Brendan Bell

Mr. Chairman, a number of points were made by the Member. Let me first start by saying we are working to try to get more members to the private bar who would be interested in doing this type of legal aid work as it relates to civil matters. We are working cooperatively with the Law Society on recruitment and retention initiatives. We have been doing some joint work at ventures in the South to try to recruit more members into the bar. I think that is the answer. Ideally, we would like to not have this issue. Other larger jurisdictions have the luxury, where there are more members doing this...

Mr. Speaker, I will certainly meet, as I periodically do, with our tourism marketing advisory committee. They are industry stakeholders, representing the tourism industry, and they’ve been tasked with identifying our business plan priorities. There are four of them this year: recreational vehicle general touring, outdoor adventure, German and Japanese markets. I will sit down and talk to them about ecotourism and outdoor adventure, make sure I understand the nuances, and if we can work to build that into their priorities, that’s something that I’m prepared to do. What they do is bring this...

That is correct. I want to make the point that we are talking about separate offices, not the same office. So physically separate offices, same employer; the Member is right. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to assure Members that we’re certainly doing what we can to support this sector. I think we can do more but, as Members will be aware, in the 2010 proposal and documents, since about 2003-2004 we’ve essentially virtually doubled the marketing money that we’re spending in tourism; the amount of money of the contribution that goes to our partner, NWTT. They are spending a lot more on marketing. One of the areas they’ve targeted, Mr. Speaker, is outdoor adventure.

I think that Members have probably by now had a chance to see the 2007 Explorer’s Guide. A nice feature...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The purpose of this bill is to permit staff lawyers working out of different law clinics of the Legal Services Board to advise both parties in a legal matter without that being in and of itself a conflict of interest.

The Legal Services Board and department identified the need for this amendment in response to a diminishing private bar and increasing reliance on staff lawyers. This amendment is in place in other jurisdictions for the same reason: to ensure the provision of timely and quality legal service to clients. The Law Society, which regulates the legal profession...

Madam Chair, it is a good suggestion. We do have this information and we do disseminate it to realtors currently, to lawyers, to those existing condominium corporations. Unfortunately, we obviously don’t know who is intending to convert to condominium, so it is difficult for us to know. But we make the information available and also people who are interested and need more information, if they can’t find it there, they can always come to the Department of Justice. I think it is pretty widely disseminated already. Thank you.

Yes, we would like to do that. Thank you.

I do have them, if you can believe it, Madam Chair, in my other chair. So if I can go to my other chair and read the comments, I will do that and come back. Thank you.

Madam Chair, thank you. It does require that we develop some new regulations. We think we can do that before the end of this calendar year. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to raise awareness of a couple of issues, Mr. Speaker, and acknowledge the presence of Arlene Hache, who is in the gallery today. We talked about the Bailey House and local advocates who’ve really raised this issue of homelessness. I want to thank Arlene for her work in this regard.

I’d also like to acknowledge Mike Olson, who’s already been mentioned, but he is emceeing a trade show or a fashion show at the trade show that a number of MLAs are involved in. We’ll be modelling some of the Arctic Winter Games clothing. As many of you know, Mike’s very active in the chamber...