Jane Groenewegen

To the issue of this being given some kind of a priority here, we cannot afford to lose any more professionals out of our community. As I said, I believe that the lack of this legislation is something that has affected Hay River just this past week in a very detrimental way. What kind of time frame could we be looking at to have this legislation in place and approved in this House?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated in my Member’s statement today, we are probably the only jurisdiction in Canada that does not have legislation enabling professionals to become incorporated. I’d like to ask the Minister of Justice if this type of legislation is forthcoming in the Northwest Territories.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last Friday your Committee of the Whole considered a motion to delete funding from the Department of Justice for planning towards the renovation of the Territorial Women’s Correctional Centre in Fort Smith. In a very unusual step a Minister other than the Minister responsible for the department whose estimates were before the committee spoke to the motion. Mr. Miltenberger is the Member for Thebacha, which includes the community of Fort Smith.

In speaking to the motion, the Member made the following remarks, and I quote from the unedited Hansard of May 30, 2008: “And as...

Mr. Speaker, I fully understand why Members would be questioning things in Committee of the Whole. I would suggest that Ministers using Committee of the Whole as an opportunity not to be wearing their Minister’s hat, so to speak — to be promoting or expressing views on issues of their constituencies — has been extremely rare. It’s probably only happened a couple of times in my 13 years in this Assembly. So if we are going to have a change in that practice or that convention, I would like to ask the Premier if his voice will be the one that will represent the Members on the other side of the...

Mr. Speaker, the Premier has been in this House as long as I have. It has been a commonly accepted practice, if not a rule, that members of Cabinet do not use this House as a forum to discuss their constituency issues. Is that the Premier’s understanding?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In keeping with what would be the normal turnaround time required for a piece of legislation like this, I'd like to ask the Minister: is there any way to fast-track this? If there is, when could we possibly see this legislation work concluded and this bill passed in the House?

Mr. Speaker, we’re all aware in this House of some of the pressures that have been on the resources and the capacity that we have to draft new legislation and get it enacted. I’d like to ask the Minister if all the consultation and everything has already happened that would allow this legislation to go forward and if it will be given priority status.

Mr. Speaker, as we are all aware, there are a number of issues which impact on our ability as a territory to attract and retain physicians for our communities. There is competition for doctors’ services both at the national and international levels. This means we have to be realistic in wages that we pay doctors and offer the same incentives and inducements that other jurisdictions provide.

For the most part we are competitive. We can promote the positive lifestyle and virtues of living in smaller communities all we want, but if doctors can easily make more money in another jurisdiction, we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to raise a point of privilege.

I’m going to be supporting the motion. And as usual, I’ll be very brief here.

I’m going to be checking the unedited Hansard for Mr. Miltenberger’s comments. He brought up a capital project in my community, referred to as the supported assisted living facility — as yet to be built — wondering if it should be profiled. Mr. Chairman, when I read the unedited Hansard, if I consider that a threat to a capital project from a Minister in my riding, I’ll be raising a point of order.

I’ll be supporting this motion. Thank you.