Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As a Minister of Environment and Natural Resources and a well-known keen champion of the protection of our environment, our land, our water, our resources, I’d like to ask the Minister if he is satisfied at this time with these approvals going forward, given the additional work, obviously, that still needs to be done. Thank you.

If I had to convey comfort to people who are concerned about this, is the Minister able to comment on the environmental review and assessment and approval process that is in place? Since this is something relatively new in our territory, is he able to comment on the effectiveness of the approval processes that are currently in place for this activity? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess the point I’m trying to make here today – and I guess I’ll just ask the Minister this one last question – is that it’s not really fair to imply that there is something untoward or unregulated about the rates that Northland Utilities… It’s like yesterday in the House there was, to me, an unfair comparison made between communities serviced by NTPC versus NUL.

I would just like the Minister to confirm, for the record, that these rates are fairly set, based on the cost of service, and regulated by the Public Utilities Board which this government oversees. Thank you...

On this community-by-community basis, the rates are set and the Public Utilities Board examines the cost of delivering that service and approves those rates. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d also like to recognize former colleagues. I won’t name them, as they’ve been mentioned here before. I’d also like to recognize a little girl, Mikayla Jacobson. When we had a retreat up in Tuktoyaktuk one time, I met her before I met our Speaker. We attended a child care centre there, and Mr. Ramsay and I were both quite smitten with this beautiful little girl that was sitting there. She was so engaging in talking to us, and when she arrived here last night at the Assembly, she wanted to go immediately down to Mr. Ramsay’s office to say hello. What a delightful young...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Your committee would like to report progress. I move that the report of Committee of the Whole be concurred with. Thank you. Mr. Speaker.

I’d like to call Committee of the Whole to order. Before we proceed with any business in Committee of the Whole, I’m going to call a break.

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I’ll ask the Sergeant-at-Arms to please escort the witness into the Chamber.

Minister Lafferty, for the record, could you please introduce the additional witness at your table.

My wish is that a group of mature, seasoned Senators could take a lesson from what’s happened, to agree going forward there needs to be more clear definition brought to the roles and responsibilities of Senators which activities are eligible for claiming expenses from the Senate and which are not, a revisiting of the rules around primary residence and capital living allowance and a team of administrators of those allowances and indemnities that would not allow Senators to be reimbursed for claims that they are not eligible for.

My wish is also that this could be accomplished before the lives...

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. General comments. Next I have Ms. Bisaro. Oh, I’m sorry. Minister Lafferty.