Jane Groenewegen

We are considering the rate review report. I’m sure people out there are wondering about what will be the outcome of that deliberation. I’d just like to, for the record today, have the Premier tell us if any of those recommendations would indicate increased power rates in any community in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, this may be a slightly technical question, but I’ll ask the Premier in a general way, has some analysis been undertaken that would indicate the cost-savings if the Power Corporation were not operated as an arm’s length Crown corporation but as an entity providing power not on a for-profit basis but just as an essential service on a cost basis. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to my colleague from Nahendeh for leaving me a few minutes on the clock here. My questions today for the Premier relate to the Member’s statement that I made. We say that we are interested in lowering the cost of living for people in the Northwest Territories. Some 22 years ago the Government of the Northwest Territories repatriated the power company from the Northern Canada Power Commission and established the Northwest Territories Power Corporation. As creating that Crown corporation, we necessarily, as a government, owned it, we were the shareholder. Then...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think this discussion on this motion is turning into something that the motion to delete is not. I think we are talking about two different things here. The government is saying yes, support the $400,000. Why then can it not clearly be described to us what the $400,000 is for? Because if it is for a steering committee, I don’t support it. You can buy a lot of food for $400,000 and if we thought it was a milk subsidy or a food breakfast program for children and we keep talking about the communities, this would be, I assume, unless we want to specifically target to...

I’m very familiar with that time. I was on the original board of directors of the Northwest Territories Power Corporation before NCPC had even moved from Edmonton to Hay River. So I’m very familiar with the thinking at the time, and it was considered a great gain for the GNWT to acquire this asset. But, you know, times have kind of changed a bit now. Now we are looking at costs that are really quite a burden to the people, and we are quite consumed, as legislators, about the cost of living. I think it is time to re-examine the model that we have in place. Because if there is anything about...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The committee would like to continue on with general comments with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment and hopefully make some progress on the detail of that department. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Speaker, maybe my question was not clear enough, but what I would like to know -- and I didn’t hear this in the answer from the Minister -- is there an opportunity to secure additional capital funding through the federal government Heritage Canada for the expansion of the facilities at Ecole Boreale through federal dollars, or is it a GNWT allocation that will have to be identified for the adding of a gymnasium? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Listening to my colleague Mr. Menicoche today talk about school and a gymnasium for Trout Lake, I had asked the Minister of Education not to make them wait long, because I think we had to listen to him speak in this House about the gymnasium for Nahanni Butte for about three or four years.

On the topic of gymnasiums, Mr. Speaker, we all know the value and the importance to children of physical activity, and in our remote and northern communities here, where it is cold much of the year and not everybody can participate in outdoor activities, a school gymnasium is a very...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Minister of Health and Social Services has indicated, the Mental Wellness Week is February 7th to 13th. Mr. Speaker, I was listening to the news this past week. I was very saddened to hear the report of the young mother in Millet, Alberta, that was going through a relationship breakup. In fact, they found her two children, her two little boys -- they showed a picture of them on the news -- and the two year old and the 10 month old were dead in her home. After that, she attempted to take her own life. Mr. Speaker, when I heard that story on the news, I thought to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I assume that the portables that were added on to Ecole Boreale to make room for more classroom space were intended as a temporary measure. So I would like to ask the Minister of Education if, in considering the expansion of the school to incorporate that additional classroom space, the gymnasium could be part of that ask and part of that negotiation and I’m also just wondering if the footprint for an expanded Ecole Boreale could be accommodated on its present site. Thank you.