Sandy Lee

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if he and this government operates under that policy, how does the government have credibility and justification to force all of the northern multi-national corporations in their obligations to hire northern, buy northern and do things northern? How can the Minister and the government have any credibility in insisting that when they don’t even practice their own principle? Thank you.

Just as a short follow-up, Madam Chair. I know that people listen to what goes on here just when we don’t think that they are. One observer e-mailed me to let me know that there was an ad in the paper, in News/North, asking for a tender to renovate one of the clinics, I think it was Great Slave Clinic. She heard the Minister in the House going back and forth about options of consolidating clinics and she wanted to know if there were any plans to consolidate these, then why are we renovating one of these clinics. For the benefit of the public and for me, could the Minister give some...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I believe this is where we deal with the contracts for physicians. Correct me if I’m wrong. No? Okay, I will wait for the right area for that question, sorry. Here is also where I could, I think, speak about infections and diseases. Madam Chair, I know, from having been through a lot of briefings, that the GNWT also tops the national stats on the rate of infectious diseases, including sexually-transmitted diseases. I think this section deals with all of them. I know that the department is trying to increase their activities in this area and I think that the...

Yes, on that point, yesterday, Madam Chair, you were asking whether there was any piece of good news that we could speak about. I think there has been some good news about less drinking and there are fewer people being caught drinking and driving. Even though the laws have been made to be more stringent and restricting over the last Christmas, I think the statistics there turned out to be a lot better than it was in the past.

Staying on the prevention of FASD and what the government is doing and what kind of work is being done on this issue, what are we expecting to come out of the discussions...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the government’s commitment to make sure that all the communication and consultation is done. Mr. Speaker, one of the recommendations that the plan makes is to develop, publicize and implement community-based hunting rules and territory hunting regulations in order to avoid wounding and wastage of wildlife. I think there could never be enough promotion and publicizing of the importance of hunting responsibly. Could I ask the Premier to direct these officials to make sure that this is done properly and well? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In fact, one of the objectives of the committee is to ensure that the plan is implemented and information about progress on management actions is shared with all stakeholders and users. Mr. Speaker, I might add that most of the plan is about how to monitor and manage the herd better. One of the things that the plan recommends is that the GNWT change the regulations with regard to the quotas and the numbers. We know that, being here for so many years, wildlife legislation has been in the works for a very long time. It hasn’t been introduced. Could I ask the Premier...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker I would like to take this opportunity to comment on the Bathurst Caribou Management Plan, tabled in the House this week. Mr. Speaker, my riding of Range Lake is most noticeable as the home of national chain stores like Wal-Mart and Canadian Tire. But what many may not know is that it is also home to many avid hunters, both aboriginal and non-aboriginal. In fact, Mr. Speaker, I have to tell you, I was quite surprised at how often the issues of rights and privileges of game hunting came up during my door-to-door campaign. This is an intense passion for...

Thank you for that. I will be watching this issue and will pursue it at a later time.

I see on page 6-22 it says that this division is responsible for physician negotiations, vital statistics registration, acute and long-term care planning and other things. I just want to throw in here a question about the fact that the physician negotiations have been completed and the contract is good for the next four years. We know that the bargaining is going on between the government and the UNW that includes the nurses and other health care professionals. I wonder, because I am very intrigued by what...

Thank you, Madam Chair. On the basis of what the Minister just said, I have two questions. One is, given the difficulty associated with this commission and the fact that it’s so hard to determine diagnoses, is it safe to say that we do not have a mechanism yet to identify FASD as a specific disability nor do we do that in terms of determining treatment or benefits or the people with suspected FASD? Are there cases where people have been specifically diagnosed as having FASD and, once they are, are there accompanying programs they can enter into, or is it a case where the people who are...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I’m assuming that we’re on page 6-17 or 16. If that’s so, I’d like to ask questions under policy in order to highlight an item that the Social Programs committee discussed that is to do with the FASD policy government-wide.

Madam Chair, I think we are all aware of this issue as an emerging potential catastrophe in the North. I think we’re just not aware to what extent this is an issue. We know it’s an issue, we just don’t know what it looks like. I think that if we don’t know what it looks like, it is really hard for the government to plan for it and come up with...