Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is good to hear. I am really pleased to hear that both MACA and the Minister of Finance are looking to see if we can’t assist my residents on this project. I would just ask the Minister whether or not he would be willing to sit down with the City of Yellowknife and myself and the Minister of MACA to try and determine what could be done and how fast it could be done. Thank you.

Thank you to the Minister for that response. I understand that details are probably not known yet. The federal government is not known for their speed on providing detail. I guess I would like to know if the Minister knows from the general comments that were part of the federal budget whether or not if a project is shovel ready -- to use the federal term -- by the summer of 2009 whether or not that would speed up access to funds from this Infrastructure Stimulus Fund.

Mr. Speaker, it’s my pleasure today to recognize Mr. Stuart Hamre, who is working as a Page for us this last couple of weeks and probably will be with us for another couple of weeks yet. Thank you, Stuart, for doing the good job you’re doing.

Like my colleagues on this side of the House and I think many members of the public, I am struggling to understand how this particular model that has been proposed was arrived at. My questions are addressed to the lead Minister for Refocusing Government committee, Minister Miltenberger. I would like to know how much research and analysis and what kind of research and analysis was undertaken prior to the determination that this model that we are currently looking would be used to affect the board reform that we are talking about. Thank you.

Thank you to my colleagues. Working bottom up, not top down, Mr. Speaker, will garner buy-in to a problem from all participants. At this point, Cabinet has not sold their bill of goods to anyone except themselves. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Sorry for being so slow. I did want to just ask a question and I apologize if it was covered somewhere and I missed it, but there has been concern on the part of Members and I think local housing organizations, as well, about the number of clients that are in arrears. In some discussions we’ve had with Housing Corp, we’ve talked about a target of a 90 percent collection rate I think on mortgages, but I’m not sure. We also talked at one point, as a result of the Auditor General report, about how the corporation is monitoring these arrears and these collections of arrears in rent...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you for the answer, I think. I guess I really don’t understand why a decision was made to go with one model when there are opinions being sought from Regular Members, from members of the public, from board members, et cetera. I guess to ask the Minister again, what rationale did you use to determine that it was up to either Cabinet or the Refocusing Government committee to pick this one particular model and not allow other options out there for the public to comment on? Thank you.

I thank the Minister for the answer, but I am afraid I would have to agree to disagree with him, unfortunately, again. It seems to me that there was no analysis or research. The Tlicho Services Board model was looked at. It was determined that it was the best one. There was no other option presented for Regular Members and for the public to look at. So again I want to ask the Minister, other than looking at ideas which were presented perhaps by other members on the Refocusing Government committee and the Tlicho Services model, what research was done to determine that this model should be the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I risk leaving somebody out because I certainly can’t see the people who are assembled up behind me, but there are some constituents I would like to recognize: Mr. Duff Spence, who is a constituent and also the chairperson of Yellowknife Education District No. 1; Gladys and Albert Eggenberger, who are constituents of Frame Lake and long-time residents of Yellowknife. Welcome to the House. I’d like to mention, as well, Mary Vane, who is the chair of Yellowknife Catholic Schools, who is here; Mel Pardy, the assistant superintendent of Yellowknife Education District No. 1...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In October of 2008, my Member’s statement said that I believe that some consolidation of some NWT boards is necessary and I still believe that. Mr. Speaker, I also said that the Tlicho Services Board model is not the best option for board reform in the NWT and I encouraged the government to consider other options. I quote from the Hansard record of October 9, 2008, when I said, “There are many other combinations and hybrids of our current system open to us if we get creative. No option should be dismissed outright.”

I also said that the consolidation of boards in...