Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have a few comments I want to make about the budget. I will, no doubt, have specific questions and comments when we get to various departments, but I have a number of sort of overview comments that I would like to make.

I think at the outset I want to appreciate that, as the Finance Minister and the department have told us a number of times, we have huge unmet infrastructure needs and the government is doing its best to try and meet those needs. I think my difficulties lie in where the money is allocated. I don’t necessarily agree with the budget that we have before us...

Thanks, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. I do agree that it was unfortunate, and I don’t believe that it’s a situation that should happen again. I appreciate the Minister’s comments that maybe it shouldn’t happen again.

He’s suggesting that he’s going to set something in place. I’d like to know from the Minister when we can expect some communication from his office as to the new system that will be in place so this doesn’t happen again. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister for that clarification. I’m quite surprised at that. We provide them, through the Assembly, the Minister provides money to health authorities for their operations. All the employees are employees of the Government of the Northwest Territories. I am really surprised that we allow these authorities to have that much autonomy. They certainly don’t in many other areas.

As I said, I think the Minister is ultimately responsible for these authorities. It seems to be the way that the legislation reads. I would like to ask the Minister when he was aware that the new CEO had been...

Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize a couple of constituents of Frame Lake who are in the gallery today. Ms. Barb Wyness is hopefully still up there – there she is – public relations and research officer for the Union of Northern Workers. Mr. Jeff Coradetti is president of the NWT Liberal Party, a new political organization that is just emerging. I think has she just left, but I wanted to recognize Ms. Lydia Bardak, the executive director of the John Howard Society. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that we report progress.

---Carried

Thank you, Madam Chair. We would like to begin with general comments on the budget, Tabled Document 107-17(4).

Mr. Speaker, thanks to the Minister. I have to reiterate, I think the Minister knows the importance of health and social service authorities and the operations of our health and social services system to Regular Members and particularly for a Yellowknife facility like the hospital to Yellowknife Members. We live closest to that facility, so it is part of our community.

The Minister said that he knew the name but we were at Caucus. I think certainly there was an opportunity for him to advise the Members who were at least at Caucus that this was happening. There was an opportunity to send an e...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have some questions today for the Minister of Health and Social Services. I would like to ask some questions of the Minister of a situation that occurred over the summer that caused me some concern. It was a communication issue.

Here at the Assembly we have communications protocols. We have a number of protocols, and communications is one of them. Usually they work. It gives Members from both sides of the House advance notice of things that are going to be happening.

I’m referencing the appointment of a new chief executive officer for Stanton Territorial Hospital. The...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today is International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. As the name suggests, it is celebrated every year on October 17th throughout the world.

One of the main aims of this day is to make the voice of the poor heard. It represents an opportunity to acknowledge the efforts and struggles of people living in poverty. It’s a chance for them to speak up and make their concerns heard, and it offers a moment to recognize that people living in poverty are in the forefront of the fight against poverty.

Poverty can and has been reduced in a number of Canadian jurisdictions. In...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. Best use of money. I like that phrase. I hope that it proves out to be true. It’s not always true, I think, in government, unfortunately.

To the issue of the symposium, you mentioned in the fall. Is this going to be early in the fall or later in the fall? How long do people have? It’s over the summer, so how long do stakeholders have to get their action plans together?