Bill Braden

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.

Thank you for the update, Mr. Speaker, on the affordable housing project. One of the aspects of the Novel plan that had come under some discussion was that we would be, in effect, exporting a lot of jobs and a lot of value to factories in southern Canada that would be prefabbing this, and it caused some of us ask, well, why couldn't we create that kind of an industry here in the NWT for ourselves, knowing that housing is, of course, a perpetual need. So I'm wondering to what extent the Housing Corporation is looking at enabling the creation of a viable housing manufacturing facility here in...

But we learned a little while ago that due to changes in the project that the Mackenzie Valley pipeline people might not or it's not likely they'll be using this particular idea and it takes off our list of options, Mr. Speaker, potentially several hundred housing units that we had thought could be put into place over the next few years. So my question, Mr. Speaker, to the Premier is, does the Novel housing project remain a viable option for our housing situation in the foreseeable future? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize a family friend, Mr. Wayne Sweeney, from Yellowknife, and visiting from Richmond, B.C., Alison Fraser. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Housing in the NWT, in terms of availability, quality and affordability for renters and owners, continues to be a major barrier to personal, community and economic progress across the NWT. Here in Yellowknife, Mr. Speaker, the YWCA Transitional Housing Program and the Yellowknife Housing Authority continue to see demand for their housing stock well beyond the supply. The housing authority has seen a waiting list of over 100 families in need over the past three years, with a significant number of those on the waiting list being seniors and persons with disabilities.

Aff...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am very pleased to see this initiative coming forward and to give it my support. As a matter of fact, I may be in a position in the next little while to experience its benefits. I am very happy to see that when we do this, it’s something that works for a lot of people. I think this is one of the, unfortunately, little known secrets and advantages of living in the Northwest Territories and raising a family. Whenever I get the chance, I promote this as an enormous benefit that we have that makes us almost unique in Canada. So it is one worth defending, promoting and...

Mr. Chairman, I wanted to ask in another area a little bit about the minimum wage provisions. This bill proposes that minimum wage from now on could be set by the Minister in regulation, which is a change. It takes it out of the legislative realm. On occasion, legislatures do go in and amend minimum wage to accommodate for things like the activity or lack of it in the economy or rates of inflation. It’s not done very often. I think I remember in the last eight years, I don’t know that it’s come up more than once in my term here, but I wanted to, and I have no objection to it becoming more...