Jane Groenewegen

Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on a point of personal privilege to correct what I believe are some misconceptions about the rules which I can appreciate must be mysterious to many members of the public who do not work with these rules on a day-to-day basis.

In particular, I refer to an editorial published in the October 4, 2006, Hub newspaper that included the phrase "conventions that conveniently give politicians an easy ride in reference to the sub judice rule that requires Members to refrain from discussing matters that are before the courts."

As I understand it, the sub...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table a package of documents, in chronological order, on the Premier's comments on the civil suit. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We still don’t know what the Minister is going to suspend. We’re going to be in suspense wondering.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, for the benefit of seniors currently living in public housing, I need to know if the Minister in the next few weeks is going to go to Cabinet and ask them for some kind of moratorium on the existing current Seniors’ Rent Subsidy Program. I need to know what context that that request is going to be made. We can’t do this open ended. Do seniors know by now that the government is considering a change in the policy for assessing rent? Yes, I think they do. Between the work of ECE and the Housing Corporation, I think they do. But Mr. Braden asked for...

Mr. Speaker, I was really happy there for a minute. I thought we actually got an answer from the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation on something to do with the seniors’ rent. First I heard we were going to suspend the rent policy that’s in place now. Then I heard we were going to suspend it in market communities. Then I heard we were just going to take it back to Cabinet to see if we can suspend it in market communities. I just think this has created so much lack of clarity now that if I was a senior living in a housing unit right now, I would not be getting any sleep this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the meantime, there are people who are resigning from positions. There’s not a lot of clarity around liability, there’s been lawsuits that have been filed by the Workers’ Compensation Board. There’s just a lot of outstanding questions and I think the time is of the essence. What is the Minister going to have in hand by the fall that is going to actually not just see more review and more study, but something tangible in the hands of these folks who are offering these volunteer, but very, very important services to our communities? Thank you, Mr...

Mr. Speaker, after we leave this House today I would like to get somebody to go back and do a word check and see how many times we heard the words "under review" during the last eight days, because it was quite significant.

But, Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services, the Minister responsible for perpetual planning. That’s his own phrase that I’ve stolen from him there. Mr. Speaker, the emergency response services in our communities, I raised this last time in the House, I asked for a measly $10,000 to give to our local emergency response volunteer...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, the Honourable Charles Dent. Mr. Dent wrote a letter to Mr. Roland subsequent to our budget session. I had inquired about the status of the Diamond Jenness Secondary School in Hay River and had asked if the functional report technical review that was done in 2003 could be updated. So Mr. Dent wrote to Mr. Roland asking that this happen. I was just wondering what is the status of that technical and functional review of the Diamond Jenness Secondary School today? Thank you, Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with Sunday being Father's Day, I thought I would devote my Member's statement today to some very special fathers.

Mr. Speaker, my own father passed away almost 10 years ago. I miss him but I do have the wonderful and vivid memories of him. He was colourful, opinionated and larger than life.

The testament to a good relationship is when you lose someone and you can say that you have no regrets. I was very close to my dad. To me he was human, but he was very savvy and discerning. One of the best legacies that a father or a parent, for that matter, can...