Bob Bromley

The Minister sounds like he’s changing direction here, and I would ask him to do some research in this area and provide to committee exactly what is going on here, without any input from committee, I might add, other than what we’ve had in the House, and obviously, that doesn’t seem to be holding any water.

I’ve heard officials from the Minister’s department and division that deals with securities indicating that the promise to pay will be accepted, so maybe I could just get a commitment from the Minister to start with, that he will come to committee with this before any final decisions and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said in my original question, I’ve been following the events leading to the creation of this council. It is, I believe, a very positive development, or will be when implemented, and the sooner the better. But recognizing the need to do this carefully and well, can the Minister give me an idea as to how much progress has been made and when he hopes to implement the health leadership council? Mahsi.

In the past I’ve been concerned about inefficiencies and inconsistencies relating to our delivery of health care services across the territory, as has, of course, the Auditor General of Canada. Lack of common procedures, duplication of resources are problem areas.

How will the proposed new health leadership council address concerns in the areas of inconsistency and inefficiency in the delivery of services? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d also like to recognize Tracy St-Denis, a Weledeh constituent and very active in all kinds of areas, which I very much appreciate. Mahsi.

This week is Living Wage Week in Canada. Many people in the Northwest Territories don’t earn enough at their jobs to pull themselves and their families above the poverty line. The concept of a living wage is based on the understanding that a person working full time should be able to support themselves in their community.

This movement is gaining traction in many places throughout the world. It addresses income inequality, one of the biggest obstacles to economies everywhere. Paying employees a living wage can change that for millions of Canadians. In fact, employers in about 30 cities are set...

I think I’ll just leave it at that. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think my colleague Mr. Hawkins, chair of the EDI, I agree with all the points that were made. Basically, the concerns in particular were emphasized on the development of the Mineral Development Strategy and I think were well laid out in the report.

Just to do a quick review, basically there was a stakeholder engagement panel made up of industrial representatives put together by the Minister. They went out and did consultation. We had serious concerns that the public interest was not represented on that panel and that a lousy job – speaking straightforwardly here – was...

Thanks to the Minister for that. I also heard the department’s official saying that they have to balance protection from environmental liabilities with a supportive economic development as some sort of justification, I suppose, for accepting a lesser form of security. I think the Minister is well aware that that approach by the federal government has resulted in $8 billion in liabilities that the taxpayers of Canada will be paying, mostly from northern mining companies that have failed to clean up their messes. These are real things that we are talking about.

Is it the purpose of the Department...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Lands today in follow-up on an earlier set of questions about financial security. We last talked about surety bonds being a promise to pay, a form of security, and I asked the Minister if he would agree that that’s not acceptable. He said we will ensure that we have security that’s, as the Member said, something other than a promise to pay.

Now, surety bonds, the point of discussion, Wikipedia defines surety bonds as a promise to pay. Is the Minister still sticking with this or is the media right that in fact we are taking security...

Thanks to the Minister. The Minister anticipated my next question. The department obviously has the largest O and M budget in our government, and most residents consider it the most important department when it comes to quality of life. So any savings that can be made in the efficient delivery of health programs will result, presumably, in increased health delivery.

Will the shift to the leadership council result in significant savings in the delivery of health care programs? I think the Minister has indicated probably. How much can we anticipate? Has the Minister identified any sorts of...