Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I request unanimous consent to return to item 6 on the Order Paper, recognition of visitors in the gallery.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thanks to the Minister and I’m really glad to hear that because I know full well that it’s not the same when everybody is not together, so I’m very glad that that’s a high priority.

We allocate money through our budgets for Arctic Winter Games and Canada Games and so on. In terms of the 2016 Games for these sports that are not covered under our allocation of funds for the Arctic Winter Games, will the cost of those games be covered for these athletes? Will they be paying the same amount as if they went to the Arctic Winter Games themselves? Will that be covered through our budget and the other...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I have some questions today for the Minister responsible for sport. With Arctic Winter Games coming up and with the Olympics on, it’s a good time for me to ask some questions about the sports that were left out of the 2016 Arctic Winter Games. It was quite a controversy last year and I know there has been some work that has been ongoing.

I would like to ask Minister McLeod if he could provide an update on arrangements for competitions for the six, I think it is, sports – I can’t remember the exact number – that were left out of the Arctic Winter Games International...

That only goes partway to what I had understood was going to be the analysis of the project. I think the previous Minister spoke to lessons learned. Certainly, there were a lot of things to be learned from that project. It started off as a P3 project, it did not end up as P3 project. Certainly in the 16th Assembly there were many comments about what we needed to do to do a comprehensive analysis of the project, where things went right, where things went wrong. I understand that the Minister says there are costs there, but I’d like to know whether or not there’s going to be a further analysis...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I have some questions addressed to the Minister of Transportation today. I’d like to get an update on the Deh Cho Bridge

It was my understanding that it was to be completed in the summer of 2013. I’d like to first of all ask the Minister, is the bridge considered completed, and if it is not, what is left to be completed and at what cost? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Yesterday I spoke briefly about the change in the advertising practice by the Department of Human Resources. I would like to further discuss our government’s recent decision to move all government job recruitment on-line.

As of October 1st, the Department of Human Resources stopped putting individual job ads and job listings in print media publications, instead opting for a half-page ad promoting itself as an employer and telling people to go on-line to look for openings.

As I said yesterday, I am concerned that this action will make it more difficult for NWT residents...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I, too, have a number of comments, and answers can come later on. I may ask further questions when we get to detail, but I just have some observations and some comments that I’d like make comparing last year to this year and so on.

I’d like to comment, first of all, about the Workforce Planning Strategy. I’m really glad that we have that and that it’s still being worked on. One of the things that we noticed, particularly in the last budget or the budget before that, was the number of retirees. I shouldn’t say number of retirees. The number of employees we have who are...

Thanks, Mr. Speaker. I think I heard the Minister say we have those numbers. All I have in the written response is the current ratio is 13 to 1 and the legislated ratio is 16 to 1. I would like to know what we are moving to, and if that’s what the Minister said that he will get for us, then I very much look forward to that information, if he could confirm, please. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister. I’m not so worried about the engagement. I know that the superintendents and the board chairs and the boards have been involved all along and that they have known about this initiative. My question is: When were they advised that their funding was going to be reduced for the ‘14-15 budget year? If the Minister doesn’t have that information, that’s fine, I can appreciate that, but it’s my understanding that it wasn’t very long ago; that they were not advised of the funding at the time the project was put forward.

The Minister mentioned that the superintendents had...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister for those numbers. The Minister said in his response that our education authorities are run by professional administrators, and I totally agree with the Minister, and I, too, have confidence in those authorities and in the trustees that run the boards, but my understanding is that it’s been fairly late notice for these reductions to the superintendents and to the boards and gives them little time to adjust.

I would like to ask the Minister, for my information, when were the education authorities advised of these reductions, these changes in pupil...