Bill Braden

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...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to return to item 7. Thank you.

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...

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...

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...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My questions this afternoon are for Mr. Dent, the Minister responsible for the Workers’ Compensation Board of the NWT and Nunavut, and it relates to the efforts by an injured worker to have his appeal heard before a freshly constituted board. Mr. Speaker, it’s rare that an injured worker’s appeal makes its way all the way to the Supreme Court. The onus is almost always on the worker to shoulder the expense, and the time, and the burden, and the energy that’s required to get it this way, and I think it’s to Mr. Valic’s credit that he has persisted over the years to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not a lawyer and I’m not going to attempt to turn the Chamber into a courtroom, but the point was the decisions and the policy and the practice undertaken by the WCB as it relates to Mr. Valic were a violation of the Charter. It found that the way in which it treated Mr. Valic and others who have come forward with chronic pain syndrome was different than the way they were treated from workers with other conventional kinds of injuries, if you will, Mr. Speaker. So that is the point where the WCB was found at fault. That was the point that the officers and the...

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the answer, but it is quite consistent with the kind of responses we’ve had from the WCB on such a range of issues. There is never any issue of whether or not there may be some fault or some lack of consideration or process at the WCB. The ability of the WCB to put a fresh panel forward is really what’s at question here. So we’re now coming up to six months, Mr. Speaker, for this process to grind its way along. Now I’m hopeful that qualified tribunal members will come forward from this latest process, but I anticipate that there’s going to be training and...