even have to bring to us any...

I am sorry, I didn’t catch all that. Does the Minister have the dates of when this will happen, other than it will happen in June? It is June 1st.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On that item I agree also that the proposal now to move this to another community and to use the money to renovate another building is definitely a change in scope. But I want to also point out that when the Minister gets the money from this Assembly and chooses not to spend, that definitely is a change in scope; a change in the nature of the project.

Are we going to recoup the fees and payments to get them started, or is that like operating core funding? I am talking about the $328,000 under fees and payments.