Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To date it is my understanding that the Program Review Office does not charge back for full accounting of reviewing of programs. It would then stand to reason to me, and to other Members potentially, that the Program Review Office be tasked to do this review of the midwifery services.

As the Member has offered to this House the cost of $100,000 that would go to an RFP, would it not make sense that we apply this $100,000 for the review back to the person actually doing the services, or I should say who was doing the services for the record, and allow the Program Review...

I want to thank the Minister for that particular answer, putting on record that it costs about $100,000. With this particular money potentially being spent -- because I assume it hasn’t been spent yet -- who will be doing this review and when can we see a report done back into this House? Obviously, a report won’t be tabled or presented to this particular House as it expires within a few months, but that said, when is there a true expectation of this report seeing the light of day and by whom?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like my colleagues, I rise today with great concern that the midwifery services have been temporarily suspended in Yellowknife effective May 6th. I believe that this is an incredible disappointment to many families who want access to this excellent service that was being provided to mothers and newborns.

Over the past several years many MLAs, including myself, have been calling upon this government to expand the much needed services in our community, and now the Department of Health and Social Services is conducting a program review and expansion analysis to develop...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is a similar issue I had as well in the committee, and it’s really about involvement from the Department of Finance side in the courts, whether it’s using our Justice people in particular to make a position known to the courts to ensure that the GNWT’s interest is exercised and acknowledged before the 10 years lapse through statute barred.

Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the Minister of Finance, obviously through the comptroller general for providing us this briefing note on debts that arise as a result of court ordered restitution. In short, the Minister read his...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the mover of the motion, Mr. Yakeleya, the Member for Sahtu, for a very good motion. The idea of a mobile alcohol and drug treatment initiative is certainly innovative, and I would say welcome, from my point of view.

I’ve been around here awhile, almost eight years in total, and this is one of the first interesting and, I would say, hopefully ground-breaking initiatives that could probably make a lot of sense when tackling the alcohol and drug treatment problem. I certainly say problem as in lack thereof.

We can talk about education all we want. I think...

Who will be doing this particular work and initiative in order to review the program being offered in the midwifery services that were being run here in Yellowknife?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Continuing along the same vein as my other colleagues with concerns of the cancellation of the Midwifery Program here in Yellowknife. My question to the Minister of Health and Social Services is built around the fact that why couldn’t we continue the program and do the review and how much the review will cost and why didn’t he talk to Members. To get it out right on the record: how much will this review actually cost to review the actual Midwifery Program that was being done here in Yellowknife?

I appreciate the answer from the Minister. I’ve approached different people in industries and I’ve talked to some people in the film industry. They thought it was an interesting concept. I’ve talked to people in the agriculture industry and they thought it was kind of nice. They’re certainly looking forward to what the government can do, if they can do anything, on the context of this concept. The product I brought to the Minister and that I tabled before the House yesterday was not to be a finished product. It was about trying to spark the genesis of new ideas that are rightly suited with the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A number of years ago I approached ITI with the idea of a made-in-the-NWT branding program. This idea was to support our local manufacturing businesses across the North to assist them as they market their products. Voluntary, of course, but what this does is help the consumers understand the choices before them. For example, a consumer could buy windows made in the NWT, which of course incidentally are produced in Hay River, or they could buy those other brands that are not produced in the North. The importance of this program is, as when I suggested it was, the fact...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A particular issue I’ve been raising for a number of years, as well as my colleague Ms. Bisaro, is the distracted driving legislation, and it is of significant concern to a number of other MLAs in this House.

Mr. Speaker, recently at one of my constituency meetings people were wondering if the government will be moving forward on this type of initiative, especially recognizing the amount of time left in this particular Assembly and knowing full well that if legislation isn’t introduced in this sitting it won’t be considered under this government, under the 16th Assembly...