Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that, notwithstanding Rule 4, when this House adjourns on Thursday, May 20, 2010, it shall be adjourned until Thursday, October 14, 2010;

AND FURTHER, that any time prior to October 14, 2010, if the Speaker is satisfied, after consultation with the Executive Council and the Members of the Legislative Assembly, that the public interest requires that the House should meet at an earlier time during the adjournment, the Speaker may give notice and thereupon the House shall meet at the time stated in such notice and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Tuesday, May 25th I will move the following motion: I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that, notwithstanding Rule 4, when this House adjourns on Thursday, May 20, 2010, it shall be adjourned until Thursday, October 14, 2010; and further, that any time prior to October 14, 2010, if the Speaker is satisfied, after consultation with the Executive Council and the Members of the Legislative Assembly, that the public interest requires that the House should meet at an earlier time during the adjournment, the Speaker may...

I don’t think I heard an answer to the questions, but that’s alright.

I did mention in my statement, I quoted a GNWT policy. I have a question for the Minister. I’d like to know whether or not he’s aware of this policy. The department has a public education campaign on distracted driving, I believe. I’d like know if the Minister will be publicizing and promoting this GNWT policy as part of the department’s distracted driving public education campaign. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Minister of Transportation, please.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, too, have a Page that I’d like to recognize for his hard work: Branden Horn from Range Lake School here in Yellowknife. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’ve been speaking about distracted driving for some time now and I’m not about to stop. Consider me the never-stopping Energizer bunny, if you will.

Mr. Speaker, the data continues to show that people using hand-held devices, texting, checking messages, talking, playing games, et cetera, while driving, are detrimental to the driver’s health and, more importantly, to bystanders and other drivers, people who have no control over the actions of the offending driver.

Two recent news items, for instance: a skateboarder in Lethbridge caused a collision between...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my political experience with Mr. Whitford does not go back as far as the Premier’s, but I feel that Mr. Whitford is a lifelong Northerner, born in Fort Smith and spent a lot of years here in Yellowknife, and I think of him as a product of a young and developing NWT. He’s a product of our education system and it’s proof to me that we have one of the best education systems around.

I think his commitment to the NWT and to the people of the NWT is unparalleled. I don’t think that there are many people who have shown the kind of commitment that he has shown to us...

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to deal with the motion I gave notice of earlier today.

Thank you. I’m not sure if I got it from the Minister or from my assistant, but I got the information. I guess, having had difficulty getting another policy from the government recently, I’m a little sceptical about the public availability of our GNWT policies. Basically, what I’m looking for from the Minister is that we ensure that our employees are aware of this policy and that they adhere to the policy. So my last question to the Minister is whether he can tell me of efforts on the part of either the Department of Transportation, any other department within government or the government as a...

I thank the Premier for that. I guess I would have to say that it is the Anti-Poverty Alliance that initiated this and Members simply accelerated the process to a certain extent. So I would hope that the Premier is going to get in touch with the Anti-Poverty Alliance. That was the request they put forward way back in December, after all. I sense that in some cases developing this strategy may not be considered a high priority, but there are, as has been noted, many reports which show the correlation between poverty and living conditions. So I’d like to know from the Premier, he talks about...