Bob Bromley

Thank you, Madam Chair. Clause 15, unfortunately, is where we start running into problems in the act. Again, I’m generally supportive of this clause except that – again, as poor old Art tried to get collaboration and so on – unfortunately, it’s collaboration between just a select group here. I want to recognize again, very plainly, that I acknowledge and respect those who have decision-making authority for wildlife management. We need a process again, a one-tenth process, to enable everybody to hear the same information, otherwise this becomes a divisive process.

In clause 16 – and I refer to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Thursday, October 31, 2013, I will move the following motion: Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Sahtu, that within the next 12 months, the Government of the Northwest Territories conduct a feasibility study on putting in place universal, affordable child daycare run by people trained in early childhood development and education, similar to the systems in Quebec and Scandinavia;

And further, that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide a response to this motion within 120 days. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, could the Minister explain when and how the City of Yellowknife could apply for jurisdiction over this area and if this could help manage situations such as the one we are faced with today?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs on the subject of unauthorized occupation of a small point of land in the Weledeh riding. I’m talking about the houseboat that has been pulled up on shore at the point in Willow Flats. I appreciate that there were three originally; we are down to one. I have been getting complaints from constituents since this boat arrived in June and these complaints are escalating as we learn about the poor treatment of a pet chained now at the point.

Would the Minister explain who has what jurisdiction over...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last Saturday night the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce named Det’on Cho Corporation Business of the Year.

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Thank you, colleagues. This comes right after another achievement. In June, Profit Magazine included the Det’on Cho Corporation on its list of the 500 fastest growing Canadian businesses.

Twenty-five years ago, Det’on Cho started out with a $15,000 grant. Over the last five years, their revenues have nearly quadrupled and they now have four fully owned subsidiaries and interest in 12 other local businesses. The company directly employed more than 360...

I think it falls under that be careful what you ask for. This is the sort of thing that many governments are pursuing now, to the cost of their residents and especially to the cost of local sustainability, and that’s why I raised this question. I will be voting against this bill.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to confirm that these dollars are part of the 23 or 25 million that the federal government is providing for our costs of implementing devolution. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I was just wondering: With respect to the residency and the agreement in trade, does this essentially mean that if we have a local dentist in a community that’s barely big enough to support a dentist, but through good fortune we’ve managed to capture one and have him reside there, that now another dentist can come in and undercut this dentist by avoiding the steep costs of maintaining infrastructure locally and employees locally? Is that in fact what this is doing? Is it enabling non-resident dentists to do this under the agreement in trade?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to the Minister. There has been a lot of work done and I supported that and appreciated that. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be getting us where we want to go.

Just following up on my last, what action is the Minister taking to discuss this topic with our neighbouring jurisdictions, particularly Nunavut and the Yukon? Certainly, they have to be having similar issues and maybe they will more and more. So there’s an opportunity, maybe, for northern Canada to have a special dispensation where we can actually collect income tax from dollars made here. Mahsi.

Mr. Chair, thanks for the Minister’s response. It sounds like he is on top of the situation. It sounds pretty challenging and expensive.

The availability of avgas sounds like a big one. Do we have a sense of how much of our… These exceptional budgets – and I assume this happened last year too; I think I remember the Minister mentioning it – how much of these exceptional costs are due to the whole avgas issue versus more severe fire seasons? Thank you.