Robert Villeneuve

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to conclude my Member’s statement. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also have to express my dismay at what happened yesterday here in the House. I know everything here spoke in this room is public and any gestures that are made in this House are made to the public also and not just to Members sitting here today. Just on that point, Mr. Speaker, if something like that takes place in this House, which is obviously not allowable, what kind of message is that going to send to the public when people that actually have concerns with government operations, government programs and the delivery of services, when they write a Minister a...

My question, okay, to the Minister of the Housing Corporation…

---Laughter

That's fine. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Okay. With this review of this Income Support Program over the last year, is there any commitment from ECE that the rent scale is going to be brought up again? It's been brought up by Members on that side, Members on this side. Is it going to be reviewed again to more accurately reflect what people are willing to pay?

…just have a disincentive with that policy in place. So why do we even have it there if people aren't going to want to go out and become self-reliant?

Mr. Speaker, you know, the rent scale policy that we have today was developed 10-plus years ago, with good intentions, I'm sure, but obviously today it doesn't work. It doesn't work for communities; it doesn't work for individuals; and it doesn't work in our employment economy here today. I guess just what my colleague Mrs. Groenewegen from Hay River South was talking about, the frustration of having people to have to verify their income on a monthly basis to the LHOs which, in turn, work with ECE to provide the subsidy or what rent they're going to charge them on. But should people not...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker and colleagues. Mr. Speaker, the next Health and Social Services Authority board meeting will be held in Fort Resolution this Monday on October 23rd. I encourage the Minister to direct board members to provide some assurances that it is working to address these matters and provide timelines, deadlines and recommendations from the two reports that have been drafted since March 2006 that hopefully will address and rectify problems in this area. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Today I just want to talk about the great elders’ facility in Deninu Kue. Currently, there are no elders living in the main building that is designed to accommodate up to four residents or elders. The community is well aware that this facility is not a long-term care facility, but they do support the options proposed in the review of the memorandum of understanding and the possibility of the reprofiling of a facility to better meet the needs of the community.

Mr. Speaker, the issues brought to the Minister’s attention about the proposed uses of the facility are not issues...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So we have to wait another couple of years, I guess, for seeing any reduction in any waiting times that are pretty long today. Does the Minister have any appetite, Mr. Speaker, to ensure that maybe out-of-town patients should get a little priority when they get to the emergency room? If they have travelled for eight hours or two days to get to the emergency room, shouldn’t they be given some kind of priority over patients that are just walk-ins from Yellowknife? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So we have to wait another couple of years, I guess, for seeing any reduction in any waiting times that are pretty long today. Does the Minister have any appetite, Mr. Speaker, to ensure that maybe out-of-town patients should get a little priority when they get to the emergency room? If they have travelled for eight hours or two days to get to the emergency room, shouldn’t they be given some kind of priority over patients that are just walk-ins from Yellowknife? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.