Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Health and Social Services. I’d like to follow up on some of the information that I presented in my statement.

I referred to the current situation that NGOs have now been taken back to one-year agreements with the government as opposed to multi-year agreements. I expressed my displeasure with that, I think. I’d like to ask the Minister why we have penalized our NGO partners and reverted to one-year agreements. Thank you.

Thanks to Mr. Bohnet. I guess my next question then, would be, and maybe I missed the answer already, but when is this review going to be done and when might we see the results of it? Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, thanks to the Minister. That is the answer that I wanted. I wasn’t expecting details, but I am really glad to know it is the position of the Minister and presumably this government that, yes, we are going to do all we can to protect our residents and our Territory from harmful effects and financial costs, too, in terms of cleaning up the environment. That is just a comment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I have two further questions. Should a site be missed in the analysis and the identification of all the sites within our Territory, should a particular site be missed and it be discovered some time after devolution, whose responsibility would it then be? I am assuming that a site that was the responsibility of the federal government when it was initially developed, it is missed in the census of sites, whose responsibility is it after devolution to clean that up? I will start with that. Thanks.

Mr. Chairman, I wanted to ask some questions here related to waste sites and the management of them and cleaning up of them and responsibility for them. With the AIP having been signed, I believe there is a section in there which deals with environmental liability and cleanup of waste sites, mine sites and so on. I would like to know from the Minister if he could explain the department’s responsibility in terms of waste sites and the impact the AIP will have on that responsibility. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a question here related to the money in the budget for geothermal. At the time of business plans there was a statement… I’ll back up. The Minister is well aware that the City of Yellowknife is putting intensive efforts into determining the feasibility and possibility to go forward on a geothermal project there in Yellowknife. I think the Minister probably should also know that the federal government has promised almost $15 million or up to $15 million based on whether or not the City is willing to sort of put in the other necessary funds. My question to the...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to follow up on the question from Mr. Abernethy on the land use framework. It may be led by the Executive, but from the information in business plans, there was a fairly large investment by ENR in 2008-09, not so much in 2009-10, but then an $800,000 investment in this current year for develop and implement a land use framework. In the upcoming budget year, the information shows a reduction of $83,000. What are the actions of ENR relative to the land use framework in budget year 2011-12? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. I understand that she thinks that the NGOs are more comfortable. They are absolutely more comfortable with multi-year funding. I mentioned in my statement about a different method of funding and I wondered if the Minister would commit to consideration of a different method of funding. Specifically, will she discuss with her Cabinet colleagues the possibility of multi-year core funding for our NGO partners? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to tell a bit of a sad story today. Once upon a time there were a group of seniors and elders who wanted to ensure that NWT residents stayed in the North as they aged. They wanted to ensure that our elders would be well looked after and to preserve an appropriate quality of life for all of us as we age. So they banded together and formed a society to work on their goals.

Seniors are a tenacious lot and this group was no exception. They petitioned the government-of-the-day for funding for their group and kept on petitioning until the government, bless them...

Thanks to the Minister. I can appreciate that the department is reviewing, but I guess I’m really disappointed that as part of review we have to go backwards in order to do a review.

In a recent letter to the NWT Seniors’ Society, the Minister stated that the department recognizes the multi-year contribution agreements provide a certain degree of funding security. If that’s the case, I’m wondering why the Minister cannot, as a matter of policy, use multi-year contracts with NGOs like the NWT Seniors’ Society. Thank you.