Michael McLeod

I would like to welcome all of our visitors here today. A couple of individuals I would like to recognize: Mr. Darryl Bohnet, who was a long-time government employee and mostly worked for Diavik; and somebody who has developed a real high level of interest in politics in the last while and must be watching how much fun I have been having here, my brother Bob. I would like to welcome them both here.

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Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, this is another good example of the lack of communications sometimes between Cabinet and Members on this side. We are asked to vote on a motion and we don’t know the details of the motion. We are scrambling down on this side trying to figure out who is going, what is going to happen at the end of this Legislative Assembly. So you come forward and you ask us to approve something. If we are just going to approve anything that is put before us, let’s approve this and be done with it. But we are put there to question things and if we have concerns and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The powers of the investigators were seen as excessive by many of the presenters.  One Member cited the provisions empowering SCAN investigators to obtain government records without a warrant and to share their information with the RCMP.  The question then becomes whether the investigators could become nothing more than a tool for the RCMP to circumvent the existing justice system.

Another area of concern for some presenters and Members is the capacity of our government to manage and administer what is essentially its own armed and uniformed investigative force.

A case...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hear treaty payments are exempt but the IBAs aren't exempt. I'd like to ask the Minister why there's a difference in what's exempt, the IBAs or the treaty payments. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the subsidies that this government provides are very generous and some of the questions that we have on this side of the House I think is in the inconsistencies in some of the delivery of the programs. They like to promote self-reliance and so do we. We've been self-reliant before and I think the day will come when most of us, or most of the people across the NWT, will be self-reliant again. The question I have for the Minister of ECE is I'd like to ask him if land claim agreements are constitutionally protected when they're calculating income for the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We've been contacted both by the federal government, the Fisheries and Oceans, and also we've had some discussions with the community members. It's still early, Mr. Speaker. The beluga whales might find their way back out to the Arctic Ocean. We'll continue to monitor. We'll certainly keep the Member and his community informed. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We certainly will commit to working with the hunters' and trappers' committee and the Fisheries and Oceans who is the lead on this issue. I think there are about 85 whales trapped in the Husky Lakes area again this year. We are hoping that they will find their way out this fall through the channel that leads to the Arctic Ocean. We have to wait until some time later this fall to see if that happens. Failing that, we will certainly work with the community, the hunters' and trappers' committee and the federal government. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the subsidies that this government provides to its residents are probably the best in the Northwest Territories. We have over $118 million roughly in subsidies and there are still some inconsistencies in the delivery of these programs that causes me some concern, Mr. Speaker. A good example is there is a young man that I know who is a summer student who is working for the summer. His family is on income support. This young man is getting his wages clawed back by income support because his family is on income support. That’s not sending a very good...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document entitled School of Community Government Annual Report 2006-2007. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled Youth Programs Annual Report, 2006-2007. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.