Sandy Lee

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would just like to weigh in on this debate a little bit and make comments about tourism in general. I am in support of this bill, but I do want to just talk about what we heard and I want to speak about a region that I don’t represent as a Member here, but we got to go to as part of the cost of living pre-budget tour. I was on the team that went to Wekweeti. Because of the time or the timing, a lot of community people were away but we did have a nice little meeting with the SAO and some of the community people. One of the topics that came out was the desire on the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe, within this House and outside, I don’t think there is that clear understanding that people understand that this is a House of free speech and that it is the Members’ jobs to criticize the Premier and the Ministers if and where necessary. That is not happening at all. I would like to ask the Premier, would he put that into paper and maybe he should do an announcement in the paper to let the people know that we hold this very important? Would he be willing to take that commitment, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are to the Premier. It is in follow-up to the Member’s statement and the questions raised by my colleague from Hay River South. I think we have seen in this House that Members take very seriously any indication or any sense of intimidation or any pressure put off on us unduly for doing our job as a Member, which is to speak on behalf of the constituents that we represent but also for the people of the NWT and the bigger picture of upholding the basic principles of democracy, Mr. Speaker. I was encouraged to hear from the Premier that he...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to speak today about the importance of doing what we can in this government to support the small businesses all over the NWT and in Yellowknife. Mr. Speaker, I have to tell you that I have just heard from my constituents that there are two restaurants in this town that are looking at closing their doors this summer. This is primarily due to rising expenses, labour shortages and generally a very negative business environment in Yellowknife, Mr. Speaker. I have spoken of this before and I have to tell you that we need to do more to create a better...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Standing Committee on Social Programs conducted a public review of Bill 7, Pharmacy Act, on September 5th, 2006, and October 16th, 2006. The committee would like to thank the representatives of the NWT Pharmacists Association, the NWT Medical Association and the Registered Nurses' Association of the NWT and Nunavut for appearing before committee to discuss the ramifications of the passage of the Pharmacy Act for all health practitioners in the NWT.

It became apparent to committee members at the September 5th public hearing that there were serious concerns on the part...

After the hockey game in Deline. There is a lot there to promote.

The other factor is, I understand that we are talking about the Tlicho area with self-government. What this tells me is that it takes more. Now we are dealing with a different governance structure, but it doesn’t mean that the GNWT is out of the picture and that the GNWT doesn’t do that. It just means that we have other players at the table, but we all serve the same population. So whether it’s with the cooperation and involvement and partnership with the Tlicho Government and Wekweeti community government and community people...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As a Member of the Legislature, just a very brief comment to express my appreciation as a member of the Standing Committee on Social Programs for the involvement and participation of NAPEGG, the association that has been behind this legislation and for which this legislation is about. I think it should be noted, in one of our public hearings we had an entire set of past presidents of the association, about six or seven of them. I don’t want to name all of them, but I think that was a real show of interest and showed the history and the effort that went into the...

…to show whatsoever. So, Mr. Speaker, it's time to step up to the plate and produce some goods. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We're a creature of statute. We’re not a constitutionally formed provincial government, so now it's very scary but it's probably technically possible for the federal government to…She's coming toward me. I thought she was going to give me some words or something.

---Laughter

It's probably technically possible for the federal government to get through the pipeline, get the thing done, get the pipeline going south without a deal. There's nothing in it for us. It's up to us to make it happen.

Earlier it was mentioned that Prime Minister Harper promised resource revenue sharing and development....

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, too, wish to speak in favour of this motion and, Mr. Speaker, I would like to spend my time talking about not why we need this resource revenue sharing deal but how I think we should get it. Of course, I don’t have the million dollar answers there, but perhaps I could add my argument here, Mr. Speaker. Let me just put it on record that I support resource development and the benefits to be gained from that, Mr. Speaker. I have to say that the last time I was in Inuvik, I hadn’t been there for a little while and I got to see the new Mackenzie Hotel for...