Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that we report progress.

---Carried

Thanks to the Minister. I didn’t hear much of a rationale there, except that we want to do it in small pieces. I’m struggling to understand why the public would be involved. This is generally something between the city and the GNWT.

My city is being proactive, planning for the future and for future developments, and yet the length of time that it takes for some land applications is quite long and, as I’ve mentioned, the size of the parcels is really quite small.

I’d like to know from the Minister if he would go back and look at some of the recent applications from the City of Yellowknife and if...

Mr. Chair, I got a little confused there. So we have deputy minister, we have an associate – I believe that’s Mr. Heide – and we have two assistant DMs. Mr. Heide is retiring soon, so we have three now, or we have four now, or we’re going back to three? I got lost there. Thanks.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too want to welcome Mr. Campbell. It’s been a great pleasure to work with him over the years that I’ve been here. I know that he’s approaching retirement with the same mindset as I am: looking forward to it. I wish him well and thank him for all the work that he’s done for us over the years. Thank you.

That’s good. Thanks, Mr. Chair. I’m done.

Thanks to the Minister. So, there are five new positions that are being decentralized, the service officers. The other four positions that he’s mentioned, the two linguists and the two registrars, I guess, are those positions filled at the moment? Thank you.

I don’t think the Minister understood what I was asking. There was an increase of nine positions from last budget year to this one. Five of them are service officers. The other four are new positions. What are they? Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister. Are they all new positions? There’s an increase of nine positions from 2014-15 to 2015-16. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have a number of comments in no particular order. This is such a large department that it’s kind of hard to know where to start.

I appreciate Mr. Dolynny’s comments about ERI. It is a huge undertaking, and I appreciate the Minister’s response as well. But it is a huge undertaking and I do have to say that I am still concerned that the department is trying to fund most of the changes that they’re making through the ERI Initiative. They’re trying to make those changes with money from within. If we are ever going to effect change and do it properly it needs to… In most...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment:

Does the Department of Education, Culture and Employment income support division have a definition of “transitional housing” that they use to determine a client’s eligibility for income assistance?

If yes, please provide it. If no, how does the department determine if a client is in transitional housing, and if they are, how does the department determine if the client is eligible for income assistance?

What policy governs clients whose only accommodation option is a motel or hotel room? Why are they...