Sandy Lee

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Governance Council must continue to show leadership and commitment, as it demonstrated in its appearance before committee in June, to improving the policy development process, and in particular resolving difficult issues such as chronic pain and pre-existing conditions. The council should not be afraid to break new ground and try made-in-the-north solutions where approaches borrowed from other jurisdictions do not work.

The council should also continue its work to improve accountability, for example, by developing its external reporting as well as its...

Thank you. It’s good that we have a 2010 plan, but the Minister is just telling me that there are three EDOs serving that region. Why is it with EDOs serving three communities that we have a situation where in this community and we do have that hotel there, which is one more reason why we should be looking at programming? Why is there not programming like that product in Wekweeti for these people to guide? Have there been any pilot programs to bring people in? Has there been any effort made for this community to network with the Yellowknife community or any of the centres? Is there any plan or...

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. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think I’m prepared to accept being compassionate and considerate that the government may not be able to meet this two-week deadline, but I would be happy to just have the government follow up on the commitment made by the previous Minister that there will be a review of what is happening, all the array of staff issues and morale issues at Stanton Hospital, and that it will involve a direct communication of the CEO and the deputy minister, if necessary, with the front-line workers division by division. That was a big commitment. That’s more important to me...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to welcome everybody in the gallery, especially recognize Ms. Arlene Hache, our hardest working advocate for women’s issues.

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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.