Bob Bromley

Thank you, Madam Chair. My question is on the hunting and fishing licences, the decrease in revenue there of $50,000. That’s obviously a lot of licences. I understand that I would expect licence fees to have dropped when we stopped caribou hunting, but I’m wondering what this estimated decrease in revenue is caused by. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to all who offered their comments and perspectives here.

Mr. Speaker, this Assembly did come out with some understanding and Cabinet developed a direction on that basis. Personally, I know many of my colleagues think that Cabinet has done a very good job in bringing many aspects of this budget forward, but they are not infallible and Members on this side of the House are moved to influence about half a percent of the budget. If some of this is an increase, so be it, but I assure the Minister and all that we’re not proposing this lightly and we do regard this...

WHEREAS diversification of energy sources away from increasingly costly and unpredictably priced fossil fuels is essential to controlling our citizens’ costs of living and business costs, fostering strong local economies and protecting the environment;

AND WHEREAS ministerial mandates direct that a new NWT Energy Plan be developed with the objectives of stabilizing energy prices in communities and reducing the cost and impacts of energy use upon the environment, and direct Ministers to take action to promote community-based alternative energy systems;

AND WHEREAS electrical energy prices alone...

Mr. Chair, thank you for that information. That is good news, indeed. I am assuming that if there are deficits in one, they might be covered by another. I guess I am interested in this. I won’t belabour it here, though, but I would like, from the Minister, a bit of an update, say for the last fiscal year, just as an example on how we handle evening out those things, dealing with the rare deficit that might occur, just to know there is a mechanism in place and how it works. That is all. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I’d like to follow up a little bit on the questions about inclusive schooling. I know this is an area that’s been evolving. I have two concerns. One is, as I understand it, we have hooked the amount of inclusive schooling funding to the total amount the school gets and it’s a proportion. As budgets have soared, so has inclusive schooling. That does not allow the increase or the changes in inclusive schooling funding to be tied to actual need. So that’s the first aspect of it.

The second is an expression of the need for change from school boards that recommend that there...

Mr. Chair, I appreciate that information. Has there been a decision yet to reinstate that authority to Ndilo? Is it just a matter of when and figuring out the funding? Where are we at on that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the opportunity to speak to the motion here, and appreciate my colleague bringing this forward. I would like to start by just noting that there has been an incredible amount of new research in the area of early childhood development that jurisdictions are drawing upon, and we’re starting to realize that and it’s quite an opportunity. I’d like to go over just a little bit of that here today.

Brain development occurs during the first few years of life. It really starts during the prenatal period and happens, really, the physical development, during the first...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just a quick question. I understand this revolving fund and I’m just wondering why the increase this year. I’m just trying to compare the two and, actually, I see the increase between ’10-11 and ’11-12 is roughly the same as between the most recent two years. I thought it was more, so I retract my question. No question.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d also like to recognize a couple of constituents from Weledeh: Barb Hood, executive director of NWT Seniors’ Society; and Amanda Mallon, city councillor.

Thanks for the comments from the Minister. I feel like he and I have been obviously contributing strongly to the system and perhaps helping out with the costs here and perhaps we can get that service going. I appreciate the Minister’s interest in doing so. Thank you.