Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am totally in support of this motion. I haven’t had many dealings with the Mine Training Society and I haven’t had dealings with any of the other organizations receiving ASEP funding, but the dealings that I have had with the Mine Training Society have been very positive. My experiences have shown that they are a highly successful organization and, as has been mentioned, they’ve used the federal dollars they have received to leverage matching funding for their partners over the years.

The partners have matched $16.5 million or so with $18.7 million since the inception...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will try to be short. Maybe I should sit down. No.

I would like to thank the Minister for that summary of all the wonderful things that we are doing, but it did not go to my question. If it is a priority for this government to make sure that shelters are funded, then why is the Minister not making sure that the Centre for Northern Families is financially sustainable? They are funded differently and that is the problem.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s my pleasure, as well, to recognize members of the Aboriginal Languages Revitalization Board and the Aboriginal Languages Board, and particularly a Frame Lake constituent, Dora Grandejambe, whose heart may be in Good Hope but she’s here now. I’d also like to recognize Nadine Koe, a friend who I worked very hard with on Arctic Winter Games in 2008. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister. I guess if the Minister is going to contact MLAs, I hope that he would publish how many MLAs or how many do not take the pledge. I’d like to know from the Minister -- I mentioned in my statement that there are some amendments coming forward -- whether or not the Minister at this point can provide more information about what those amendments will be. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As always, I’m trying to keep the issue of drivers using cell phones, and the fact that they shouldn’t be, front and centre in people’s minds. It’s definitely not something we should be doing. I’m looking for a bit more information from the Minister of Transportation in regard to the pledge campaign that is now part of the Drive Alive program. So I’d like to ask the Minister if he could elaborate a little bit on the Leave the Phone Alone pledge campaign, what the department is doing to put the campaign in place. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In January I read a GNWT press release that indicated that 2011 is the National Year of Road Safety. As part of the press release, our Minister of Transportation stated that the NWT traffic collision statistics are on a 20-year downward trend. That’s good news, but society is still plagued by people who drive with their judgment impaired or distracted by alcohol, by eating, through inattention to the roads, by kids in the back seat, and my pet peeve, talking on cell phones or texting with them.

The Department of Transportation has run a safe driving campaign for a number...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to the Minister. I definitely don’t want to threaten anybody, but we’re called leaders and I would hope we would be leading in this particular aspect of not driving with our cell phones in use. Thanks for the information on the amendments.

To the Minister, I guess I’m just wondering, knowing that the legislation is coming forward sometime and will be passed sometime in the next four or six months, any idea when the legislation will take effect? Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister. The more we can do to publicize the negative aspect of driving and using cell phones and texting, the better. I’d like to know from the Minister if he knows at this point -- I understand it’s a little bit preliminary for this campaign -- whether or not the department is working in conjunction with any other groups that also work to get people to not drive distractedly. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wanted to first ask relative to apprenticeship and occupations, I know that the department works in conjunction with the Mine Training Society and they are doing a great job of providing training and jobs basically for many of our young people. I am somewhat concerned, though, that the funding, the federal funding for that program restricts applicants to Aboriginal persons and I’ve had several inquiries from constituents whether or not there is any space within the Mine Training Society for P2s as opposed to P1s. I’ve been advised that if there’s space, that P2s can get...

Thanks to the Minister. It’s good to hear that we’re doing things now and not waiting. I have one other question and it relates to the space that the college currently occupies and the lease that they have and that the lease is ending. I think this has been mentioned maybe not this week but certainly over the last year, that the department has known that the lease for the college is going to be ending in a year or so. There were certainly some investigations done as to some potential sites for the college to move. About a year ago I think there was a possible solution and yet here we are a...