Julie Green

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Friday, November 4, 2016, I will move the following motion: I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Great Slave, that, notwithstanding Rule 4, when this House adjourns on November 4, 2016, it shall be adjourned until Tuesday, January 31, 2017; and further, that any time prior to January 31, 2017, if the Speaker is satisfied, after consultation with the Executive Council and Members of the Legislative Assembly, that the public interest requires that the House should meet at an earlier time during the adjournment, the Speaker may...

Masi, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Minister for that. One of the things I spoke about in my statement was consent and the issue of raising public awareness around consent would be a multi-departmental issue. So you referenced the Cabinet Committee on Safety and Wellness; is this the kind of work that they might do? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you to the Minister for that. So am I to understand that in addition to identifying whether there are rape kits in every place, that the Minister will also commit to ensuring each nursing station staff knows how to use them?

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. That's a logical solution to that issue. Given that contracting services are mainly provided through the shared services model, over which individual departments have very little authority, can the Minister please explain our current system for monitoring and evaluation to ensure that contracts meet departments' needs and the public gets the best value for money? Mahsi.

Thank you to the Minister for that answer. In 2012, as the Minister is aware, the Auditor General of Canada released a status report on the 2009 audit on GNWT contracting for goods and services. They found that significant improvements had been made, but the errors were still found in 15 of 44 sample contracts. As a result, the Auditor General considered progress on contract administration to be unsatisfactory. Can the Minister tell us what improvements and quality assurance processes have been made since then?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Many legislatures across the globe face a common problem: Their citizens are neither knowledgeable about, nor very satisfied with them as institutions. This political disengagement, coupled with generational change, increased policy and legislative complexity, declining scrutiny by traditional media, and the growing influence of social media have all contributed to the sense of a growing democratic deficit between the public and the lawmakers.

In an effort to bridge this democratic deficit, there has been a worldwide shift towards open government. Public engagement strategies...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to congratulate all the award winners and I would like to introduce my neighbour and constituent, Karen Wright-Fraser, who helped organize today's events. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document, "Guiding Principles and Process Conventions for Consensus Government in the NWT." Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you to the Minister for that answer. Another situation that's like this that I'll bring to his attention is mothers with newborns. They often will take months of waiting to get the money paid, to get on with the support of the Canada Child Benefit. The other problem I want to bring to his attention is timing. So food and clothing allowances used to be paid at the beginning of the month. The Canada Child Benefit is paid in the last half of the month and people end up at food banks and other food security places earlier because they run out of money. Can the Minister say how people should...

Mahsi. Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. YWCA Yellowknife reports that eliminating the income assistance food and clothing allowance for children is already having a devastating impact on NWT families. For example, when women and children flee violent homes, it can take some time to have the Child Tax Benefit migrated to the person who left with the children. So for the Minister, if the income assistance applicant is not receiving the Canada Child Benefit because they're waiting for changes in taxation filing to go through, how...