Bob Bromley

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In February 2009 I told this Assembly about a Weledeh constituent who is taking on the Workers’ Compensation and Safety Commission. I’ll update you today on his progress.

The basis of this dispute is the fact that while workers can receive compensation for the psychological pain resulting from injuries, WSCC practices doesn’t allow compensation for physical pain. Psychological pain settlements are made according to a written standard which rates severity. I have read the policy. There may be a provision for a physical pain standard to determine compensation, but WSCC has...

Again, I appreciate the Minister’s commitment there. I believe he does see opportunities there and kind of understands what I’m getting at here.

As I’ve said, I really support the Apprenticeship Program and I think we have opportunities that would sort of be a precursor to apprenticeship. It could be fairly modest maintenance programs for housing, ways to reduce housing costs. Like I mentioned, gathering wood for the distributed heating system and working with ENR, who is actually active putting distributed energy systems out there and so on, to deal with some of the costs that the Housing...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to start off by asking just for clarification on the Apprenticeship Program. I don’t believe I have that quite right. I wonder if the Minister has the information handy on how many apprentices we have and are planning to have during this budget’s fiscal year and if we happen to know off hand what the current apprentices areas of expertise are.

I’m rather startled by that. Does the government get a very penalizing interest rate compared to any corporation or individual that I know of in Canada? I would say at a 6 percent interest rate we’d be looking at over $5 million per year on the principal. What could the interest rate possibly be to result in this situation, which means by 2038 we will have paid four times the value of the loan? Could I at least start with the interest rate? Thank you.

I appreciate the Minister’s commitment there very much. I’d like to again stress I read the department’s words, the Housing Corporation’s words that they’re going to work interdepartmentally. This is clearly an interdepartmental issue and I don’t think the Housing Corp should be expected to do this on their own. This should be a government-wide approach to resolve this situation and this would be a great way to do it. The Housing Corporation could provide the leadership. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t think I need to repeat all the comments I’ve heard today but I will say that this program is certainly the most successful Human Resources and Skills Development Canada program that I’m aware of.

I want to mention, though, that I did send a letter on the 4th of February to Minister Finley highlighting some of the points we’ve heard today repeatedly and the amazing amount of evidence provided in support of this program. I urge all Members to send such a letter, perhaps accompanying a copy of this debate and the motion, and I want to again say that I will be...

Mr. Speaker, I am certainly aware that the department has been working with them, but this work hasn’t resulted in any progress. That is a huge disappointment. I have a specific question.

The Minister committed to providing a secondment from GNWT some years ago now, I believe, to actually assist this important NGO to get back on their feet. Has this been done? If not, when will it be done? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to welcome any Weledeh residents and I’d also like to recognize the Mine Training Society folks and Jane Arychuk, head of our Aurora College campus here, and, of course, my long-time and old-time mentor Ed Jeske and his accompanist Vivian Squires.

That sounds great. I appreciate the Minister providing that information. I think this is a great program, as I’ve said before. We need to have these apprentices out in the communities where the need is greatest.

I want to follow up on the detail I sort of flagged in my general comments. There is $925,000 identified in ECE for creation of job opportunities in our communities, small and rural communities specifically. I am going to assume that there’s a pretty good match with our housing programs in the communities there. Again, I see this as an opportunity for the Minister to strike out in a new...

That resolves any concerns I had. Thank you.