Bob Bromley

Better and better.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is one I am happy to see happening. I am wondering will there be savings as a result of this purchase in fuel cost and do we know what those would be.

I’ll assume that when the Premier does review the Hansard, he will have my list of suggestions for him and his colleagues in Cabinet to look at. Can the Premier also state his view on whether or not we should establish a registration for lobbyists to declare their various interests for the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Premier and they follow up on the issue of contracts let at the ministerial level to prior Ministers and high-level government officials.

Recent revelations on the practices of sole-source contracting point out an absence of definition in contracting and verification of deliverables, poor or meaningless justifications for granting contracts on a sole-sourced basis, a lack of consideration or ignorance of possible conflicting interests of contractors, very slow disclosure of contracting activity, weakness of restrictions on acceptance of contracts...

The Minister seems to insist on talking about details, and thinking that I am asking for details, and insisting she needs more details, and insisting on meeting about more details. What is needed here is decisive action to support this centre that provides a very important service. For example, this centre is paying $40,000 per year for rent on the building that they are in to the Housing Corporation. Is the Minister acting to work to get that forgiven or to provide funding specifically for that?

The Centre for Northern Families has an option to provide important advice to the child and family...

I appreciate that support from the Minister. Hopefully it came from the department. I am certain that if it didn’t, it came from the centre in making sure the government has been involved. Again, I don’t know what support is being offered there. I don’t know what assurance there is. Is the Minister committing to assure us that the centre will not be closed and its programs will continue? I will leave it at that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is a great pleasure to recognize today Arlene Hache, the executive director of the Centre for Northern Families and the heart and soul, I suspect, of the organization as well. With her is a good healthy contingent of keen supporters of the Centre for Northern Families. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise to speak on the urgent situation facing the Centre for Northern Families. Every night up to 23 women have had to flee their homes and find safety at the centre. The centre further provides a prenatal nutrition program, a family support program, a daycare and early childhood development program, a weekly drop-in medical and sexually transmitted infection clinic for women, and a youth suicide prevention and addiction treatment program to name only a few, all important priorities of this government.

GNWT funding to the centre totals about $400,000 a year in return...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will be supporting this motion. First I would like to recognize the good fortune this government has of having a Conflict of Interest Commissioner with the experience, qualifications and wisdom Mr. Gerrand exemplifies and of having the opportunity to call upon an equally esteemed individual such as Mr. Ted Hughes for the duties of an adjudicator when one is called for.

The Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act provides the legislation and guidelines for conduct of Members of the Legislative Assembly in relation to conflict of interest and maintaining public...

Of course, this is a territorial-wide issue, it’s not just those communities. My understanding is that, indeed, the City of Yellowknife, for example, has already put up significant dollars and is willing to do more there, but I was ruled out of order on Friday for speaking about both 911 service and a cell phone ban. So I will now ask the most important question equally critical to both examples. How can the Minister justify the failure to protect the health and safety of the majority of citizens in these two cases when all the evidence of need, feasibility, economy, public desire and...