Alfred Moses

Thank you. I have our Chief Electoral Officer, Mr. David Brock; and from the Department of Justice, Mr. Ken Chutskoff.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, I have some opening remarks. On behalf of the Board of Management of the Legislative Assembly, I’m pleased to present Bill 33, An Act to Amend the Elections and Plebiscites Act, No. 2.

This bill includes a number of changes to our elections legislation that were recommended by the Chief Electoral Officer and the Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures following their respective reports on the 2011 General Election.

These changes will result in:

a new advanced voting opportunity for smaller communities;

changes to the vouching rules, so that a voter can vouch for...

Mr. Speaker, I recently had a meeting with Canadian North and talked about some of their programs that they’re running in some of the northern communities specifically around attendance and around best marks. They have really good incentives to get the academic grades that they need but also just making it to school.

Is the Minister familiar with this program that Canadian North runs and is he willing to also partner up with such an organization to look at getting some type of incentive program for student attendance? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned earlier, we do have some attendance rate issues in our communities, especially the small communities. With this Education Renewal and Innovation Framework document, entitled “Direction for Change,” it doesn’t really speak too much on how we’re going to try to get our students into the seats and into the classrooms.

So I’d like to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, what is his department doing to increase attendance in schools across the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. For that, I’ll go to our Chief Electoral Officer Mr. David Brock.

Yes, I do.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Once again focusing on attendance, has the Minister worked with the DEAs and the DECs to find a position within the schools for any students, because attendance rates are pretty serious here, 80 percent in the small communities. Is he working with the DEAs to look at creating a position for any students who are continually missing school on a regular basis to find a way to interact or make phone calls to the houses so that those students have that contact with the school and develop that relationship? Is he working with the DEAs to develop something like that? I know...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just a few general comments in regard to this operations expenditures supplementary appropriation. First off, I understand the amount of money that we’re putting into the special warrant for the extreme fire season that we did have. Speaking to some of my former colleagues in the industry, they mentioned that we’re going to see an even drier summer next year and maybe even a more extreme fire season, and want to know what the Minister and government is doing in terms of looking to address that issue. That being said, we can look at possibly another low water condition at...

Earlier in my Member’s statement, I mentioned that specific… I have stood up in this House and talked about the bootleggers, drug dealers and the way they transport these illicit drugs and the alcohol to the communities.

I would like to ask the Minister, would he be willing to put in, I wouldn’t say a pilot, but putting in a temporary Forfeiture Act as such, specific to illicit drugs in terms of selling as well as alcohol and the bootlegging? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier I spoke about this Forfeiture Act and the proceeds of crime legislation. There are jurisdictions in Canada right now, such as BC, Alberta and Nova Scotia, most recently, that have a Civil Forfeiture Act and it has been brought up in the House before on this side of the House.

I would just like to ask the Minister responsible for the Department of Justice, is the department looking at establishing such legislation for the Northwest Territories? Thank you.