Bob McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We are prepared to meet with the Gwich’in leadership early in the new year to discuss the MOU. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It was unfortunate that the meeting that the Member is referring to, that we were unable to attend because of a conflict in scheduling with some other commitments that we had here in Yellowknife. But we did rectify that by having the Premier and myself attend the meeting with all of the Gwich’in leadership and the president of the Gwich’in Tribal Council on Monday. We did have an opportunity to discuss the Gwich’in MOU, and I believe at the meeting all parties indicated they were very pleased with the performance of the MOU. There is a requirement for an evaluation of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not familiar yet with the legislation she is referring to, but I’m sure that we could address that when we make a presentation. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have been working in the past with the Territorial Farmers’ Association on a number of initiatives. We have been successful in working with them to negotiate a framework agreement with the federal government which has resulted in funding for agri-food policy. In order to have an agricultural policy that would be effective, there would be a requirement to identify some access to land, and I know the Member has heard that on many occasions. We have identified ways that it could be done whereby we could work with MACA to identify land and move towards lower taxation...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This issue came up in the previous government. A discussion paper was enacted. I believe there were 69 responses to the discussion paper. This is something that we will consider again as this government goes through establishing its priorities for the next four years. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member right now is talking about a hypothetical situation. Employees that do find themselves in such a situation are encouraged to contact their senior management or to contact the department. We have invested a lot of time and effort to train investigators. We have a number of positions within the Department of Human Resources that have been trained to specifically deal with workplace conflict situations and also to conduct investigations into these types of situations. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our department has been doing that to a certain extent. You may recall that last year at the Canada Winter Games in Whitehorse, we had a large cultural component and we also had an NWT House where we featured performing artists from the Northwest Territories. We are planning to do something similar at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. We also have been successful in utilizing performers in our various tradeshows over the years. You might recall with Team Canada when we went to Dallas and Russia and Berlin, we used performing artists. So this is something that we would...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I understood that this information has been sent out to all Stanton employees. I am not sure whether that means it is public information. I think I will probably have to get some authorization from the HR committee and, once I get that, I am sure I can share it with the standing committee. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to report that the preparation of the Stanton human resource plan is well underway. Two surveys have been conducted since the human resource committee was formed in February of 2007. Data from both surveys have been summarized and have been released to all Stanton employees as of October 4th. A staffing working group has been formed. A staff forum was held on November 9, 2007, in order to provide feedback on the results. We are taking that data and the feedback and are working on developing a human resource plan. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m sure the Member will be pleased to hear that the Department of ITI and ECE have been working together very closely over the past several years. Both departments funded the development of an Arts Strategy in 2004. We have also funded a follow-up action plan two in 2007. I have listened very closely to what the Member is saying. I fully agree. I think it is a very good idea to support performing artists, especially if they record their work. I know that, in visiting other provinces and territories, other provinces and territories do that, as well. I will be...