Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess at the outset I should say that maybe I ought to declare a conflict of interest with this motion. However, I’m not going to.

I’d like to thank Mr. Bromley and Mrs. Groenewegen for bringing this motion to the floor. I think it’s a very necessary motion. The whereases in the motion capture pretty much everything that needs to be said, and there are a few things that bear repeating.

I’ve spoken twice to this issue as we’ve gone through the capital budget. I spoke once when we talked about housing; I spoke again when we talked through the Health and Social Services...

Anytime something new is implemented there are always growing pains at the beginning, and we are obviously experiencing growing pains, but what I hear the Minister saying is, yup, nothing’s wrong, but where anything is wrong we’re going to wait a year before we do something about it, and I think that’s very much the wrong attitude.

I’d like to know from the Minister, if he can tell me, does he have any intention or will there be any consideration for making changes to phases two and three of the rollout of Junior Kindergarten? Is that an option that he will consider and that we may possibly see...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are addressed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I wasn’t going to ask questions on education today, but in listening to my colleagues ask the questions and the answers that haven’t been forthcoming, I feel that I need to ask some questions.

Mr. Bouchard just asked whether or not the government would pull organizations together, and that was my last question but I am going to go with it first. We need to get the organizations together that are currently providing programming for four-year-olds and ask them how we can accommodate Junior...

Thank you, Madam Chair. We would like to continue consideration of Tabled Document 115-17(5), Northwest Territories Capital Estimates 2015-2016, with the Department of Natural Resources and the Legislative Assembly. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that we report progress.

---Carried

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just have one question and I want to ask it around the Stanton Hospital renovation project. We had a number of questions and answers yesterday, and at one point, I believe it was Minister Miltenberger who stated that there was a good business case to make this renovation a P3 project. I thought to myself, okay, yes there might be a good business case, but I have been advised and I have done a little searching myself and have found that hospitals are not necessarily the best projects for P3. There are some pretty damming reports out there about other jurisdictions that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to join in the chorus of thanking Mr. Brock for his service. I thoroughly enjoyed working with him. I found him to be the consummate professional, and he eventually made life easier during the last election when we had the issues that we had to deal with. So, thank you, Mr. Brock, for your service and best wishes on whatever your next endeavours are, and I would like to welcome Ms. Latour to the position. It’s great to have another female in a leadership position. We need lots more. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, there was huge consultation done prior to 2012 when the Safety Advisory Committee had their draft out, their re-draft and their third re-draft. So I really don’t understand what the Minister expects to learn by consulting again.

Since January 2012 to now, October 2014, there’s been ample time to do the consultation that he’s referencing. There’s been ample time to talk to the people in the industry and to get their concerns and hear them and deal with them.

So I’d like to know from the Minister, what is he expecting to learn by now doing further consultation? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister responsible for the Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission. I want to mention a couple of things to set the background here.

Our Occupational Health and Safety Regulations are over 22 years old and some four years ago, in September of 2010, the WSCC Safety Advisory Committee started to do revisions on these very outdated Occupational Health and Safety Regulations. These regulations govern workers everywhere in the NWT, and after a lot of work, an initial draft was completed and distributed for consultation and there...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we’ve heard already today and earlier this week, this is Small Business Week across Canada and in the NWT. A small business in Canada is defined as having from five to 100 employees. Today I want to specifically acknowledge Small Business Day this Saturday, October 25th.

Small business owners represent the best of the Canadian spirit. They’re entrepreneurs, innovators, job creators and an integral part of our communities, large and small. From coast to coast to coast, Canadian small businesses help drive local economies and keep our communities strong. Small...