Floyd Roland

Mr. Speaker, we will encourage the chief negotiator to set up a meeting with committee as well as the work that we do in preparation. As our practice is, we will set up some time to sit down with Members to see what positions are being developed and how we should respond to some of those. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the chief negotiator on the regulatory reform file is in the very early stages of his consultation with all governments in the Northwest Territories. We’re going to track that involvement and the work that starts to flow out of it and see where things go from that point of view.

So it’s very early. Again, the meeting that we had was very preliminary and some of the basic sort of steps that are being looked at. We know that all the First Nations and aboriginal groups and governments out there will be paid a visit and we’ll see how they react. In fact, I think this may be a subject...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to take the opportunity today to say thank you, on behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories and all the people of the Northwest Territories, to Mr. Tony Whitford who has successfully completed...

---Applause

...his term as Commissioner of the Northwest Territories.

The way the Territory is governed has evolved considerably during Mr. Whitford’s lifetime and he has been present to witness much of it. When Mr. Whitford was born in Fort Smith, the NWT was still being governed out of Ottawa by federal bureaucrats. That began to change with the...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I guess this is the one time I get to speak in Committee of the Whole to a motion. That reflects more on the Assembly as a whole and as Mrs. Groenewegen has stated, the verification of individuals who would sign on the website is going to be absolutely critical. The one thing I’ve seen, and I’m sure all of us have seen in this new world and this new technology that is ever changing, is there are so many opportunities and things happen so fast and there is a certain anonymity to the Internet world, as they say, that would be somewhat difficult to prove...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know earlier in my Minister’s statement I went on to recognize much of the work of Mr. Whitford and his accomplishments and service to the people of the Northwest Territories. I can say from my own experience, being elected first in 1995, I did have the pleasure of serving with Mr. Whitford in the 14th Legislative Assembly as well as watching him do his work diligently in this Assembly as the Sergeant-at-Arms. More importantly, Mr. Speaker, the opportunity to work with Mr. Whitford has allowed me to build a friendship with someone who has such experience...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to deal with the motion I gave notice of earlier today.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Tuesday, May 25th, 2010, I will move the following motion: now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Frame Lake, that the Legislative Assembly expresses its sincere gratitude to Mr. Anthony W.J. (Tony) Whitford for his dedicated and exemplary service to this House; and further, that the Legislative Assembly designate Anthony W.J. (Tony) Whitford as an honourary officer of this Legislative Assembly with permission to enter the Chamber and sit at the Table.

Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time I will be seeking unanimous consent to...

Mr. Speaker, I don’t know if splitting hairs on definition of what the working group versus advisory group. We do agree that is one of the first pieces of work that needs to happen. Once we have that, then we can set about to doing the rest of the work that is required to pull this together and present something to Members of the Assembly. The advisory group, as we established it, would be able to look at that initially and then we could put the rest of the resources and pull in the work together. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, there are quite a number of programs that we have in place that assist families in remaining in their communities; for those that are employed, our wage package as well as our northern allowance to help people stay in those communities. As well for those that our housing packages and our support under Income Support is another area. The fact is we have enhanced our capital plan over the last number of years to try to get as much infrastructure into our communities and throughout the Northwest Territories. We have invested significant amounts of money as the Government of the...

Mr. Speaker, as I stated earlier, we need to come up with a paper that this Assembly could look at and direct as to what could be implemented as we go forward, looking at this initiative and what then could be undertaken for implementation and then get down to work in that area once the Assembly has agreed that it would be wise to move in these areas. There have been times before in previous Assemblies, as well, where a working group was established and some great work done, but when it comes back to this Assembly, there aren’t the resources to do the implementation. It is important that we...