Kevin A. Menicoche

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise, too, in support of this motion. Just a few thoughts with respect to WCB claimants in my riding where there are lots of small communities, Mr. Speaker, and in fact I have six. The inquiries that I did get are that in our smaller communities like Nahanni Butte and Trout Lake, there is a quiet acquiescence to when they are dealing with WCB.

They are sitting in their small communities and getting notices in the mail that they are cut off and they can’t really do too much. I pride some of the examples that my colleagues have brought out. In the larger centres...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today with questions for the Minister of MACA. I sent a question down to research and they advised me that I had mentioned Nahanni Butte 54 times, the gymnasium 29 times, so all together that's 83 times. That's almost once for every constituent in Nahanni Butte, Mr. Speaker…

---Applause

…except I'm missing three constituents, so I’m going to have to conclude this sitting by asking three more questions of the Minister.

---Laughter

Begging the chair's indulgence, I said I am astounded five times, so I'm going to have to say that two more times, because there are...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Member for North Slave, that the motion be amended by striking out “that Bill 17 be read for the third time” and substituting “that Bill 17 be not now read a third time, but that it be read a third time this day three months hence.”

---Applause

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am certainly in favour of not campaigning in the snow.

---Laughter

But I am not really in favour of a fixed election date. I won’t be voting for this motion.

I am really happy that we can have a really good look at this and have the Auditor General have a really good look at how we are running our Workers’ Compensation Board, Mr. Speaker.

Above all, this just goes back to that one person; in this case a person from Trout Lake. He cannot earn income and he is cut off and yet, despite his pleas, he has to somehow make income and he has nowhere to turn and he can’t make any income, Mr. Speaker.

I am very supportive of this motion and I would like to see a total in-depth review and that is what this motion calls for, and I am very much in support it....

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, am astounded how many times I hear the same answer. Just with respect to that, Mr. Speaker, if the Minister can just tell me again…I'm travelling to Nahanni next week. What pray do I tell the people and the students and the children in Nahanni Butte? Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss the Fort Simpson long-term care facility. The department recently completed a review that supports my argument. The review identified the growing senior population of the Northwest Territories and the need for additional long-term care beds although they insist this need is in the long term. Mr. Speaker, in the long term is not good enough for me.

There are currently 16 residents in the Fort Simpson long-term care facility: one resident from Fort Liard; 12 residents from Fort Simpson; two residents from Jean Marie River; and one...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The committee wishes to consider Bill 17, Modernization of Benefits and Obligations Act; Bill 20, Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 3, 2004-2005…(inaudible)…Thank you.

Page 16, Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, operations expenditures, forest management, not previously authorized, $35,000.

Education, Culture and Employment, operations expenditures, advanced education and careers, not previously authorized $100,000.