Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I recently held a constituency meeting in advance of session, something I’ve made a habit of doing since I was elected. It was a very successful meeting and I heard a number of valid concerns from those who were in attendance and I would like to share those with you in the House.

In regard to legislation, two things came up. First, there was a need expressed for the NWT to have a building standards act. When any government in the NWT, whether it be local, territorial, or regional, approves the construction of a building, what governs how it is built? Who inspects or...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I wanted to ask a question under highways. The very last one on page 13 refers to the Deh Cho Bridge. It’s a rather large amount of money: $25 million, almost $26 million, $25.88 million. I would like to ask why this amount of money is here. It was my understanding that we had approved the funding for the bridge and this seems like we’re asking for more money all over again. So if I could get an explanation.

Thanks, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to the Minister for that explanation. I look forward to seeing the finalized P3 policy really soon.

The last paragraph of the Minister’s statement talked about NWT residents and businesses engaging in meaningful and frank debate. I was really encouraged to hear the Minister say that. I guess I would like to know from him what is the intent of that statement, what plans are in the works, and can I get a bit of a description of what’s intended. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister and I look forward to the information that he’s committed to provide. The Minister further on in his statement talked about the fact that we as a government and they as the Executive Council have set a cap of 3 percent spending on our future spending growth and we’ve managed to reasonably stay within that, I think, in the last little while. However, every year it seems we have supplementary appropriations, extra funding requests made by various departments. I’d like to know from the Minister what percentage of growth on an annual basis have we had over this past four...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too would like to recognize, as I said earlier, an old -- but not old in age -- colleague, Mr. Jeske. I’d like to recognize with Mr. Jeske is Vivian Squires, the executive director for the Yellowknife Seniors’ Society, and way up in the back behind me is Ms. Marty Brown, who is returning to Yellowknife after a long absence. So, welcome back. Thank you.

I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to talk about the Auditor General’s report on the health programs and services. I also want to note here that the Auditor General did not look at social services during her review, just health.

The health report findings are similar to those of the findings in the Auditor General’s report last year on education. The report indicates a lack of evaluation, monitoring and data collection on the part of the Department of Health. The Auditor General gives credit to Health for its strategic plan, described by Ms. Fraser as a clear direction to improve the system...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You had to wake me up there.

---Laughter

I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that, notwithstanding Rule 4, when this House adjourns on Thursday, March 10, 2011, it shall be adjourned until Wednesday, May 11, 2011;

AND FURTHER, that any time prior to May 11, 2011, if the Speaker is satisfied, after consultation with the Executive Council and Members of the Legislative Assembly, that the public interest requires that the House should meet at an earlier time during the adjournment, the Speaker may give notice and thereupon the House shall meet at the time...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I support this motion. I believe that the intent and the background for this motion is very similar to something that I raised in the House last week. I was talking about transitional housing. This is talking about public housing.

---Interjection

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this motion goes to the most basic of our Territory’s needs, that of supporting our people, and it goes to the heart of the philosophy that this government espouses.

According to our strategic planning document from October of 2007, we aim for healthy, educated people. We will accomplish that, we said in October 2007, by a focus on prevention by promoting healthy choices and lifestyles and the role of personal and family responsibility. A focus on prevention, like teaching kids what healthy foods are so they eat the right things and grow and develop as they...