Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. To my right is Mr. Sandy Kalgutkar, the director of budget evaluation, to my left, I should say; to my right is Mr. Charles Tolley, the manager of budget development.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the reason this is being looked at is the availability of low cost electricity off the hydro facility by the community of Fort Smith looking to switch off from the oil fire to electric heat. That is why this is being looked at. One of the things we have to look at is the availability, number one in that area, if there is continued availability of the surplus capacity at the Taltson hydro facility. In other communities in the Northwest Territories, it would be more difficult to make this pay because of the high cost of generating the electricity through...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the department has been investing substantially in this area in talking about investing in people. For example, in 2006-2007, up to 77 positions or $6.6 million in funding to support the delivery of counselling programs in Health and Social Services authorities. That means 45 community wellness workers, 24 mental health and addiction counsellors, as well as eight clinical supervisors. We are working on putting the package together through the Chalmer’s report, through the Stay the Course report that followed up on that and working with committee and NGO...

Thank you, Madam Chair. We will get that information as well and that earlier commitment. We will combine them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I don't have that detail with me and we can provide that to Members as well.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Nahendeh, that Bill 13, Change of Name Act, be read for the second time.

Mr. Speaker, this bill repeals and replaces the existing Change of Name Act, to provide an efficient scheme for changing the names of individuals, including giving enhanced public notice of name changes through accessible means of publication.

The registrar general of vital statistics will enter a change of name in the change of name register, publish notice of the change of name and provide notice of the change to certain authorities. The Minister may...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the one position would be water policy analyst for policy legislation and communication division. That’s to provide expertise of territorial and inter-jurisdictional water management policy matters. The other position would be water technical advisor for the environmental protection division to assess impacts of development upstream of the NWT and contribute technical advice on water quality and water quantity issues. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know this is a sensitive issue and a very critical one in the Northwest Territories. This area is going to continue to be a problem, as we heard the Members speak about this issue today. I can go into a long process on my personal experience, but rather than that, I will go into some of the work we have done and what we are trying to do. There has been work done by previous governments as well as the Department of Health and Social Services working around how our programs are working. We have heard it, as I sat on the other side of the floor, from...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the department is planning to begin this work in this upcoming year and returning to the business planning process for 2008-2011 to try to come up with how we would fit in there. It was initially over a three-year period to come in with the legislation and how we were going to implement. We have been directed to try to cut that down to bring this up to speed sooner rather than later. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I don't have a complete scope of what the work was, but the project was redefined to fit the existing budget and, due to the late start, construction was delayed until this spring. But I don't have any further detail as to the size of it. Thank you.