Bob Bromley

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A question to the Chairman of the Financial Management Board, Secretariat. Would the Chairman of the Financial Management Board please provide:

a list of all subsidies provided by the GNWT; and

for each subsidy, the amount spent, by community, for the most recent fiscal year available?

Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister for those remarks. Why are we hiring locums from afar when we have local nurses available to do the job?

Mr. Speaker, this is in reference to my Member’s statement. I realize that Human Resources is responsible for the graduate placement program, but I believe that the departments, and presumably their authorities, make the final decisions on hires. I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services: is there a clear understanding of a northern hire preference policy within our health institutions, and how is this reinforced from time to time?

Mr. Speaker, clearly we have many governments in the North. If people have been following the water conferences that have been happening in Fort Smith and Fort St. John and so on, there is major interest and major concern, especially in the area of water.

How are we going to ensure that all these responsibilities...? It’s getting to be a complex system out there, where there are various mandates and so on. Who is going to play a lead role in getting all these people together and on one page to effect the systemic change that we need to address these issues?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my statement I mentioned the short-sighted policy of turning fish-bearing lakes into mine tailings dumps. I’m wondering if the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources is aware of this and, if he is, if he’s trying to influence the federal government on this policy. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It all sounds delightful. I’m wondering how soon this can get off the ground and if there’s a way we can be sure that this side of the House will have lots of input into that process.

Mr. Speaker, this sort of policy is obviously short-sighted. It ignores the fact that we’re having a lot of problems with our food and water but especially with our water. How can we be treating pristine examples that we have here, these resources, in this manner?

I’m interested in what the holistic approach, the broad strategy, of this government is to address the whole way we are treating the environment and how we’re going to pull ourselves into the New Age.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Lakes across Canada, including the Northwest Territories, face being turned into mine dump sites under federal legislation. CBC reports that 16 Canadian lakes are slated to be officially but quietly reclassified as toxic dump sites for mines. This process amounts to a hidden subsidy to mining companies, allowing them to get around laws against the destruction of fish habitats.

Under the Fisheries Act it’s illegal to put harmful substances into fish-bearing waters. But under a little known subsection known as Schedule 2 of the Mining Effluent Regulations, federal...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have to say, as well, that it’s been a privilege to participate in helping to develop this budget. I think there are various perspectives on how much I’ve participated, but I certainly agreed with the Premier in the direction that we set off with, our visions and goals and so on, basically living within our means and, I think, facing up to the fact that we have some new realities coming. We need to respond to those. The more we can respond to those progressively and with good thinking, the better off all our people will be. I’m not convinced that a budget of $1.4...

Thank you. Was there a question there, Mr. Hawkins? I don’t believe there was.

Recognizing that our Speaker did not enable us with the capability to work after 6 p.m. today, I think I’ll assume there’s no question there. Thank you.

So we’re on page 6, Health and Social Services, Operations Expenditure, not previously authorized Health Services Programs: $17.32 million.

Bill 9, Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 4, 2007–2008, Health and Social Services, not previously authorized: $17.32 million, approved.