Michael Miltenberger

I will commit to have a discussion with the Minister of MACA on this particular issue.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Monfwi, that Bill 20, Vital Statistics Act, be read for the first time. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We follow the hiring process as laid out. Students are encouraged to register early, put their names in along with their credentials, as well as students from the different regions probably have their own personal points of contact. In terms of the process, we look at hiring about 29 students that we have this year already. That’s the process that we follow.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would be happy to talk to the Member outside the Chamber to look at this issue in more detail and some possible options or plan of action that would possibly help address this longstanding issue. Thank you.

There’s a modest presence in the regions and I would anticipate that since it’s now May, almost June, that we’ve probably maxed out, but I would have to check with the department to see if we anticipate exceeding last year’s number of nine.

Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document entitled Traditional Knowledge Annual Report, 2010-2011. Thank you.

Thank you. I would be happy to provide the Member with a note that would lay out the position of the government when it comes to this particular service and we can have further discussion at that point if he wishes. Thank you.

The Member is aware of the financial circumstances that this government is under. I made a statement, as the Minister of Finance, laying out very clearly the challenges we face in our almost non-existent fiscal flexibility. We just heard yesterday in the House the concern about what happens if there’s a major fire season, for example. Where do we get the money from? The Member is clearly aware of those restrictions.

So we have, at this point, no capacity. We have a list that is a great, long list, Mr. Speaker, of very many commendable projects that all would require our assistance that Members...

Mr. Speaker, we have a contribution and a plan and an interdepartmental plan that pools resources to deal with homelessness across the Northwest Territories. What we have here is another situation where infrastructure is being developed because of the local will to do the construction with no O and M money in place to run it as of yet. We went through the same long process with the dementia centre and we are not in the situation fiscally where we are in a position to offer up millions of dollars of homelessness money as it doesn’t now exist unless we take it from the few dollars that are...

This whole process is a classic example of why Northerners have to have control over their own decision-making in this area; regulatory reform and resource development, land and water.

Here we are in this Assembly trying to find out what the federal government’s up to. They haven’t told us clearly. They’ve made some comments about something dramatic that they want to do. We are concerned that they’re going to do things that are not going to be in our best interest as a territory. There’s been some improvement in relationships since the signing of the AIP where now the federal government has...