Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment and I want to follow up on my statement about income support policies and the impact that they have on those of our residents who apply for income support.

I’d like, first of all, to ask the Minister if he could please explain to me and explain to the House and explain to residents the rationale for the policy, which says that a Registered Retirement Savings Plan must be cashed in before a resident can access any income support. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, colleagues, welcome back. It’s good to see everyone here in the House after our Christmas break. I’m sure we’re all ready to roll up our sleeves and get to work on the budget and legislation which we’ll see come before us in the next few weeks.

Mr. Speaker, there are so many things which need to be talked about, I had to choose from a long list for my statement today, but I decided to start with a long-standing, seemingly never-ending issue, that of income support.

An inquiry recently came to my office. It was a plea for help to assist a constituent with an...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister. Thank you for correcting me. Yes, I meant surety bond, so thank you for understanding what I meant.

I guess my concern is whether or not the department has looked at situations where a surety bond has had to be used. I appreciate that the reasoning that it frees the company up for capital as opposed to having a letter of credit, which is cash.

Can the Minister, if he has not or the department has not, look into previous situations or situations that exist anywhere in the world where a surety bond has had to be called on and how effective it was...

Thanks to the Minister. The Minister’s statement stated: “Security provides additional protection to ensure that there are funds to address environmental liabilities if proponents fail to take remedial action.” That’s definitely a statement that I can agree with and I’m very glad that that’s in there. I do have a bit of a difficulty in that if the amount is set by the board and yet the government is supposed to do the monitoring and enforcement, if the number is not enough for remediation, there’s a bit of a gap in there.

I’d like to ask the Minister how the assessments are made. He says that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a Page, Diana Rockwell. I recognized her yesterday, but she pulled a fast one on us and wasn’t here, so I would like to recognize her for her work for the past couple weeks. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m very pleased to rise in support of this motion and to be able to speak to the motion that’s before us today.

Although Members on this side of the House and committee have heard considerable support from our constituents and from the general public in support of the establishment of an ombudsman office, there are, unfortunately, still naysayers when it comes to establishing that office in the NWT. I think it’s because many people do not understand how the office can be a good force for government, that it can promote accountability in administration and improve...

Thanks to the Minister. The Minister also mentioned in his statement that we are working on short- and long-term policy development concerning the government’s management of securities. I would hope that the manner in which assessments are done would be part of that consideration. Certainly the other day there was quite a consideration of the difference, or the statement that we are using security bonds as opposed to irrevocable letter of credit.

I’d like to ask the Minister, and he may not be able to give me this answer today, but I would like to know from the Minister what the difference is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Lands. I’d like to follow up on his statement about establishment of the liabilities and financial assurances division.

Some questions have been asked already by other Members about security for development in the NWT. I’d like to ask the Minister first, in general, does the department have an approach, do they have a policy in regard to the value of security that is required for development? Is the security required equal to the value of the remediation or is it a percentage of the value of remediation? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Each year the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, CCSA, joins organizations across the country in observing National Addictions Awareness Week. Organized by CCSA, National Addictions Awareness Week highlights issues and solutions to help address alcohol and other drug-related harm. It provides an opportunity for Canadians to learn more about drug prevention, to talk about treatment and recovery, and to bring forward solutions for change.

In 2014, National Addictions Awareness Week will be held November 17th to the 21st, a little over a week from now. CCSA will also mark...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would first off like to recognize one of the Pages from Range Lake North School, Diana Rockwell, who has been working here this week and last week. I would like to thank all the Pages who have been doing such a good job for us.

In addition, I would like to recognize Ms. Tracy St-Denis, who is the chair, at the moment, of the United Way NWT. Tracy has been on the board for four years; she has been chair for the last two years. With Tracy is Gayla Thunstrom, who is UNW first vice-president, soon to be a member of United Way NWT. So, good on you, Gayla. With them is Gayla...