Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks, Mr. Premier. My last question then goes to if we have a review that’s done in the next six months or so – and I think that’s a reasonable time frame – I’d like to know from the Premier if it’s feasible that we could expect the establishment of an ombudsman office within the life of this 17th Assembly.

Thanks to the Premier for those remarks. I guess I would like to advise the Premier that there’s one other wheel that he forgot to mention, and that’s the Yukon’s wheel and it’s only $600,000. So I don’t think we’re going to go anywhere near $10 million.

I mentioned gaps in my statement. There certainly are gaps in what we currently have, and specifically I’d like to mention a gap I believe exists for residents who encounter a problem with a government staff person. So I’d like to know from the Minister what currently exists for clients of GNWT services – and that would be our residents in most...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last June, June 6th to be exact, the 17th Assembly passed a motion asking the government to establish an ombudsman office. Several weeks ago the government responded to that motion and the response was tabled in the House. The response was neither a yes nor a no, which was both disappointing and hope inducing.

In the response following a summary of what the ombudsman does not do, the government stated: “The Government of the Northwest Territories is currently reviewing these legislated-based rights, as well as a number of policy and program-based rights of appeal, to...

Thanks to Mr. Kalgutkar for that. No, I don’t remember that. Too many numbers too often, I guess. If the Minister could make available to Regular Members what’s been expended, that would be great. Thank you.

Thank you to the Minister. I attended the discussion and the presentation in Yellowknife and I found it very interesting, and the Minister is right that there were some interesting discussions and some interesting ideas that were brought up there. One of the things that was mentioned at the meeting here in Yellowknife was that there was no reference at all to revenue in the budget presentation, and in the documents and in the discussions that were held that night. So I’d like to ask the Minister if he can explain why there was no discussion and no consideration of new revenues in the budget at...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure again to welcome Jeff Corradetti to the House. Welcome, Jeff. You’re making a habit of this.

Thanks to the deputy minister for that clarification. I think we’ve spent almost $10 million to date on this project and we’re now being asked for another $2 million to finish what needs to be done, as the Minister of Transportation would say. I appreciate this is a large project. I appreciate it’s new for us to do an environmental assessment, but I am concerned that it’s almost like we’re, you know, Executive is coming back and kind of picking at us, you know, just a million here or $2 million there. This is the second time in this budget year that we’re being asked to put money into the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Friday, November 2, 2012, I will move the following motion: Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Deh Cho, that this Legislative Assembly strongly urges the Government of Canada to establish a search and rescue base in a central location north of the 60th parallel.

Thank you to the Minister for the explanation. I have to say that I was fully expecting, and I wasn’t disappointed, that he brought up devolution and the money that we’re going to get from devolution. It’s unfortunate but, in my mind, it seems that’s the money that we’re getting from devolution is going to be the one item that is going to solve all of our problems.

The Minister mentioned that revenue was discussed at almost every one of the meetings, and I would like to say that there have been two roundtables on budget and finance that have been held over the last four or five years, I guess...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Finance. In the last month or six weeks or so, the Minister and his staff have been travelling throughout the NWT and doing budget consultations. I think they have been very well received in the centres where they were held. I agree that it was a good move for the department and the Minister to take the budget discussion show on the road, so to speak.

Over the number of presentations and discussions that have been held, there have been remarks by the media, there have been remarks by the Minister, they have talked about...