Bill Braden

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the need to book this amount in excess of $10 million has been well explained and well justified. If we know we may have a liability or a future liability or debt, we should flag it now and make sure that it’s recorded for openness and accountability.

The detail in this area here is entirely environmental. It relates almost entirely to known or potential contamination from tank farms, fuel facilities, Mr. Chairman. This is not an uncommon situation all over North America, all over the world. The question I wanted to ask was, as our government took over...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister just told us that ultimately it’s the cost that this Assembly has to consider. Mr. Speaker, is the Minister at all considering the need that the people of the Northwest Territories have for the service? Isn’t that really our primary job here?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions this morning are for Mr. Roland, Minister of Finance. It relates to the situation or the increasingly desperate situation that our non-government organizations, especially in the social service sector, find themselves because of financial constraints. Mr. Speaker, in summarizing the overall findings of a recent study of staffing, the author of the report on behalf of several organizations states that unless there is a major rethinking over the next few years, the agencies that are now contracted to handle this kind of thing will not be able to continue to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the eight years I have served as MLA, few issues have received as much attention as the chronic financial problems facing our non-government organizations. These are agencies like the YWCA, Council for Persons with Disabilities, Sport North, and, as my colleague from Hay River South highlighted so effectively yesterday, the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre.

Over the years, these volunteer-driven agencies have become reliable, trustworthy and essential partners with our government in the delivery of an immense range of services and programs in virtually every...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for Mr. Handley as the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation. As I referenced in my statement, this Assembly has been very busy with one of the potential outcomes of the Mackenzie Valley pipeline, and that being a chance to use the Novel housing approach which is a design put forward by ATCO to potentially convert some camp housing into permanent housing in the NWT.

Thank you, colleagues, Mr. Speaker. The NWT continues to have a dramatic housing need. Of course, demonstrated by that information, it amplifies other social problems, but we face considerable constraints in solving this issue, Mr. Speaker. Developments, red hot economies all across western Canada, labour shortages increasing, materials supply costs have added pressures on how we are going to solve this problem.

So what I am looking for, Mr. Speaker, what we should all be looking for, are answers on how we are going to meet our housing needs, current and future. What are the options our...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Finally, in the area of the appeals process under this bill, we are proposing a fairly substantive change there and that is going from a panel to a sole adjudicator model. I wanted to ask the Minister of our ability or intention to ask those people who are currently serving on the appeals panel to gauge their interest in taking on the job as a sole adjudicator and, more specifically, Mr. Chairman, what kinds of training and expertise we would be offering or expecting these people to have before taking them on as sole adjudicators. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The department engaged in quite a considerable consultation process already leading up to this bill and from everything I saw, it was a pretty good process, Mr. Chairman. Will there be further consultation or attempts to see what the general public thinks should be brought in for defining family for this bereavement leave aspect? Is there going to be another round of discussions, Mr. Chairman?

Mr. Speaker, is the replacement project on time and on budget? Thank you.

Okay. I guess I am just trying to understand just what is the specific nature of the damage that was discovered. Are we just reacting to things that have gone wrong in other places? I appreciate that we want to take a surplus of caution, but just what is the exact nature of the problem? Just what is it, then, that we should be really concerned for a danger to the travelling public or complete failure or closure of the bridge? I think the public deserves to know just what is going on there, Mr. Speaker.