Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As mentioned by our colleague Mr. Abernethy earlier, the mayor of the City of Yellowknife recently received a letter from two GNWT deputy ministers. The message in that letter was that our government, the departments of Health and Social Services and Justice, would no longer fully participate on the Yellowknife Social Issues Committee.

Like Mr. Abernethy, I am deeply disappointed by this decision, Mr. Speaker. I believe it is very much a move in the wrong direction. The Yellowknife bi-annual community survey has several times identified social problems in the city as the...

WHEREAS pursuant to Section 61.(1) of the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act, the Legislative Assembly recommends to the Commissioner the appointment of Members of the Executive Council;

AND WHEREAS pursuant to Section 61.(2) of the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act, the persons appointed hold office during the pleasure of the Legislative Assembly;

AND WHEREAS the Assembly, pursuant to these powers, has chosen the Honourable Sandy Lee to sit as a Member of the Executive Council;

AND WHEREAS the Honourable Sandy Lee has formally resigned as a Member of the Legislative...

Thanks to the Minister. I am pleased to hear that I think the Minister said participation on the committee will still go forward. I do have to question, though, that this was a rather strong response to a situation in which employees felt uncomfortable. Certainly as Members, we’re often put in situations where we feel uncomfortable and we always have the opportunity to declare a conflict of interest. I think that could have been an appropriate response from these representatives.

Within many our communities there are interagency committees which meet and they include participation of GNWT staff...

Whether you like it or not, Yellowknife is a magnet community and, as such, provides for many Northerners who’ve moved here from their home community to access better services. The financial strain that that puts on Yellowknife must be recognized by this government.

Mr. Speaker, a community striving to improve itself for the benefit of its residents should not be penalized for their actions.

I will have questions for the Deputy Premier at the appropriate time. Thank you.

Sorry, one last question. I thought I heard Mr. Kalgutkar say that our projected surplus deficit would be less. I don’t understand that term.

Thanks to the Minister. Yes, we’re a banker for lots of organizations and that’s what gets us into trouble. However, I want to just comment as well. This large expense and along with the others that are being asked for in this supplementary appropriation are putting a fairly big strain, I believe, on our reserve fund, our supplementary reserve, which is about $10 million. If this appropriation goes through, it’s $5.2 million and it will reduce our reserve fund to slightly less than $4.8 million. We’re only two months into this fiscal year. We have 10 months of a fiscal year to go with a...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I note the amount under this particular item is $4.2 million and it is intended for a line of credit for the Taltson Hydro Expansion Project. In total, this supplementary appropriation request is some $11 million and this is a very significant portion of that total amount of money. I am concerned with what we’re being asked to approve here in total.

Yesterday the Minister advised me that we have a cap of 3 percent increase on our operations expenditures in any one year, but the total amount of $11 million affects a 0.8 percent increase to our operations expenditures for...

Thank you. I’m getting more and more confused all the time. So it now sounds like we have a strategy that’s going to apply to the city of Yellowknife, which may be useful outside the city of Yellowknife for the rest of the Territories, but we have something else which is going to determine stuff outside Yellowknife. I really don’t understand the answer.

The Minister mentioned an interdepartmental homelessness committee, which sounds rather like the committee doesn’t have a home, but I believe they work on the issue of homelessness. I’d like to know from the Minister what their function is and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My statement talked about women in Yellowknife who are working on behalf of NWT women and homelessness, and I’d like to ask some questions of the Minister responsible for Health and Social Services about the government’s homelessness framework. I’ve been trying for some months, actually more than 12, to try and get some information on the updating of the homelessness framework, but I was recently advised that no update is in the works. So I’d like to ask the Minister if he can advise when this homelessness framework will be reviewed, revised and updated so that it is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to use my Member’s statement to speak about two accomplished Yellowknife women. Arlene Hache and Lyda Fuller are both well-known non-government organization leaders at the Centre for Northern Families and at the YWCA. Both of these women work diligently and tirelessly on behalf of all NWT women and families who are in need. These talented ladies have just demonstrated their skills and commitment at a national conference: the first ever Canadian Forum on Housing and Safe Communities for Women. They were presenters at several sessions.

A few years ago both the...