Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It has been quiet on the fracking front the last few weeks, but about a month ago it was anything but quiet.

Industry, Tourism and Investment had started their public engagement sessions on fracking regulations and many of our residents were expressing their opinions. “You’ve got the cart before the horse,” many said. “We don’t want fracking,” or “we want to discuss if we should frack, we don’t want to discuss the regulations,” were some other comments.

In response, the Minister told residents that the meetings were not to discuss the merits of fracking, that it was not...

I did not attribute the “at any cost” to the Minister. That’s my personal opinion that that is the Minister’s belief because that’s what I see from his actions and from his words that he speaks.

The Minister says there’s a process in place. Because we have a process does not mean that we have discussed and consulted about the fracking practice itself. We have never had that conversation. It needs to be had. Because we have said we are going to frack, now we are going to figure out how to do it? That does not allay the fears of the public.

So again to the Minister, I want to ask him what is he...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. I want to follow up on the questions from my colleague to my right, but also from my Member’s statement. I want to ask the Minister some questions about fracking and why we are not consulting.

So, my first question to the Minister is exactly that. Why is the Minister avoiding doing a consultation process on the practice and the process of fracking? The Yukon did it and it took them a year, I think, to do a thorough evaluation of the process to do consultation in all parts of their territory. Why...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d be happy to take an hour and tell the Minister what I want. However, the Minister says that there has been no decision, but the Minister keeps referencing that there’s a process in place and that process is basically looking at how to do fracking, not if. That conversation, again, as I’ve said, has never been had. There are studies which say that the risks of fracking cannot be managed. We haven’t had that conversation in public. There have been conversations behind closed doors. The Minister is asking about regulations of any and all organizations who will talk to...

Thanks to the Minister for that extensive response. I didn’t really hear an answer to my question about options based on our new financial situation. So, I would hope that that would be coming in the near future and I’d hope it would be a discussion that Cabinet would have in conjunction with Regular Members. It’s been promised, but we’ve seen no evidence of that yet.

So, I’d like to ask the Minister at this point, I appreciate that he’s doing everything he can, but we still have seniors who have nowhere to live. There was a situation that was highlighted in the paper last week, a senior who...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. I would like to follow up on my statement about the potential for getting the Avens expansion project off the ground this year, not in five or 10 years’ time.

I would like to first ask the Minister, I know that there has been a working group, a joint working group between the department and Avens that has been getting together and meeting and doing some work over the last number of months. I would like to ask the Minister, first off, for an update on where the work of the working group is at. Thank...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister again. I appreciate that we are building more facilities. I think the Minister mentioned 27 beds. Our waitlist, unfortunately, is probably at least twice that and probably more like three times that. So, those beds will be welcomed, but we need to get more beds, and Avens is an opportunity to do that.

From the Minister, I’d like to know the earliest date that he can give me for Avens to move ahead and build their facility with government assistance. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister for the information. I have to reference his comment to Our Elders: Our Communities and that the focus of that is aging in place. That’s all well and good, but we all know that seniors reach a point where they cannot age in their own home, and that’s where we need to provide for them in a supportive living environment of some sort. So, I’m pleased to hear that there’s work going on. I’m dismayed to hear that it’s going to be October before there will be results, but I can appreciate that it’s complex.

So, I’d like to ask the Minister, in light of our changed financial...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Welcome back, and welcome back to the House to all my colleagues.

While we were away, as we’ve already heard today from the Premier, the Premier and the Finance Minister received a long-awaited present from the federal government. Finally there was a response from the federal government to the GNWT request for an increase to our borrowing limit, and it was a positive response. We, the GNWT, now have an additional $500 million of room in our borrowing limit. There was an added bonus. It sounds as though what constitutes debt will change, giving us even more room in our...

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

--Carried