Bob Bromley

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The ECE Minister has given us a schedule for rolling out free junior kindergarten service across the NWT. It begins with small communities in ’14-15, followed by regional centres next and, finally, Yellowknife in year three.

Unfortunately, the Minister is funding small community programs this coming year by removing funds for our students here in Yellowknife. The Minister will say schools have a surplus, but in fact our schools raise funds through taxes on Yellowknifers to cover costs not covered by government. While the Yellowknife students are funded on a much lower...

Just perhaps a little expansion there. How are the two treated differently, or at least how is it treated within the unsettled regions, non-designated lands? Thank you.

Somewhat colonial comes to mind there, Mr. Chair, but again I think this is the sort of thing that will come out once there’s a thorough opportunity for review. Thanks for that response.

The board should have the ability to set its own rules of procedure rather than excluding the public interest. Is that currently the case? Thank you.

I think the suggestion from the public is that it should, but I appreciate that clarity. I would urge all municipalities to declare themselves conservation zones.

Another comment is the board should have the ability to acquire financial security to ensure compliance with board orders and to shift the burden of proof and risks to the developer rather than the surface rights holder. Does this legislation, in fact, do that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Welcome to the Premier and staff on Bill 3 here. I have a few questions here, generated through our call for comments from the public. The first is by way of comment really. The questioning of the need for this legislation as there are provisions in existing legislation and land claims agreements for dispute resolution related to surface rights, not to mention that I’m not aware of any disputes in the settled land claim areas. But obviously a Surface Rights Board, it’s an added inefficiency and expense, but it seems to be required here, been deemed necessary. Given that...

I think the Premier basically repeated what I just said. I guess I was asking for confirmation that he would put such a clause for review in the legislation, if indeed that was indicated from a review, but I will assume that that general statement was agreement with that but welcome any additional comments.

I guess when we’re going forward with this review, we have a new policy, the Land Use and Sustainability Framework that has come in just recently at the same time that we’ve received this legislation. Would the Premier ensure sort of a sustainability review in that process combined with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to present a petition dealing with the matter of Climate and Energy Action Plan.

The petition contains 73 handwritten signatures and 80 electronic signatures of Northwest Territories residents. The petitioners request that the Government of the Northwest Territories:

Collect a $3.50 tonne (co2eq) levy on carbon pollution from all fossil fuels sales in order to finance a new fund that would provide financial assistance to:

Homeowners and businesses to assist them to take action to reduce carbon pollution and fossil fuel use; and

Aboriginal governments and...

Thank you. Indeed, we do need to think long term and I don’t believe the Minister is doing that. Obviously, these school boards are losing over $1.5 million over the next two years and then they’ll lose all of the revenue that they have from junior kindergarten currently in the third year, so they will be in a net deficit and yet huge new responsibilities that the Minister is asking them to take on. \What collaboration and support has the Minister experienced for this plan from our school boards? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are following up on my Member’s statement directed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. The Minister is reducing annual funding to Yellowknife school boards by hundreds of thousands of dollars each, starting in a few months.

What will be the total reductions for the next two years and what will be the amount reinstated in year three when Yellowknife’s junior kindergarten must begin? Mahsi.

Are there additional obligations, though, to check in with the Aboriginal governments who have not settled but on whose land access is being completed? Thank you.