Bill Braden

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to table a report entitled Toward New Voluntary Sector -Government of the NWT. Let me start over again, Mr. Speaker. Toward New Voluntary Sector - Government of the NWT Relationships and Funding Arrangements. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Right. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, the Minister doesn’t see this from my perspective. We may end up with a lot of people trained in conversions and some aspects of how to look after and fix or convert a house. I am talking about something on the ground here, so that we are not exporting our manufacturing jobs to Calgary, that we are keeping them here in the Northwest Territories. That’s what I mean by an industry, Mr. Speaker. That’s what I am looking for. Will we use this as a springboard to create our own industry?

Okay. Thank you. The Minister did a great job of confirming everything that I said in my introduction here, but the question was once we get to the point, as the GNWT…The Minister is going to be bringing a request for an allocation to us for a commitment for tens, and potentially for the long run, hundreds of millions of dollars. I am going to want to know that that is a solid deal and I am going to want independent analysis. Will the Minister enable that to happen before he comes to this Assembly to seek authorization for those commitments; an independent analysis, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The process is well defined and well understood even with some of its problems, but I guess what I am looking for, Mr. Speaker, is a clear understanding and an acceptance of the fact that NGOs are really being squeezed by a tough job market. What is our readiness to step up to the plate and help them continue to survive, Mr. Speaker?

Mr. Speaker, it’s encouraging to know that under the FAA review that we’re going to be looking further into it. I guess for now a number of organizations experience a lot of delays and uncertainty in their funding and their stability. Mr. Speaker, how can our funding mechanisms today be streamlined to improve access to funds and reduce administrative time and stress to these organizations and I would venture, Mr. Speaker, to our own civil service? Thank you.

Mahsi. Good morning, Mr. Speaker. Funding for non-government organizations is an issue constantly raised with me and my colleagues and our committees when we meet with organizations doing very valuable work in the voluntary sector.

Mr. Speaker, NGOs and their volunteer efforts cut across all areas of our daily lives here in the communities; cultural, economic, educational, environmental, sporting and, of course, social programs. Mr. Speaker, there is no question that without their contribution, life in the NWT would be much different.

An issue particularly is the acute need of those...

Mr. Chairman, I, too, will be voting in favour of this motion. This is precisely the kind of thing that we expect our relatively newly minted Human Rights Commission to do, is bring forward progressive ideas that we can engage in in the interest of individuals. There is certainly an aspect of care to be taken in tying the hands of employers, Mr. Chairman, in being able to choose wisely the type of employees they wish to have. But in committee’s presentations, and anecdotally now and then, it seems to be perhaps a bit of a trend here that employers are using criminal record checks and anything...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions this afternoon are for Mr. Bell, the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, about the future of our secondary diamond industry. Mr. Speaker, the decision by the department last fall to collapse the diamond project division sent a confusing and a disappointing signal to my constituents in this community that our government had abandoned its commitment to this emerging new industry and leaves us, Mr. Speaker, without a team whose job it was to lead our government’s initiatives, protect our investments, help these companies and grow this industry. I...

Mr. Speaker, a key factor at start-up of the secondary diamond industry, and I believe in the sustainability of it, is the deals that are in place with the suppliers. We have three of the world’s greatest miners exploiting our resource here, doing the best we can to get some value out of it. Now the socio-economic agreements that we’ve signed have been singled out quite often, Mr. Speaker, for the weaknesses that they have in compelling the mines to do deals that are attractive to cutting and polishing, not just the ones that we have here now, Mr. Speaker, but we should really be looking at...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I want to speak today about an issue that’s very, very close to a number of my constituents and that is the stability and the future of our secondary diamond industry. Mr. Speaker, there are, I believe, about 150 people now engaged in working in the sorting and cutting and polishing industry here in Yellowknife. This was something that our government engaged in about 10 years ago with excitement and optimism, to be able to be leaders in Canada in introducing this new industry based on the success of our diamond miners. Now, there have been some failures and some successes...