Bill Braden

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

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm speaking in favour of the bill. One point of clarification for the floor here this afternoon, in his opening remarks the Minister said that a proposed amendment to the Exemptions Act will raise the limit of the amount of wages or salaries that can be garnished to 30 percent of salaries and wages. So a maximum of 30 percent of a person's salary or wage can be garnisheed, or is it garnished? Madam Chair, is this 30 percent of gross or net earnings? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, WHEREAS there is a vacancy on the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight, due to the election of the honourable Member for Nahendeh to the Executive Council;

AND WHEREAS it is desirable to fill this vacancy;

NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the Honourable Member for Nahendeh, that the Legislative Assembly approves the appointment of the Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger, to the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Wednesday, October 25th, 2006, I will move the following motion: Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Nahendeh, that the Legislative Assembly approves the appointment of the Member of Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger, to the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight.

Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time I will be seeking unanimous consent to deal with this motion today.

Mr. Speaker, in the case of the injured worker, Mr. Ivan Valic, the 19 years of delays and denials and systemic discrimination and avoidance and delay of seeing this man at least get his day before our system and have his case heard, Mr. Speaker, we're just going again in loops and circles at least with this man and I understand potentially a few dozen other workers who have chronic pain cases before our Appeal Tribunal. Mr. Speaker, how is it, then, that we are going to enable Mr. Valic to have a fair and open hearing in a timely manner before the Appeal Tribunal if we're still out there...

Mr. Speaker, thank you. My questions this afternoon are for Mr. Dent, the Minister responsible for the Workers' Compensation Board of the NWT and Nunavut. Mr. Speaker, the WCB set out a new policy for chronic pain in 2004. The Valic decision of the NWT Supreme Court of 2005 rejected this policy on the basis that it was discriminatory. Mr. Speaker, the Minister, in a letter to my colleague Ms. Lee in June of this year, said the WCB was going to reapply to the Supreme Court to see if its new policy was indeed going to comply with these constitutional issues. Mr. Speaker, has this been done...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight conducted its public review of Bill 8, Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, on September 5th, 2006, and October 16th, 2006. Following the committee's review, Mr. Chairman, a motion was carried to report Bill 8, Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, to the Assembly as ready for Committee of the Whole. This concludes the committee's opening comments on Bill 8. Individual Members may have additional questions or comments as we proceed. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate, too, it has something to do with supplies and medically described items that have this DIN, or drug insurance number. So there's obviously some administration or bureaucracy that is falling through the cracks here. I would like to ask the Minister what kind of direct appeal has been made to the health care insurance provider to sit down and fix this, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question this morning is for Mr. Roland as the Minister responsible for Human Resources. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned in my Member's statement, due to a change in billing procedure from our health care insurance provider, employees and their families are inconvenienced, in some cases considerably, because they have to pay up front for doctor-prescribed supplies; whereas before, this was all handled through the pharmacist and direct billing. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister what kind of notice and what kind of reasons were provided by the health care...

Finally, Mr. Chairman, just for clarification. The WCB then has full responsibility and accountability for its own debts and its own books. The GNWT does not get involved in it in any way except for this administrative situation here with managing or handling or deciding on their debt portfolio, Mr. Chair.