David Ramsay

Mr. Speaker, I am having trouble understanding how…. I don’t see anywhere in what I’ve read — the information that I’ve read from the Correctional Service of Canada — where they say it’s okay to train somebody for a week or ten days and send them into a classroom in group therapy so they can train or program sex offenders so they can be rehabilitated and go back into the community. I am not sure where it says that anywhere.

I want to ask the Minister: does he understand that having a “train the trainer” that he talked about the other day and backfilling positions…? We are talking about...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up on my Member's statement. Again, I want to question the Minister of Justice today, in this House, regarding the delivery and provision of sex offender programming and family violence programming at North Slave Correctional Centre.

The more I think about this and the more digging around that I'm able to do, it raises a number of concerns for me. I've asked the Minister this question before, about how the qualifications and the delivery of programming at North Slave Correctional Centre could potentially impact the federal inmates that are housed at that...

As my colleague Mr. Krutko alluded to, there have been many studies. There have been lots of reports done and efforts made to find out the cost of this and the benefits. I don’t think we need to reinvent the wheel. What I want to find out is: is this a decision to save $245,000 and a couple of positions? What’s driving this decision? I’d like to ask the Minister that question.

Mr. Speaker, I want to follow up on my colleague Mr. Krutko’s questioning on BIP. I’m unsure, though, whether I should ask the Minister responsible for the BIP or if I should ask Minister McLeod. I guess for today’s sake I could ask Minister Michael McLeod. If the government has made this decision to move forward on the application on capital projects, I’m wondering when that will be effective, if the Minister could answer that question for me.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In Mr. Hawkins’ questions to the Minister I don’t know if she answered as to how many unfunded positions we have across the health authorities. I’d be interested to know that, especially at Stanton.

This isn’t to pick on the Department of Health and Social Services, but I’m wondering under whose authority is the Minister and the other departments. They seem to be placing employees at random without this budget having gone through the full scrutiny of the Regular Members of this House. There’s something fundamentally wrong with a process that allows the government to do this to employees without it getting fully aired in this public forum by the Members duly elected to the 16th Legislative Assembly.

I’d like to ask the Minister: who’s giving you the instructions to be placing employees? Is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As long as the cost-benefit analysis isn’t done after the fact, after this comes into effect — like the Deh Cho bridge, for example.

I’d like to get some reassurance from the Minister that before this becomes effective the government will come back to Regular Members and sit down with stakeholders in this area so we can work on this together and come up with solutions together rather than it just be implemented by the government.

If it’s going to take a year, then I’m wondering why the Minister would stand up in the House yesterday and announce it if we are going to go through the consultation process and get out there and talk to stakeholders and talk to Regular Members on this decision to effect capital projects. I’m wondering if the Minister can answer this question: has the department or the government done any type of economic analysis to suggest what losses the government would have in the area of corporate taxes and the out-migration of people? There’s a big impact by making a decision like this, and I’m...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to speak about the government’s intentions in regard to the Business Incentive Policy, and I thank Ms. Bisaro for her statement earlier today.

Since its inception there have been numerous debates, motions and discussions surrounding the Business Incentive Policy in this House. I listened to Minister Michael McLeod’s statement yesterday, where he suggested that the government’s intention is to scrap the BIP from GNWT contracts.

This is something the government cannot simply cut. This action would have far-reaching impact on all of our communities. I am...

I have heard it was as high as 26 at Stanton, but I guess I’ll wait for the Minister to get us that information.

I would be interested in knowing, not just at Stanton but in the rest of the authorities, what the unfunded position level is.