Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the lead Minister responsible for refocusing government. A common question I’ve been getting from constituents and northern residents when it comes to board reform is why. What are we trying to fix? Today I would like the Minister to please tell me why Cabinet is proceeding with board reform and specifically what the problem is that we’re trying to fix.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, this morning when I was walking into the Legislative Assembly I saw two signs stuck in the snowbank. There are now dozens out there. One of the signs said, “super boards is super bad.” The other said, “one board does not fit all.” I have to say that I agree with these signs. The protesters who placed those signs outside of this Legislature are right. They hit the nail square on the head.

Over the last several months, there has been a lot of concern raised about this Cabinet’s direction to move forward with board reform focussing on going from 70 boards to seven using the Tlicho...

Thank you, Mr. Anderson. Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister McLeod.

Okay. Page 5-41. You will notice, committee, that the budget for the NWT Housing Corp actually appears in the Department of Finance where it will be approved and considered. Every item within the Housing Corp’s tabled document here is basically an information item, but we’ll go through each page as we would with the other departments and if you have questions, we’ll agree with them or not agree with them as we go forward.

We would like to defer the department summary, the financial summary information on page 5-41, and go onto page 5-43, corporate summary, information item, operations...

Alright. I’d like to allow the Minister the opportunity to respond to the general comments. Minister McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Minister McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of this motion. To start I’d like to make some general comments on the Ministers’ statements made earlier today as I believe they are relevant to the motion at hand.

With respect to the statements made by the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, it was a nice statement. It didn’t really say anything. While listening I didn’t hear anything that would suggest the board reform is necessary or that education should be rolled into health and housing.

With respect to the Minister of Health and Social Services’ statement, it did identify some...