Kieron Testart

[English translation not provided] I'm very proud to have a francophone background in my own heritage and to have attended immersion French language schooling in the Northwest Territories. I think we have a lot of work to do on this issue. Members have spoken about this already in the short life of this Assembly and it's something we have to continue to support and to push forward on. The francophone community call themselves “les tenois,” which is a wonderful way to say who we are as people from the Northwest Territories, much better than the cumbersome Northwest Terronian that exists in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I think we must be cautious in moving forward with these decisions and I would encourage the Minister to carefully evaluate whether non-management employees should be considered under this wage freeze. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I actually was referring to members outside of collective bargaining who are excluded from the union and who have had their salaries frozen by the announcement we heard a couple of days ago, so if the Minister could clarify those employees.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to recognize my constituency assistant, Garett Cochrane. He’s one of the hardest working individuals I know. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to speak in support of my colleague's motion. When we are speaking of our overall vision moving forward, reminding people of some very specific point in time, entirely relevant statistics and fiscal challenges are not as helpful to a plan, a plan to move ahead. I would prefer, if we are going to speak to these challenges, that we do it in the context of the initiatives we are going to use to get around these, rather than focusing on the specific numbers that are representative of our economy in decline and challenges to our government. I would rather see those numbers reflected in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and onto the point of improved health care. Will there be reduced wait times and more access to medical professionals after the implementation of the new system? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

On to the issue of regional wellness committees, what progress has been made in selecting those committees? What kinds of input are going into those choices?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd also like to recognize Mandee McDonald and Erin Freeland Ballantyne. Both work with Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning, which is a great made-in-the-North post-secondary institution, and it's good to see them here. Thank you.

I think that to start off I'd like to thank all the colleagues and all the MLAs for their hard work on this document and for collaborating effectively to bring something complete to the table. That being said, there are several issues with this process that I think need to be improved upon. The mandate ought not to be a business plan. We have business plans for those. It ought not to be a budget document. We have a budget process for those. What it ought to be is a set of political commitments that are gathered together to form a concise plan that gives certainty to Members of this House and...

Given the imminent concerns of our fiscal situation in the Northwest Territories, will there be costsaving efficiencies as a result of standardizing care in the NWT?