David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Zoe. There wasn’t a specific question there. Mr. Premier, would you care to comment?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you for that, Mr. Minister. So I’m just wondering, and the Minister has spoken of the fact that they’re offered positions, but what is the Department of Education, Culture and Employment doing with the school boards in Yellowknife in terms of recruitment of teachers and why can’t some of these teachers that take the program that live in Yellowknife not get jobs in Yellowknife? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Does committee agree that we consider Minister’s Statement 48-15(3)?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m wondering if the Minister could supply the Regular Members with the statistics that back up the claim that all northern graduates from the TEP have gotten employment in the Northwest Territories and are gainfully employed in the teaching profession, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, too, am going to vote in favour of this motion. I just wanted to quickly go over a couple of points. The first one is we want the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation to identify and recommend viable options to sustain our long-term public housing investment. Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to mention to the Minister I don’t want that to come with a huge price tag attached to it. I think there have been enough studies and reports and consultation done over the years that we should be able to come to grips with some of these options without...

Good question.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Minister, for your response. The Minister spoke of a process that has been started by his department working with both the aboriginal government, the Akaitcho, and the City of Yellowknife. He says that work has begun on this agreement to set aside some land for development and to try to work together and cooperate on a long-term plan for the city of Yellowknife. I am just wondering when we might expect some dates or some of this work to be concluded and for the City of Yellowknife to have some surety on available land. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the price of residential land is determined by the location, cost of development, and supply and demand. Before you have houses, you have to have land to put them on. In Yellowknife, the cost of land has gone through the roof because of the lack of supply and an ever-increasing demand. People are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to live in cramped townhouses with no land just to put a roof over the heads of their families.

Mr. Speaker, they are the lucky ones. Others are being forced out of apartments that they can no longer afford because of...

I think in his role as Minister of the Housing Corporation, that’s something that he’ll need and something that Regular Members do appreciate. As well, I know the president as well with the Housing Corporation is new in his role, and as Regular Members we look forward to working with the new Minister and the new president to try to address some of these serious concerns. Again, I am supporting the motion that is before us today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Friday, October 29, 2004, I will move the following motion:

Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Nahendeh, that the government bring forward amendments to the Financial Administration Act at the next sitting of this Assembly that would place a cap on special warrants, and that would require that all Members be given reasonable advance notice of special warrants prior to their issuance.