David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’m pleased to provide opening comments on Bill 12, An Act to Amend the Human Rights Act.

Mr. Chairman, Bill 12 empowers the Human Rights Commission to establish its own rules of procedure and simplifies its annual reporting requirements. The bill transfers the responsibility for hiring and supervising staff from the commission and vests it with the director of Human Rights. The staff become employees in the public service. The amendments empower both the director and the commission to appoint assistants and engage advisors. Finally, the Board of Management of the...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Sorry to go back to page 16, but I request unanimous consent to go back to page 16. I just had a question for clarification on that page.

Unanimous consent granted.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation. In doing some research on another topic, I came across a couple of programs that they have in the Yukon. One is the Home Repair Program, which provides $35,000 in financing to homeowners at a zero per cent interest rate amortized over 12 years. Another interesting program they have there is an Alternate Energy System Program, which provides up to $30,000 to residents in the Yukon to install alternate energy systems in their homes.

I’m wondering if the Minister can just comment on what comparable...

I thank the Minister and Ms. Shaner for their comments as well. I agree with the Minister: people should be paying their maintenance enforcement. That to me is fundamental. And you’ll see that the statistics, again, don’t lie. People who pay their maintenance enforcement can pay their maintenance enforcement. The people who aren’t paying the maintenance enforcement are the people who aren’t making enough money. If they pay the maintenance enforcement, they don’t have enough money to live. They don’t have enough money to pay their rent, to put oil in their fuel tank, to put gas in their tank.

In...

I know we should always have the best interests of the children at heart. What strikes me most in the current legislation that’s in place — the federal legislation and the federal Divorce Act and the Family Orders Act — is the fact that in many cases it’s an adversarial type of arrangement, and oftentimes one parent’s money is good enough but they aren’t. I think that’s a discussion or debate we might have here as soon as tomorrow, and it’s a discussion that’s happening around the world: equal, shared parenting and a move towards that in the best interest of the child by having both parents in...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just have a question under clause 16. Can Maintenance Enforcement garnishee an individual who is on income assistance or receiving EI payments?

Yes, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Actually, it's okay. I've found it. I'm fine. Thanks.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, I wanted to follow up on that. All those programs that the Minister talks about are good. We’ve also had a discussion in this House about a biomass strategy. If you get up to a level of $30,000, that’s a substantive amount of money that would allow homeowners to look at wood pellet technology and at switching over.

All I’m looking for is a commitment from the Minister — and it sounds like he has given that — to take a look at the programs offered in the Yukon and maybe relate those to our situation here, and to include those in a discussion when we’re developing a biomass...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I want to use my Member's statement today to speak about yesterday's proceedings in regard to third reading of Bill 8 for the 2008–2009 budget.

As Members are well aware, the last four weeks have been a real battle between the Regular Members and Cabinet. We have moved an historic number of motions during our budget deliberations, and yesterday was the culmination of all of our efforts.

The budget is not perfect, but we were able to minimize job loss and get the message out to our constituents that consensus government can and does still work. Our Premier...