Sandy Lee

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to be clear that I don't have a problem with people making a profit. I mean that's what makes the markets go around. Good on them if the companies can come and make profits. I'm interested in what is the GNWT getting in this development project. I think it is the resources of our territory; it has a lot to do with our future economic prosperity. Good on the aboriginal governments for working hard to get what is beneficial to them, but I have to tell you that we have to be very concerned that in the whole mix of things we've got nothing so far…

I think we understand that this is a mega, mega project, and the latest figure I've heard was a $7 billion investment required by the consortium and the cost is going up. But even at $10 billion, a $17 billion profit is quite healthy. It's an 80 to 100 percent return. I think anybody would go for that.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would presume that the end result of this process would be that there will be legislation required. But as it is, it's in a very preliminary discussion period so I would think that you don't have to have all the t's crossed and i's dotted before people could participate and really engage in the discussion about something I think that's more important for the North in the small communities. So would the Minister be encouraged to hurry up, and could we possibly see this within the next month or so, so that we can engage our people into full discussion? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, of late, one of the debates around the House has been about the important value and the need for the Members to be able to speak without the fear of intimidation on behalf of the people we represent. We showed our resolve in that regard yesterday. But I have been thinking about what we have been doing to make such capacity available to people in our communities who are afraid to speak out against the government because of their fear about losing their jobs, their businesses or their contracts. As I stated two days ago in this House, Mr. Speaker, in a small...

Mr. Speaker, I think that this government, and this Legislature, and the Premier, and the Cabinet, will be judged on how we come out in terms of benefits for the people of the Northwest Territories. I need to hear from the Premier very precisely what is it exactly he's asking the Prime Minister and how he's about to get that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

…for the territorial government. So what is the Premier going to do, in light of this new information, to stand up for the NWT and for this government? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have to tell you that this is a very difficult time for us as a Legislature. We have all 11 Members from this side that stood up this morning on another occasion where we had a chance to express our views on this. I stand by the statements I made. I believe that the privilege as a Member here comes with a lot of different aspects to that, one of them being our need and right to feel free from any kind of intimidation and limitation. So this is such a very difficult issue. I do accept the Minister’s apology. I do believe he is very sincere in his apology...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This flexibility that's built in for OR nurses is done because it's convenient for the government. It does not pay attention to equity issues and fairness to all the health care professionals. The government allows this flexibility because the OR shuts down. But for the rest of the health care professionals, they are asked to work overtime excessively because there's a shortage of workers, they can't take any time because there's a shortage of workers, they're asked to get cash paid out. But you know what? People don't want to work three weeks in a row, or 10 days...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm glad the Minister mentioned that, because I think that speaks precisely to the inequity and the problems that come out of this Minister's policy. Mr. Speaker, it is not right for the government to have one policy, even just within the nursing field. There are nurses at the OR room at the hospital who are allowed to bank 150 hours and the rest are 75 hours. Does he think that's fair, Mr. Speaker? How could that be fair? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, over the last few months, the GNWT introduced a policy where across the board, with very few exceptions, the GNWT employees cannot bank any more than 75 hours of overtime. Not only that, once an employee has reached that in any fiscal year, they cannot refill it again. Mr. Speaker, this means that most of your overtime, above and beyond that, is paid out in cash. This is a problem, Mr. Speaker, because, believe it or not, money is not everything to our people. They want to have the choice of being able to take the time off instead of getting cash, but the...