Wendy Bisaro

It seems to me that we have reached this point or close to this point before where we seem to have an agreement. We seem to have an agreement here. We seem to have an agreement-in-principle that possibly could form the basis for us going forward and negotiating a final agreement. I’d like to ask the Premier, in the absence of… Sorry, there are some people who agree. There are other people who are quite negative about this agreement, that we should not go forward because we don’t have everybody involved, we don’t have the agreement of everybody. What is it about this particular situation where...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have some questions today I would like to address to the Premier. I have yet to weigh in to express an opinion on the devolution agreement-in-principle, which has been an issue for the last week or so. In general, I want to say that I agree with the agreement-in-principle, with the components, the elements that are in there. I think we probably should move forward on this.

I listened with great interest to the CBC Morning Show this morning as a former Premier made some comments on the agreement-in-principle. His comments triggered a few questions in my mind and I’d...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

TAKE THE LEAST INTRUSIVE AND MOST EFFECTIVE MEASURES TO DELIVER CHILD AND FAMILY SERVICES

The legacy of the residential school system and the historically poor relationship between the communities and the department responsible for child protection continue to colour people’s present-day experience with child and family services. Their relationship is marred by lack of confidence and trust in the staff, the policy and procedures, and the administration of the Department of Health and Social Services.

In every community visited by the Social Programs committee during the...

I’m disappointed in that answer. I’m not asking for a review of the total aspect of the New Deal, but simply a review of the infrastructure contribution, the capital part of contribution that this government gives to communities. I think that certainly could be done between now and the end of March.

We do supplementary increases for all manner of things, and communities and their capital structures are a huge part of the Territory and our residents, and they’re the basis on which most of us survive and live. So I would really encourage the Minister to rethink and just evaluate the...

Thank you to the Minister. My apologies. I was listening but I obviously didn’t listen very well. I didn’t hear that question earlier.

Five years seems like an awful long time, though. With communities taking over government buildings which used to be handled and maintained by GNWT and they’re now taking them over, and it’s happening more and more as communities get more used to having the autonomy and the responsibly and the control over their own assets, it’s something which I think the department ought to consider, whether or not five years to review is too long a time. I would think...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the commitment from the Premier to get that information. I will look forward to that.

I did ask the Premier’s office whether or not there were criteria for the NGO Stabilization Fund and the answer that I got back didn’t indicate that there were any. So I would hope if there are some that the Minister will be able to get those for me.

I have stressed the need for long-term stable funding for NGOs. The Minister references a forum that is upcoming in November and that’s good to hear. Will part of the forum discussions, deliberations, will it look at and take...

I think that’s the shortest answer we’ve heard from the Minister all day.

Last May I had some questions about NGOs and volunteers and so on, and Minister R.C. McLeod at the time indicated that there was work on another manual, not the manual for GNWT program managers but a manual for NGOs to help them with protocols and how they should deal with the government and so on. He was going to get back to me on that and I haven’t seen anything. So I’d like to ask the Premier if he can advise whether or not there is a manual that is being developed for NGOs to help them in their dealings with the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seek consent to return to the orders of the day, item 7, oral questions.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thanks to the Minister for that little summary. That was about what I had understood, that the facility is in extremely poor conditions and it really needs to be replaced yesterday, not a couple of years from now. I was somewhat surprised that there is no indication of any kind of money for the replacement of this facility, the women’s facility, in this particular budget. I appreciate that there is planning that’s ongoing at the moment, but when does the Minister expect that there will be some money in the capital plan to actually start the construction of a new women’s facility? Thank you.

I understand, I understood the statement the first time, but I guess I have to encourage you to change your intent, which you’re not willing to do. So I will agree to disagree with you. Thank you, that’s just a comment.