Sandy Lee

Range Lake

Statements in Debates

Debates of , (day 14)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t believe the Premier has answered the question, and that is doing his part to not just do the letters. How many letters can you write? Does he not think, based on the information that he has, that what happened is not important enough for him to take more action than writing letters? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , (day 13)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I could tell the Minister that the last time I checked, about a month ago, there were at least six seniors waiting for low cost, not social housing, but low rent housing in the Northern United Place. There are dozens of people waiting for housing in Aven Manor. That tells me there are over 20. Even if there are 10 new units being built in Yellowknife, that would only meet half of the need. I think there is a way to solve this without government actually building senior citizens’ housing. There is a partnership that can be done with the government and...

Debates of , (day 13)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My supplementary question is also to Minister Miltenberger in his responsibility for senior citizens, but I understand this has also to do with the Housing Minister. Mr. Speaker, we have needs for the seniors in terms of those who are suffering from dementia and who have special needs, but also seniors who can function quite independently but for financial or physical needs are not able to be in the marketplace. Does the Minister, as the Minister responsible for Seniors, have any idea to see what the needs are for seniors in terms of their differing housing needs?...

Debates of , (day 13)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. Mr. Speaker, I believe it is a very good thing that more and more senior citizens, especially in Yellowknife, are choosing to retire in the North. I believe that they add to the wholeness of our society, and make us more complete. Next week following the session is Senior Citizens’ Week, and I am going to put the Minister responsible for Seniors, Minister Miltenberger, on notice, and Cabinet, that I am going to make the senior issues -- and there are many of them -- a sort of a theme topic for me to pursue during this short session. Thank you...

Debates of , (day 13)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have things so well for the seniors, maybe we could just pack up and go home since everything has been dealt with. Surely we know that’s not the case. Mr. Speaker, I believe most of the programs that the Minister has indicated are in the amounts of hundreds of dollars here, hundreds of dollars there, fixing this and fixing that. I do believe that the Minister has to agree that there are no programs currently that would help seniors to get into a low-cost unit for those who have fixed pension income or some sort of income. It’s a nest egg, but it’s probably too large...

Debates of , (day 13)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Further to my statement earlier, I would like to ask questions to the Minister responsible for Seniors, Minister Miltenberger. Obviously there are many issues pertaining to seniors that one can address in this House, but I would like to start with the housing needs. There is quite a bit of backup with respect to seniors’ housing. We have a lack of facilities for those who are suffering from dementia and they are currently being placed at the hospital, which costs a lot more on a day-to-day basis than if we were to have a separate facility to house the health and...

Debates of , (day 13)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as a legislator, I believe in the principle that the performance of a government is measured by how well we take care of the most vulnerable in our society. One of the most vulnerable I believe are our seniors, Mr. Speaker, and I am glad to see two distinguished seniors, Ed Jeske and Esther Braden, in the gallery.

Mr. Speaker, I must tell you that our seniors need the help of this government to deal with the housing crisis. In Yellowknife in particular, Mr. Speaker, our housing market is on a runaway train. The lack of supply to meet overwhelming demands...

Debates of , (day 12)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the Members for making it possible to conclude our session here with these motions being proposed. Mr. Speaker, I obviously speak in favour of this motion. It is really disheartening, Mr. Speaker, for a returning Member like myself to have to go through what we have gone through in the last two weeks. We like to think that what we say here matters and that what we fight about is remembered, but for some reason, after we have gone through all that we went through with regard to the North Slave Correctional Centre for what seemed like forever in the...

Debates of , (day 12)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have been provided with a package of information that we understand was used by Cabinet. There is a figure of how much it costs to buy a mobile home somewhere, something like $65,000, and they put five percent premium, 10 percent premium, 15 percent premium. I really was under the impression that Cabinet operates with better information than this. Mr. Speaker, the government has already engaged in the exemption of BIP on two major projects, and I cannot believe that they do this without taking into consideration the cost of it. Mr. Speaker, the cost...

Debates of , (day 12)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, further to my statement today, my question goes to the Minister of RWED. Mr. Speaker, I strongly believe that this could have been done much better, that we could be providing the necessary housing for the professionals in the community, but if it was done the right way and if there was plenty of planning going on we could have involved the local businesses. Instead we are in a situation where we have a three-month deadline for the barge in June, and we have to find the cheapest way possible. So, Mr. Speaker, in an ideal world I expect these seven...