David Ramsay

Thank you. That concludes Bill 16, An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act. To the bill as a whole.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is unfortunate, I guess, in the way that it is going to fall to the next government. That is probably the fifth or sixth government now that has had to look at this issue. I am wondering how in trying to understand how it is as a government we can let an occupation happen with contravention of the Criminal Code taking place on a daily basis because we don’t legislate that profession. To me, there is something wrong with that. Why isn’t that going to the top or near the top of our agenda? It is something we should target and something we should address. Thank...

Thanks, committee. Clause by clause, Bill 16, An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act. Clause 1.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize a local businessman, Jim Beckwith. With Jim are his father, John Beckwith, and Kristin Holt. Welcome to the Assembly.

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I'd also like to welcome all the children who have travelled up here and their chaperones from Hay River. Welcome to the House.

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Thank you, Mr. Braden. General comments. No more general comments. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Are there any further general comments on Bill 16? Mr. Bell.

Okay. Does committee agree?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask questions today to the Minister of Human Resources, Mr. Dent. Over the past few weeks, there have been a number of jobs advertised in the local media. Mr. Speaker, one of my favourites was manager of total rewards. It got me to thinking that perhaps the employees of the government were accumulating points to redeem for some toasters, camcorders or iPods, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister responsible for Human Resources, a department that has, as I mentioned the other day in the House, six managers managing six people. Of these new...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I want to join my colleagues in speaking about alcohol and its impact on the lives of residents here in the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, as a government, we’ve had much discussion surrounding alcohol and other addictions and the services we provide to residents. Mr. Speaker, we have to do more.

The common denominator in family breakdown, family violence, violent crime and the segue into other addictions is alcohol. As a society, we have normalized the consumption of alcoholic beverages to the point where much of our leisure type of activity involves...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is good. The base review is going to be conducted at Stanton, but is there also going to be a base review done in the Beaufort-Delta and the Sahtu as well? Again, it is a systemic problem here. It is one that recurs over and over again. If boards are unable to manage what they have, then there has to be a reason for that. Is it mismanagement? Is it underfunding? What would the Minister attribute the chronic deficit situation seen in the Beaufort-Delta, the Sahtu and here at Stanton too? Thank you, Mr. Chair.