Jane Groenewegen

Lastly, I would like to thank Minister Jackson Lafferty who took on two very important departments in our government, two in our social envelope, two very challenging departments: Education and Justice. I know that he had a passion, as well, for these two departments. Like I said, very challenging departments but he took them on. He did well and he served all of us very, very well in these capacities.

On behalf of Hay River South, I would like to thank this Cabinet, these Ministers, for the way that they treated my constituents and the constituents of the North.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that we report progress.

---Carried

I have six minutes on the clock left, thank you. I’d like to ask the Minister when we would partner or collaborate with other jurisdictions to proceed down this path, supposing we get to that where we’re going to try and recover health care costs, are the actions of our government going to be judged and the question asked what did we do to mitigate damages ourselves? I would suggest that other jurisdictions have far more proactive legislation rules when it comes to this, like, for example, people smoking in their vehicles with the windows rolled up and their children in there. I mean, it’s a...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Has anyone had success to date in any lawsuit? Is there any precedent law been set, any precedent ruling been set with respect to public governments suing tobacco companies to recover costs of health care services? Is there any precedent?

Of course, I’m also curious to know what kind of money we are willing to allocate as a government if we are going to embark on such an action against tobacco companies. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That’s all I have. Thank you.

Would it make sense for our government, being a small jurisdiction with limited financial resources, to perhaps hold off on trying to develop some kind of action against the tobacco companies until someone else has basically broken the trail, has gone ahead of us, has proven in the courts that it is actually possible to get compensation for this? Again, I know there’s some economies of partnering with other jurisdictions that are pursuing the same thing, but just in terms of our timing and our resources, if we could see the success that someone else had and try to mirror some kind of an action...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The committee today wishes to deal with Committee Report 6-16(6), Bill 10, Bill 22, and Bill 23. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The committee today wishes to deal with Bill 15, An Act to Amend the Deh Cho Bridge Act; Bill 16, An Act to Amend the Motor Vehicles Act; Bill 17, An Act to Amend the Territorial Parks Act; and Bill 18, An Act to Amend the Public Utilities Act. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to speak in favour of the bill. I’ve heard from many constituents on this issue and seen the error of my ways. It is important to people. It is important for safety on our roads. I would like to thank the Minister for bringing this legislation forward and will be supporting it wholeheartedly. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, today would like to take this opportunity to offer my condolences to all the families of those who lost their lives in the tragic crash at Resolute Bay this weekend. We realize how interconnected we all are as Northerners when we hear the initial news of something like this and know, inevitably, that we will know people who were involved in this.

Today especially I would like to send my condolences out to Aziz Kheraj and his wife, Alisak, on the loss of their little granddaughter, the miracle and the blessing of the granddaughter that did not perish, and for a...