Tom Beaulieu

Mr. Speaker, I have no problem whatsoever to advise the people in Fort Simpson and apologize for having some failure on the equipment and explain why there was some confusion of the ferry being anticipated to close then extended again. Thank you.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. What we use is the average of the last 10 years as a time when we indicate when the ferry will close. The average in the last 10 years on the one ferry, the Liard ferry, was November 3rd, so we advised the public that it would be closed anywhere within 72 hours because we thought that was taking us to November 3rd. However, we try to keep the ferry open as long as possible, as long as it is safe to continue to run, so there may be extensions added to that if the ferry is still running safely across the river. Thank you.

Yes, we would consider it, depending on what information they wanted to release. I believe that we could probably talk about the various priorities, but I think some of the information would remain confidential. If the committee has ideas and it was to write to us asking us what they wanted released for what purpose to the public, then we would consider that.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, that Bill 29, Human Tissue Donation Act, be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Having paid WSCC premiums is one of the mandatory things that contractors have to have. My understanding, from and discussing this with the departments that are doing a lot of contracting with industry, is that they have to have a safety plan when they bid on jobs. I’m not sure that the safety plans are filed with anyone except with the department and the departments questioning whether or not the contractor has a safety plan in place when they contract with us. Thank you.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. The Member has better intel than me. I have been advised by the department that a questionnaire submitted for October 31st has not received a score from the Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission at this time. The 2013-14 claims, if there was any penalty calculated in that questionnaire, we will be advised by Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission in June 2015. Thank you.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Monfwi, that Bill 32, An Act to Amend the Pharmacy Act, be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. The GNWT employs lots of contractors. Many contractors, even to people who do our janitorial services and so on. We have, like the Member indicates, 5,000 employees doing various types of work. We have people that do nursing, 24/7 operations such as correctional facilities. I’m not sure that one safety plan could ever encompass all of the GNWT, so I don’t think I can actually table a safety plan for the GNWT per say. Thank you.

Thank you. The departments have developed occupational health and safety committees in the various departments and headquarters and also in some of the regions in the departments that are the main contracting departments, such as Public Works and Transportation. However, I don’t have the information on how many safety officers, which are titled safety officers and are employed as safety officers, but rather people that work in the departments and scheduled as occupational health and safety officers and work with the committees. Thank you.

The Stabilization Fund is there to stabilize the cost of fuel, that is correct; however, it is not there to provide subsidies. What the Member is asking for is for us to take a look at stabilizing at last year’s rate for an indefinite period of time, or six months, then what we would have to do is we would have to recover that cost at some point from somewhere. So, the only place where we have the ability to reduce the cost below the 100 percent is in Colville and Tsiigehtchic. Aside from that, other communities are too big, that once we start to provide any sort of percentage subsidy, it...