Sandy Lee

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I suggest that there is a lot of gap for him to close between getting up here and making a commitment to a gym willy-nilly and to plan something like this 17 years later. I think there is a lot of room there for him to close. Mr. Speaker, I’m not talking about federal funding and all the other stuff, but doing with what you have. We are talking $1 million. The Minister of Health and Social Services is talking about healthy living, active living, kids having a place. What are they supposed to do in the wintertime? I think this is more than just the recreational…

Let me correct the hospital, to read health centre; sorry. Mr. Speaker, let me be really serious. I can see the planning process, but my understanding is that there is no gymnasium planned for Nahanni Butte until 2017. I would say, Mr. Speaker, that is taking planning a little far there. That is 12 years from now. That's not acceptable. There has to be a better way to plan this. Mr. Speaker, I remind the Minister when he was on this side of the floor, he talked non-stop about the need…

…that there is no indoor gymnasium in any community in our territory, Mr. Speaker. What is our criteria? There should be no community with no gym, and that's the case with Nahanni Butte. What are the children of Nahanni Butte supposed to do in the thick of the winter months? Mr. Speaker, apparently in the North you have to go to jail to get a good gym.

---Laughter

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as always, there is no shortage of big issues to talk about here but, this being a Friday, I would like to join in on the actions of the Member for Nahendeh…

---Applause

Thank you, Madam Chair. I would also like to offer a few comments on the budget. Yesterday I made a statement about the fact that this is overall a good budget. It certainly is not as gloomy as the one we heard last year. It was very depressing to watch the Minister of Finance last year going on and on about what a dire situation we were in. But to his credit he’s worked hard, and Cabinet and everyone else, to get to where we are, and the fact that we got some extra money from the federal government and that took a lot of work on the part of the Cabinet Members, as well as the Premier and the...

Oh, my God, that is such a compliment. Mr. Speaker, I know that this is not a comfort to those who are adversely affected by this budget and I want to acknowledge that as well, but I cannot just stop with a compliment. I do want to give another assignment to the Minister of Finance who has done a fine job in coming up with a budget for this round. One thing that I want to see more of next year is that we enhance the money for education. One thing I noticed on page 10, it mentions a very brief statement about changing the curriculum for trade in our schools, in high schools, but I think we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister of Education is well aware of this. We did improve the funding for special needs to 15 percent, but it’s not anywhere near enough because I think even a layperson's observation will show that there is a lot more need for special needs funding right across the board in the Territories and 15 percent is not enough. I would like the Minister of Finance to work on getting 20 percent. I support the government’s move to try to fund kindergarten full time because I think that would lessen the pressure on the budget, and I believe that if we do this we could...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to take this opportunity to make a few comments about the budget that was delivered by the Minister of Finance. First of all, just a general comment. Being part of this huge bureaucracy of government, I’m sort of jaded to think that it really doesn’t matter what one individual thinks and I must tell you when I was listening to this budget I could not believe how much of Floyd Roland I saw in this document and I’m thinking individuals do make a difference. I may be wrong, maybe I shouldn’t bet dollars on it, but I think the second paragraph of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe municipalities have jurisdiction over this area within their own jurisdiction, but there is a little bit of a gap in situations where these situations happen outside of the municipality, which is the case with the latest six dogs that were found. Mr. Speaker, I understand that there is overlap of jurisdiction not only between these two administrators, but between the levels of government as well, but I don’t think there have been strong statements from the government as a government to say that this is not acceptable. What sort of resources are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it’s good to be back here and I think we’re experiencing a flying start as a pack of roosters on this side and I really, really look forward to crowing really loudly about the issues that are important to our constituents over the coming months.

---Laughter

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Justice and it’s with regard to parts of my Member’s statement about what’s been happening to our canine residents in the Territories. Mr. Speaker, I had the occasion to attend the Power-Up Young Women’s Conference last Monday and I had the occasion to talk...