Jane Groenewegen

I’d like to call Committee of the Whole to order this afternoon. What is the wish of the committee today? Ms. Bisaro.

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the Minister of Human Resources, is there a standardized survey that goes out to every public servant in every department, and what kind of uptake do they get? Obviously, these are voluntary. Responding to this survey would be voluntary, and I would like to know what kind of uptake there is on a survey such as that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Any further general comments? Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In follow-up to my Member’s statement today, I have questions. I am not sure who they should be directed to because I’m talking about something that probably doesn’t really even fall under the purview of any Minister. I’m talking about the idea of how we manage our public service in the Northwest Territories.

Our territory has very many remote and far-flung regions, and as we sit here in this House today, there are people, public servants out in the communities all through our territory that are performing the functions of delivering programs and services to our...

Thank you very much, Mr. Nadli. Next I have Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. General comments. Next I have Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. General comments, Ms. Bisaro.

Agreed. Thank you. I will ask the Sergeant-at-Arms to escort the witnesses to the table.

Mr. Minister, for the record, would you please introduce your witnesses again for the record.

One last question. If I go and buy life insurance and I am a smoker, I pay a higher premium. For those that are already addicted, let’s give them a break and say okay, but can’t we go back to some date and say, if you start smoking after this time, you need to think that when you become an adult and you are seeking medical services, or you are going to have to pay a premium on medical services if you smoke. Not for those who are already addicted, but for those that are coming up, the next generation. Could we not create a monetary disincentive to smoke by creating some kind of a health...

Mr. Speaker, we always talk about the sin taxes. What is stopping this government from raising the tax on cigarettes so high that it would even make the most dedicated smokers rethink their habit? Thank you.