David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Premier and it’s with regard to the Deh Cho Bridge and the loan guarantee to the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation. We just recently received a letter saying the loan guarantee was going to be again bumped up another $100,000. I distinctly remember saying the tap had been turned off on the Deh Cho Bridge project, so I was quite surprised to receive a letter like that. The project costs have gone from $50 million to $60 million to $140 million to $150 million. I am not sure why we continue to allow the tally to build up on this. I would like to ask the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to get back to my Member’s statement. I want to talk about the importance that this government places in the area of Health and Social Services. Mr. Speaker, what I think has been allowed to happen here in the last little while is the government is diminishing the value that health is in our territory. I don’t believe it is fair to our residents that the government continues to allow this practice to happen. I mentioned it earlier. Across the country, a Health Minister is a Health Minister. His other responsibility is not the environment...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My colleague, Ms. Lee, made a point that it's not just the front-line nursing staff here. We're talking about maintenance, we're talking about laundry, we're talking about cleanliness, the janitorial, we're talking about top to bottom. There's something wrong at Stanton Hospital. The Minister has been the Minister of Health of Social Services for five years. Some of these problems, to me, are very systemic. Why can't something be done with the morale at this hospital and this institution that provides such a valuable service to this community and this territory?...

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services and it gets back to the status of Stanton Territorial Hospital and what is going on there. You know, these problems are not new. The Minister was the Minister back in 2002 when, in fact, he ordered a review, an operational review, a full operational review to be conducted in the fall of 2002. I mentioned in my Member's statement today that the scenario that played itself out in 2002 is very, very similar to the one that is here today, and the problems haven't gone away. The first question...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I am going to begin discussing a very important issue and that is the state of health care here in the Northwest Territories. This, for me, Mr. Speaker, will be a recurring theme over the next three weeks. A guiding principle for any politician is they always strive to do their best to represent their constituents. I take this principle very seriously and that’s why, Mr. Speaker, I must stand up in this House today and say that I do not believe that we are, in fact, doing our best.

Is it fair or right that the Premier and the Members of this House are allowing...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, is the government currently working with industry to try to find some ways to keep people here? There has been many of us on this side of the House over the past three years who have suggested ways and means to try to attract people and retain people here in the Northwest Territories. For instance, a tax-free zone north of 60 has been suggested, tax deductions have been suggested, we talked about putting the revenue from resource royalties in trust. That hasn’t gone anywhere either. I would like to ask the Premier that question. Where is that at, Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize chief of the Yellowknives Dene, Mr. Peter Liske and former chief, Mr. Richard Edjericon. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is a question, a group of questions that is paramount to the government in its totality. That’s why I am asking the Premier those questions. I would expect that the Premier would be able to answer those questions that I am asking, Mr. Speaker. Again, my colleague, Ms. Lee, asked the Premier, produce some evidence that you have asked the federal government and the federal government has put us on the radar. Where is the proof? Where is the evidence? We have stood up here time and time again and asked the government to suggest things to the federal...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Premier, Mr. Handley. It gets back to my Member’s statement that I made earlier in terms of what the real state of the economy here is in the Northwest Territories. For a territory of 42,000 people with an economy that’s grown 71 percent in the last number of years, to be losing people is very, very concerning to me and concerning to a lot of residents here in the Northwest Territories.

I would like to ask the Premier if the government has a strategy to deal with the migrant worker issue. The reason I ask this question is we...