Kevin A. Menicoche

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to add some context to the motion. I love our consensus-style government. This issue was raised by a young lady from Fort Simpson in July or August when she wanted to give her income statements to the Housing Corporation for public housing rent. She contacted me right away, as her MLA, and said, they started using my child tax benefit as income. She said she doesn’t understand. That money is for milk and pampers; it’s not for rent.

That is the whole purpose of our subsidy programs territorially and federally. It is about assisting those that need it. Here...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to deal with the motion I gave earlier today.

---Unanimous consent granted

Mr. Speaker, I think the importance of this is that it should be looked into as soon as possible, because we do have a budget session coming up in February/March and the time for planning is now.

This is going to be my final question. Can the Minister give it a priority item, assess the situation and come up with, hopefully, a plan to have that in this upcoming budget? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I wanted to ask the Minister of Education some questions. I was recently, through my constituency tour, in Fort Liard. I often visit the schools. I am not too sure about the design of the school and parking area, but residents have been stating over the past three years that there is limited parking space at the Echo-Dene School in Fort Liard. I would like to know if the Minister is aware of this situation. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I am glad it will have upgraded facilities, but the complaint talks about repairs to the current, existing facilities.

What will be done to fix these deficiencies that were noted at the Blackstone Territorial Park? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to return to item 8 on the Order Paper. Thank you.

---Unanimous consent granted

I’m glad the Minister is understanding of the issue that is impacting my constituents.

Has the Department of Health and Social Services taken the time to look at the way other jurisdictions handle continuous prescriptions? I believe there will be some useful lessons there. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to follow up on my Member’s statement and ask the Minister of Health and Social Services some questions about the idea of continuous prescriptions. What policies do doctors follow right now in determining how long a prescription will last and how it should be renewed? Is that policy the same under all health authorities no matter how they operate? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I, too, am rising in support of this motion and I’ll certainly be voting in favour of it. In a time when we’re talking about devolution and decentralization, a search and rescue base in the North only makes sense, and in fact the federal government, it has been said, is paying a lot of attention to the North. So here is another way that they can continue with the North as a priority. Thank you.

I’m glad that there is inventory taken of facilities. Is there a plan to fix these deficiencies as they are noted, particularly the Blackstone? Is there a plan to fix the noted deficiencies? I’m not too sure if it came out in the inventory as well. In fact, I wouldn’t mind seeing a copy of that year-end report as well. Thank you.