Bob Bromley

Thank you, Madam Chair. I assume by sunsetted Mr. Aumond means the department decided not to spend that money this year, that was GNWT dollars. Is that correct? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think the issue here is not the exact expenditure; it’s the issue that’s raised by the proposed expenditures. In the early childhood example, for example, those are a re-profiling of internal funds. The issue is the same. It’s fancy footwork that re-profiles existing programs as new programs. That’s why I thought if we could deal with it, we really should deal with it all together here.

Madam Chair, the Minister raises a good point. For example, we had $2.3 million worth of diamonds alone leaving the territory in 2011, so that sort of thing indicates that resources are clearly leaving. In terms of investing in the future, the opportunity is now. I think on the area of investment, I appreciate the suggestion that that will be brought to committee. I think we would certainly want it to be an ethical investment. If there were ways to support investment in the Northwest Territories and so on, those things would be of interest. Is there a body of regulations developed for the fund...

Well, to be specific, early childhood development dollars, which have been found internally, some of which are being directed to inspection of child care facilities. This came out in the Auditor General’s report, where it was found that it was not doing proper inspections and not doing proper safety procedures. In fact, fire exits were blocked, and toxic chemicals were easily accessible by children and so on and demanded directive that the government respond to that. Now, somehow the new dollars we have achieved for early childhood allocation are being profiled as delivering that sort of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Thursday, June 14, 2012, I will move the following motion: Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Sahtu, that the departments of Justice and Health and Social Services work cooperatively to bring forward a plan for introduction of diversion measures including specialized courts in integrated case management for review in the 2013-14 business plans;

And further, that the same departments provide the Standing Committee on Social Programs with a work plan at the earliest opportunity that will describe how this objective will be...

Yes, that will be fine right now, Madam Chair.

Thanks again to the Minister for those comments and the commitments. The Territorial Farmers Association is another partner I can think of that reports that access to land is indeed one of the major challenges facing its members. Will the Minister, perhaps in consult with his colleagues, commit to contacting the association and identifying the issues and opportunities to be addressed, and reporting to EDI with a plan for recommended measures? I recognize that this could also become part of the greater Economic Development Strategy, but I think I’d like to follow that track as well Thank you.

Madam Chair, I have a motion in preparation. I wonder if we can wait until we are done on this. What is the process here? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to follow up on questions from my colleague for the Deh Cho last Friday, on the cost on agriculture. The cost of transportation is a major part of nutritious food costs in our communities. By cutting transportation costs, we cut a big and an unnecessary element of the cost. Local food production is clearly the answer.

My question for the Minister of ITI is: Given the community gardens and programs for commercial agriculture expansion and start-up are helpful beginnings, what are the Minister’s immediate plans for building on this success, putting needed...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I’d like to follow up where I left off with the Minister’s Forum on Addictions and hark back to my original point at the same time. The Minister invited Members to nominate people to this forum and we were pleased to do so. That work has been on the go for some months now, and this new money was just identified in the last few days. I’m asking the Minister is this, sort of sleight of hand or fancy footwork, in fact eroding any tentative sense of trust that might have been developing between Cabinet and committee?