Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The minimum wage for the Northwest Territories, as the Member indicated, is $8.25 per hour. It has been for, as she indicated also, the last five years. It hasn’t been brought to my attention about increasing the minimum wage in the Northwest Territories by any other Members until today, so I can certainly look further into this with my department on the status. With the previous discussions that we’ve had, if there was an agreement in place that after five years there was going to be another increase, certainly I can look into that and provide the Member with more...

Mr. Chairman, I have with me Ms. Margaret Melhorn, deputy minister of Finance; Mr. Michael Aumond, deputy minister of Public Works and Services; and Mr. Russell Neudorf, deputy minister of Transportation.

I wish to table the following document entitled GNWT Response to Committee Report 3-16(2): Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the 2006–2007 Annual Report of the Languages Commissioner. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Document 105-16(2), GNWT Response to Committee Report 3-16(2): Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the 2006–2007 Annual Report of the Languages Commissioner, tabled.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Certainly, we need to gather the latest and updated information. It’s been five years since we’ve increased our minimum wage. That information may not be accurate today. That information we need to gather from, whether it’s the employer sector, the change that we have in the restaurants and so forth…. Certainly that information is needed to move forward on this. We need as much information to deal with this issue as possible.

Mahsi. Mr. Chair. The Member asked for detailed information, so I can certainly instruct my department to provide that information to the Member.

Mr. Speaker, I have met with the commissioner of the RCMP and also just last week with the deputy commissioner. I did stress to them the urgency of having to deal with the backup policy — having a special constable in the community. At that time the deputy commissioner did indicate that in early spring they will probably share some announcement. Right now they are working on the job descriptions and the length of time of the training that needs to take place. There are many elements of training to become a special constable. They will be constables similar to the RCMP but without any...

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Yes, we are dealing with 20 year old equipment or 20 plus, and I do believe there’s been some discussion on the purchasing of new and also used — just the recent ones — but that information I need to get from my department. I don’t have it right before me at this time. Mahsi.

We can certainly provide the information we have within my department of Education, Culture and Employment. I did talk about the inventory we have on hand and the number of vacant units that may be available.

I need to continue to work with Minister McLeod, the Housing Minister, on this particular item as well, because they’re the ones that have all the inventories of the units at the community level. We’ll provide that to the Member and also keep the Member informed of what’s happening in the community of Aklavik and also Members in the isolated communities. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Certainly, we do take safety as a first priority in any trips that are going on, these sports trips for students or community trips. Most of the time they go on a school bus, and as you know, the school buses are regularly maintained. Those are the factors that come into play.

It’s the students’ lives we have to deal with, and they are the first priority. I can provide that information to the Member. Whether he wants the schedules of maintenance or information pertaining to that, I can provide that to the Member.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I would like to speak today about an Income Security program that is unique to the North and that has recently been improved. The Senior Home Heating Subsidy provides support for fuel, including wood, wood pellets, fuel oil, propane, natural gas or electricity for heating to seniors who own and live in their own homes. It was designed to help elderly Northerners deal with the higher cost of living. The Senior Home Heating Subsidy provides a direct and clear improvement to the quality of life for seniors.

The benefit is fairly simple. Taking into account household income...