Bill Braden

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The high cost of northern living, Mr. Speaker, is an issue that affects each and every one of us every day. It is an issue that is often debated directly and indirectly in this Assembly. We have taken some steps to address this, Mr. Speaker. Last October, we passed motions in this Assembly on energy costs and the overall cost of living. We, through our committee system, requested the government to bring forward information and proposed actions on the high cost of energy and the high cost of living. They did so. I think they did so in a very useful and a progressive...

Madam Chair, I’ll give the floor over to my colleagues. I’m sure they’re probably going to ask some of the questions I have on my plate.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Mr. Minister, for the information. The bill says that this is a three-year strategy. Are we anticipating then that all of these positions will sunset after three years, Madam Chair?

Madam Chair, thank you. I guess I would just reiterate my curiosity about the background on this and hope that in the course of this debate or discussion, the Minister could provide some information on the extent, potential extent, of our liability here and how it is that we arrived at seemingly taking responsibility. My information, Madam Chair, for instance, is that this particular property was something that was established by perhaps the American military or the Canadian military years and years ago and contains a lot of materials of the time; lead paint, asbestos, probably hydrocarbon...

Mr. Speaker, one of the key ingredients in this is the understanding, support and collaboration of the provinces in Canada. The report by the Council of the Federation really is a striking endorsement of our goals. I wanted to ask the Premier what his plan is for continuing to strengthen that relationship with the provinces, as he says we have done with the federal government, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess I would ask, is this really all in Minister Prentice’s hands? I think this is a process that all three territories undertook, as well, in good faith. We made investments in it and I remember considerable discussion among our committees and at levels of this Legislature. Do we have a new northern vision process under Minister Prentice, or is it, in reality, a continuation of the Northern Strategy process that we have already agreed to and already put significant investment in, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the past few minutes I have seen a constituent of mine, Mr. Lee Selleck in the gallery and I would like to welcome him to the Assembly. Thank you.

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Thank you very much. I appreciate the information. That is all the questions and comments I had, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess I am looking for some ballpark figures here where we do know that there are at least based on the three percent increment that I believe was allowed Members. This is taken from the Collective Agreement with the Union of Northern Workers. What is the CPI now; two and a half percent? Mr. Chair, my objective here is to be able to say to the public, okay, we think that increasing the costs for the Legislative Assembly under these criteria will result in a certain percentage of increase. What is that percentage of increase?

Mr. Speaker, I, too, will speak in favour of his motion and I compliment my colleague Mr. Menicoche for picking this up in his travels and bringing it to us for our consideration.

Mr. Speaker, Ms. Lee has already referenced this Assembly, this Chamber, as an outstanding example. As I was thinking geographically around the Northwest Territories, I think one of the very few examples of a public building that has made an effort to bring the art of its peoples into the building and not just in the sense of hanging something on a wall or putting something in a display case, but truly bringing the...