Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe the plans are almost completed as we go through this process, but, as I stated earlier, I need to meet with the departments and get some indication as to where they are with the work. At that point, we would be prepared to sit down with Members. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the Member’s statement he made a number of comments on the issue we face in the Northwest Territories and what we need to do as a government; provide the tools. Ultimately, Mr. Speaker, in this area of programming -- and I can speak from experience -- it starts at home with the individual. If you want real change, it has to start at that level. As a government, we have to have the necessary tools in place to ensure that people can deal with the issues that are before them. In this specific case, I would have to get up to speed as to where the department...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it gives me pleasure today to introduce in the gallery, my constituency assistant, Ms. Jennifer Debastien, down for orientation at the Assembly. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Frame Lake, that Bill 10, Forgiveness of Debts Act, 2006-2007, be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the majority of decisions made now within the Sahtu are made by the people of the Sahtu when you talk about a critical program in Health and Social Services, in Education, in Human Resources even having that centre there. So, Mr. Speaker, we are working to ensure that the level of services we provide throughout the Territories is expanded to communities. If, of course, the Members of this Assembly feel that we should put more dollars into the administrative side of governance and want to give me those funds so that we can establish those office positions...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, presently the way the Financial Administration Act is worded, it does identify that all write-offs have to flow through this process. It is something that we’ve recognized as an issue. In the re-workings of coming forward with a new FAA, that will be taken into account. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the spirit of working in a consensus-style government, yes, we are prepared. I believe we can have something to committee probably within the next month. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, as I stated, we tried a number of avenues to collect the money that is due to ourselves in a number of areas. This initially came out of the Workers’ Compensation Board of NWT and Nunavut and the amount that was owed to them. The company itself reopened in 2001 and at the end of 2003 was forced to apply to the British Columbia Supreme Court for protection under the Companies Creditors Arrangement Act. That was received in December of that year. So that’s what kicked this off. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we undertake a number of avenues of trying to collect funds from those who owe money to the Government of the Northwest Territories through a number of initiatives, but there are a number of factors that we do have to live by as well as the Government of the Northwest Territories. Some of these accounts or loans, grants that were put in place had attached to them guarantees and so on in place, or a business that was established would shut down and go out of business and all assets may have been sold, but not enough to repay the full debt.

At times, we...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There's a number of factors that play a role here. Year by year it would fluctuate. With our stronger economy in the Northwest Territories, the job market being as robust as it is, more people employed and being able to meet their payment plans and so on has been good in that sense. So it would fluctuate from year to year. Yes, over the last number of years, the government has tightened up on its collection side to ensure that we clean up that section of area and government accounting. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.