Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Certainly, the Minister is right; in order for the North to be competitive on this, you do need to look at things like access to raw materials, material that could be brought in by train into Hay River, and the fact that the finished products could be shipped out by barge down the Mackenzie River system. All those kinds of things go together to give the North the competitiveness that they need to get involved in these activities. I would like to ask the Minister, for the benefit of those people in Hay River who are interested in, perhaps, participating in such a...

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, and they are in follow-up to some of the issues that have been raised about the capacity for northerners to participate in the manufacturing of units which could serve as camps during the construction phase of the pipeline, and, ultimately, housing units after the fact. Mr. Speaker, in some instances, it's hard to discuss these things on the floor of the House, because we are dealing with proprietary information; we're dealing with patents, in some cases; we're dealing with...

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. General comments. Did you have a question? Was there a question there, Ms. Lee, for the Minister?

Agreed. Thank you. Then I will ask the Deputy Sergeant-at-Arms to escort the witnesses to the witness table.

Mr. Dent, could you please introduce your witnesses for the record?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you committee has been considering Bill 4, An Act to Amend the Education Act, and would like to report that Bill 4 is now ready for third reading. Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of Committee of the Whole be concurred with. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. At this time, I’d like to ask Mr. Dent if he would like to bring witnesses into the chamber.

You have to make a motion.

Okay. I’d like to call Committee of the Whole back to order. We are, today, dealing with Bill 4, An Act to Amend the Education Act. At this time, I’d like to ask Mr. Dent if he has opening comments related to the bill. Mr. Dent.