Both NWT Disabilities Council and YACL have agreed to provide data to the department in order for the department to develop the program outside of Yellowknife.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It will be short. My usual question: When can we see the results of this review?
I don’t have the date right now but I can get back to the Minister with the date.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. You got a promotion, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today the honourable Minister of Finance, Michael Miltenberger, gave us a summary here regarding the borrowing limit. Being a businessperson of mind, it’s important to always have a strong balance sheet. I think that’s very agreeable. I think the Government of the Northwest Territories does have a very strong balance sheet in place. The Minister also uses terms like “economic levers,” and I’ve heard him speak many times about it and leveraging those economic levers. One such lever is our very own Crown corporation, the Power Corporation. Unfortunately, the Crown corporation rests on the government balance sheet as a liability, which is going against the borrowing limit. Can the Minister discuss how, if and when were negotiations ever achieved with the Minister of Finance federally about removing this liability from our borrowing limit?
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The debt that is held by the Power Corporation that is on our books is what is called self-liquidating. They generate revenues and pay it down. While it’s on our balance sheet and goes against our borrowing limit, they are generating the revenue to pay down the debt.
To the Member’s point, there have been discussions and to this point the federal government is not willing to remove or separately treat the Power Corporation or the Housing Corporation or even the bridge, which are in similar circumstances, of having revenue that would pay down the debt that is on our books.
I can understand the Minister indicating that this is a definite “no” from the federal Minister. However, everyone knows that to leverage our assets is critical in order to remove that off our borrowing limit. Is this a dead issue or is this something that can be revisited here?
As I’ve indicated in my update before this House today, there’s been extensive work on the whole issue of the borrowing limit, redefining borrowing. As the federal government has indicated, they want to now include other instruments under the borrowing limit that weren’t currently there. There will be offset provided for that.
As I indicated in my statement, the big issue for us is going to be the negotiations and discussions with Finance Canada, Minister Flaherty, about the issue of adequacy, about what we need as a mature, well-run, fiscally responsible jurisdiction to be able to make the strategic investments that I referred to in my statement.
We’ve looked at every avenue. I’m going to be meeting next week on the 18th and 19th in Victoria with all the Finance Ministers. We’ll have an opportunity then to pursue the arguments or the discussions with Minister Flaherty. We met this time last year at Kananaskis, so we are both intent on concluding that borrowing limit discussion before the end of this fiscal year. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. The Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I have a question for the Minister responsible for Youth.
The communities I represent, the funding levels for youth, the most one community gets is $25,000; the others receive less. I was just wondering what their plans are in the next year if we plan to increase that amount.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. The Minister of MACA, Honourable Robert C. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The money that’s been invested in the youth in the last Assembly – and I’m sure the commitment will carry on in this Assembly – has been increased like it never has been before. I’m not sure about the exact figure the Member is quoting, but I do know there are many opportunities for youth and communities to access some of the funding. We have different pots of funding that our youth are able to access or they’re able to access through their community.
I could look up the amount of money that’s gone to the Members’ communities and have a discussion with the Members so we can have an exact figure. Thank you.
I have no further questions.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Monday, December 12, 2011, I will be moving the following motion: Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, that this Assembly recommend to the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories that the appointment of William Turner as a member of the Human Rights Commission be revoked effectively immediately.
Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time I will be seeking unanimous consent to deal with this motion today.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Item 17, motions. Mr. Bouchard.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to deal with the motion I gave notice of earlier today.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
WHEREAS the Human Rights Act provides for the establishment of the a Human Rights Commission and the appointment of commission members;
AND WHEREAS a commission member holds office during good behaviour for the term of four years;
AND WHEREAS Section 17(9) of the Human Rights Act provides that the Commissioner, on the recommendation of the Legislative Assembly, may, for cause, remove a commission member from office;
AND WHEREAS William Turner was appointed a member of the Human Rights Commission on November 1, 2010;
AND WHEREAS William Turner has admitted to taking, without permission, documents from the Legislative Assembly office while on duty as a security guard;
AND WHEREAS William Turner has further admitted to lying to officers of the Legislative Assembly about taking this documentation;
AND WHEREAS this Assembly is in the view that these actions are contrary to the good conduct and integrity expected of a statutory officer holder;
NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, that the Assembly recommend to the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories that the appointment of William Turner as a member of the Human Rights Commission be revoked effective immediately.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the mover of the motion and a Member of the Board of Management I rise to say a few words. As you know, amongst other responsibilities, the Board of Management has a significant role with the administration of a number of laws and the appointment of statutory officers under those laws. One of our responsibilities is to appoint the members to the Human Rights Commission. We have taken this responsibility very seriously, Mr. Speaker.
When we appoint people to the statutory position, we appoint them with the confidence that we are appointing the people that best reflect the values and integrity expected of the office holder. One of those individuals appointed to the commission on the recommendation of the 16th Assembly and the Board of Management was Mr. William Turner.
Recently it was brought to the attention of the Board of Management that in the early days of this Assembly, documents had been taken from the Clerk’s office. In the context of investigating this theft, our Sergeant-at-Arms and Law Clerk interviewed Mr. Turner in his capacity of working as a security guard on the weekend in question. He denied taking these documents. Subsequently, Mr. Turner was quoted in the local media as admitting to taking these documents. This was of great concern to the Board of Management. Therefore, we provided Mr. Turner with a notice of the fact that the Board of management was considering a motion to revoke his appointment, and provided him with the opportunity to respond to the allegations and to the concerns of the board. Mr. Turner did respond in writing and the board reviewed his written submissions very carefully. He admitted to both taking these documents and to lying to the House officers about that. By way of explanation, he said that he took the documents in an impulsive fashion and that his own personal attributes contributed to him acting impulsively. We recognize that Mr. Turner had one impulsive act. However, he compounded that one impulsive act by lying about this matter over a number of days and he implicitly attempted to deflect blame to others.
The board considered Mr. Turner’s submission carefully. We also weighed the responsibilities that statutory officers have to act with integrity and honour. Our officers are respected representatives of the people of the Northwest Territories. We considered the fact that this is a breach of our trust that happened in this building and that this is a place where we have an expectation that we must trust everyone around us. After careful consideration and debate, we decided that Mr. Turner’s actions were not consistent with the actions we and the people of the Northwest Territories expect from our statutory officers, and that we had no alternative but to bring forth this motion.
I ask that the Members respect the deliberation of the Board of Management and vote in favour of the motion.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Colleagues, I’d like to go back to item 16, notices of motion for first reading of bills. Item 17, motions. Item 18, first reading of bills. Item 19, second reading of bills. Item 20, consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters: Tabled Document 2-17(1), Northwest Territories Capital Estimates 2012-2013, with Mrs. Groenewegen in the chair.
I’d like to call Committee of the Whole to order. We have one item on the agenda before us today. What is the wish of the committee? Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I move we report progress.
---Carried
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Your committee has been considering Tabled Document 2-17(1), Northwest Territories Capital Estimates 2012-2013, and would like to report progress. I move that the report of Committee of the Whole be concurred with. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Do I have a seconder? The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
---Carried
Orders of the day for Friday, December 9, 2011, at 10:00 a.m.:
Prayer
Ministers’ Statements
Members’ Statements
Returns to Oral Questions
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Acknowledgements
Oral Questions
Written Questions
Returns to Written Questions
Replies to Opening Address
Petitions
Reports of Standing and Special Committees
Reports of Committees on the Review of Bills
Tabling of Documents
Notices of Motion
Notices of Motion for First Reading of Bills
Motions
Motion 1-17(1), Bill C-10, Safe Streets and Communities Act
First Reading of Bills
Second Reading of Bills
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Tabled Document 2-17(1), Northwest Territories Capital Estimates 2012-2013
Report of Committee of the Whole
Third Reading of Bills
Orders of the Day
Thank you, Madam Clerk. Accordingly, this House stands adjourned until Friday, December 9, 2011, at 10:00 a.m.
---ADJOURNMENT
The House adjourned at 4:24 p.m.
