Jane Groenewegen

Of course, heaven forbid that anything untoward should ever happen to any Member of this House — or anybody, for that matter — but here is an example of where this difference in the enhanced benefit would come into play. If Mr. Roland and I were flying on the same airplane and if the airplane crashed and we both lost our lives, Mr. Roland’s family would receive a benefit of $750,000; my family would receive a benefit of $250,000. It is a discrepancy. I just don’t understand why it’s necessary. It doesn’t make sense to me. And, honestly, it costs the taxpayers, the public purse, money for that...

I thank the Premier for that. I did mention yesterday that, understandably, capital accommodation, home travel, spousal travel, perhaps even the entertainment allowance — some of these things will definitely be there. There is one area of the ministerial benefit which I find a little bit curious and that I referred to yesterday as well, and that is the accruing of holidays that get paid out to Ministers at the end of the year or at the end of their term. This is something quite unique and different, obviously, than what Regular Members have access to. So I am going to ask the Premier: why...

It is my pleasure today to recognize in the visitor’s gallery the mayor for Hay River, his Worship Marc Miltenberger.

Yes, that would be most helpful. If staff would have access to the ministerial benefits policies, including benefits, amounts, and so on, that were in place prior to the review by the 15th Assembly decision on a new policy, which took effect at the beginning of the 16th Assembly…. If they could compare those two and provide that to Members or table that as a public document, that would be what I’d be asking for. Would the Premier be prepared to do that?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My last four questions on this topic went by so quickly.

The ministerial benefits policy. We got a very succinct answer from the Premier that, yes, they are set by the Cabinet. But we had kind of a less succinct answer when it came to who actually sets the policies that are in place right now. The Premier referred to perhaps looking at these and doing a review. But I’d like to ask the Premier: when he says that this policy is in place as a result of work done by the previous government, maybe he would know, having been in the previous government, was this ministerial...

I fully realize that it has been the practice of past governments. I just find it an anomaly, and it is bit unusual. I don’t really know if I totally subscribe to the idea that it should be that way because Cabinet Ministers are full time employees of the government; that is debatable.

Mr. Speaker, the other issue that is interesting and different is the enhanced benefits for Cabinet Ministers when it comes to life insurance, dental and health benefits. Now if, heaven forbid, something should happen to any of us in the performance of our duties, we do have a government life insurance policy...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will be supporting the motion as well. Certainly, it’s not entirely clearly defined how this is going to work. If people think that having a milk subsidy is too administrative a burden, then maybe we should just give it away. Maybe in a small community where milk’s expensive, we should just have a cooler full of milk that anybody can take and not just people ages one to 12.

People have mentioned some of the pressures on seniors. Everybody could stand to use a little more milk. I don’t know about everybody else’s kids, but I’ll tell you, when my kids were growing up, if...

Certainly it did exist in previous Assemblies. Just to note the difference, though, Regular Members do not accrue vacation leave, and we certainly don’t get paid out for it at the end of our term, but Cabinet Ministers do.

Mr. Speaker, also under the Ministerial Benefits Policy there is something called an entertainment allowance. It is a non-accountable $1,500 annual allowance for duty related entertainment expenses. I would like to ask the Premier: is that over and above the already existing approximately $1,000 a month that Members receive? So they would get the Members’ $1,000 non...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday, I believe it was, in the House — or this week, at least — a couple of documents were tabled with respect to the Ministerial Benefits Policy and also a report respecting benefits to Ministers under that policy for the fiscal year ended March 31. Every term I believe that there is an independent commission struck to look at Members’ remuneration and benefits. I think that this commission allows for a cross-section of input and public participation for those who may wish to comment on Members’ benefits and pay.

The Members of the Executive Council actually are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

Unanimous consent granted.