Jane Groenewegen

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

---Carried

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If this has not already happened, and I would assume that stakeholders such as the NWT Council for Persons with Disabilities, the NWT Seniors’ Society, the NWT Association for Communities, I would assume these are stakeholders that would have been consulted when looking at this act. I would ask the Minister if he would also be able to provide for this House a list of people who would have participated in consideration of the revisions to this act.

The unfair part of this act is the fact that if the property is shared or partly owned by someone who is not qualifying under the tax relief program, that the entire property becomes disqualified. I’d like to ask the Minister if he’s familiar enough with some of the work that’s being done with this legislation to tell us if the government has an idea about how they might be able to do this; like, for example, on a prorated basis. The property’s owned by two people, one is disabled, one is not. Would the tax relief apply to 50 percent of the property taxes? Would that be something that’s being...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’m going to speak today about a topic I have brought up, I think, pretty consistently in the last 15 years that I’ve been an MLA. I don’t know how many terms you have to be elected or how many years you have to serve in order to get some of these issues resolved, but please don’t make me come back here again. I hope this can get resolved soon.

Mr. Speaker, the Senior Citizens and Disabled Persons Property Tax Relief Act, an act of this government, permits a municipal taxing authority, by bylaw, to exempt the eligible property of a disabled person from a...

Mr. Speaker, I can fully understand why Members representing small communities would consider having a nurse resident in the community to be a very important thing. Access sounds nice, but it doesn’t address the issue of emergencies and just, I suppose, the comfort level people have knowing that there is a qualified health care professional in the community should the need to receive services arise. It’s complicated, the answer, but does the Minister at least acknowledge the issue around the quality of life that’s realized in these small communities if they had a resident health care...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m going to ask a question to the Minister of Health and Social Services while I have this opportunity today. I’ve be listening to my colleague Mr. Krutko and my colleague Mr. Menicoche talk about the nursing services for Tsiigehtchic and Wrigley and even with all the debate and questions that’s gone back and forth, I still don’t really understand one thing. Is the ability to put nurses in these communities a financial consideration? Is it about the financial resources in order to do this?

The Minister doesn’t sound very supportive of the vote from the fishermen to be removed from the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation. Again, I don’t really understand what the liabilities are. Is he talking about financial liabilities? Is there some outstanding debt that needs to be paid? Do we owe something to the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation? I’m not understanding that. And as far as the legislation passed in this House, what is the department doing to bring forward whatever change in legislation needs to be enacted in order to see our fishery stand alone from the Freshwater Fish...

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

---Carried

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister of ITI as well. My colleague Mr. Yakeleya raises the issue of domestic product for a domestic market. We have long had a lately untapped resource in the way of our fishery and for years we’ve been asking the government to do what they can to make the fortunes and life of the fishermen better. I’m, of course, speaking of the fishermen on the Great Slave Lake and the quota of fish that does not get harvested from that lake, which is determined by the Department of Fisheries to be sustainable.

Mr. Speaker, a landmark decision has now...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that consideration of Tabled Document 78-16(4), Supplementary Appropriation (Operations Expenditures) No. 3, 2009-2010, be now concluded, and that Tabled Document 78-16(4) be reported and recommended as ready for further consideration in formal session through the form of an appropriation bill. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.