Sandy Lee

To say in all the three bullets here, studying the cost of living issues, it suggests that somehow this bridge will increase the cost of living, and this is why I had to do the whole song and dance about the fact that in fact the case is completely reverse, the case is completely reverse. This bridge will reduce the cost of living for the North and for Yellowknife and the surrounding area. We have to do everything we can, it will benefit everybody, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have to do something to avoid a situation that we had earlier in the month when we are at risk of running out of...

Geez, Mr. Speaker, what I want to tell you is this project has had more review, and more input, and more study, and more effort than any other project we know. It has gone through a lengthy process. Oh yes, and there is a benefit to Fort Providence area and I understand the Member from Sahtu said talking to his family they don’t know what this project is…

Mr. Speaker, I have indicated many a time, not having access because of the ice break-up in the springtime and in the fall, it could amount anywhere between six to eight weeks in a year and I know and I appreciate that in many communities that’s the state of being all year round. I appreciate that and I believe they should get the bridge too. That’s not to say that Yellowknife should not get that. We have 20,000 people and the businesses and all the services we provide that get closed down twice a year and there is a cost to that, Mr. Speaker. The trucking companies pay extra money when...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’m happy to enter into this debate today and I’d like to thank the Members for bringing the motion forward. I’d like to start off by saying I do have concerns about this motion. I like the fact that we’re doing the debate, but I do have concerns about the motion in that it sort of casts a little bit of dark shadow on something I think is great news and a great project and something that we should all get behind 1,000 percent. Mr. Speaker, I believe this is the kind of innovative, visionary, a big action item that governments should do more of. We...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister indicated in previous questions that the job recruitment process is ongoing and the time and the nature of summer student jobs vary and so students could get hired throughout the summer, but I think May is an important month and most students would want to be hired by the end of May. So could I ask the Minister to make a commitment to get back to us by the end of the month and give us a results report in that regard?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to waive Rule 93(4) and have Committee Report 3-15(6) be moved into Committee of the Whole for today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

But especially, I'd like to take a moment to thank the hard-working staff of the committee, Mr. Speaker. I have to tell you that we did intense travels: six communities in six days, covering places like Tuktoyaktuk, Ulukhaktok, Colville Lake, Behchoko. Not the most accessible places, but the operation went like a smooth, oiled machine. I want to just express our thanks, on behalf of the committee, to the staff. I want to thank especially Mr. Robert Collinson who has the stupendous capacity to put into words all of our thoughts and everything we hear from our communities, so if I could just...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to add to this. I will be voting in favour of this motion. I just want to state that, in our committee discussions about all that we heard, we were quite puzzled by the fact that, as of now, there is only one family services committee in the communities and that is in Fort McPherson. We also recalled when we were in Fort McPherson about a year ago, we were told that up to one-third of children in that community were being apprehended. I think the community felt really important that day getting to action and set up a committee and to not only deal with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this being the last day of the session before August, I would like to take a moment to highlight the activities of the Range Lake North School and Range Lake constituency.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate the Grade 6 boys and girls soccer teams who took both banners in the recent Super Soccer tournament. I would also like to take a moment to recognize the work of Range Lake North School Parents Advisory Group who has completed another successful family fun night a few weeks ago. This is a one night event where they raise over $10,000. They have...

Most importantly, if we don’t do this, we are increasing the chance of Nunavut going ahead with the port in Keewatin. Mr. Speaker, surely Members would not think that it’s better off for North Slave to not have a bridge and make it favourable for Nunavut. So, Mr. Speaker, I do not agree with the philosophy and the pretext of this motion because it does not do what I think we all should do, which is get behind this bridge 1,000 percent because it’s going to benefit us and it’s going to cost less doing it this way than any other way and this is the best time to do it than any other time we...