Wendy Bisaro

Mr. Speaker, the Premier mentioned beyond just the forums. There have been mail-outs to people who have wanted to send their comments in by mail. There’s been an on-line survey that’s been ongoing. So there’s any number of responses other than what’s summarized from the five or so forums that are the Premier’s website. I’m really concerned that… I guess I need to know again from the Premier, I didn’t hear an answer to how are all those broad answers, ideas, suggestions, specific ideas, specific actions relative to programs, how in heaven’s name is the Premier going to take those and condense...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I mentioned in my Member’s statement that I have a few concerns about the search that the Premier is on to find a vision for the NWT. In my experience and in my view, a vision, when it’s written down, is usually about three or four lines of text, and the questions that are part of the Premier’s process are very broad, very vague, and that’s, as I mentioned, the answers that we have gathered, or the Premier has gathered, are a very broad range. It leads to my concern about how we are going to end up with a vision from the results of these forums.

Any time we enter into...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve been following with interest the Premier’s search for a vision over this summer, a summer which now unfortunately is long gone. It’s been hard not to notice the search. I see the ads every week and sometimes twice a week. The action that our Premier has taken trying to find out what NWT residents want, that action is admirable. Indeed, this Assembly, the residents of this Territory, need to know what we see for ourselves 20 to 30 years in the future.

The Premier wants the NWT to come together, to find a common goal, a vision for the future of the NWT. I struggle to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Premier for that explanation. I guess I still have my concerns that any time you take a huge amount of information and condense it down into something smaller, which is what that sounds like this is going to be, that an awful lot of it gets lost. You know, there’s the wheat and the chaff and I think a lot of this information is going to become chaff.

The Premier mentioned that the Northern Leaders Forum will meet at the end of November. I’d like to know, once this vision is developed from whatever comes to the table at the Northern Leaders Forum, will that...

Thank you to the Premier for that information. It kind of leads into my next question. I was going to ask what are the next steps that the Premier is going to take to take all of this information to get to a vision. He referenced the Northern Leaders Forum, and I guess I still need to know how the Premier expects that these forums that we’ve engaged in will lead us to a vision. Will we have a vision that gets to the Northern Leaders Forum and then they will bring their visions and then they start all over again? So, you know, who’s taking these next steps and what are they going to be? Thank...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s my pleasure, also, to recognize the many seniors that we have on hand today and particularly a pair of seniors who happen to be constituents, the Eggenbergers, who are sitting up here. They are seated with some long-time ex-Yellowknifers. I don’t know if they were here a long time or they’ve been gone a long time. Anyway, I’m very happy to recognize the Bendiksons, who have returned for a visit. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister for that information, and I guess I’ll just have to wait for it to come in the fullness of time, as another Minister would say. I appreciate the fact that there’s going to be input from the public. I think that’s a good thing, but recently the NWT Association of Communities passed a resolution at their meeting in Hay River in which they said they urge the Members of the NWT Legislative Assembly to move forward with legislation prohibiting the use of cell phones and hand-held communication devices, excluding two-way radios, while operating a motor vehicle. I guess I’d...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have some questions for the Minister of Transportation as a follow-up to my statement earlier today. I mentioned a report that the department was working on and I understand that the department’s report has been finished and I think it has also gone to committee. I’d like to know from the Minister whether or not that’s accurate and if that’s the case, will this report be made available to the public and how soon. Thank you.

I really need support on this issue, obviously. Without wide publicity as well as enforcement, the policy isn’t much good.

Mr. Speaker, some months ago the Minister of Transportation advised the House that the department was reviewing and analyzing the issue of distracted driving and possible changes to the Motor Vehicle Act. I am hopeful that that report will recommend changes that bring us closer to roads which are safe from drivers using hand-held devices. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a number of comments on this document. It’s a very complicated process that has been undertaken and I understand that the Minister of ENR, who is our responsible Minister as described in this process, is in a difficult position. He’s bound by several acts and the very contradictory provisions in them in regard to the whole Joint Review Panel process.

The Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act certainly does not consider the animal that we call consensus government and that’s made it very difficult, I think, and it hampers the Minister’s, our NWT Minister’s...