Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a couple of questions with regard to this page. I’m a little confused. I want to follow up on Mr. Abernethy’s question about the expense for the GNWT office and records centre warehouse tenant improvements. When I read the justification for the expense, it sounded to me as though the tenant improvements were going to be in the Semmler Building, which I gather is where this particular program is now. So are the tenant improvements for this new building, which I kind of don’t think is built yet, or is it for the building that the division is currently in?

Thanks to the Minister. I have to say I agree we have more spaces here in Yellowknife than any other community, but we happen to have more people in Yellowknife than we do in any other community. So, you know, I think that probably goes hand in hand.

The Minister says that we need to plan. Absolutely, I agree, we need a plan, and this is my point. I would like to know from the Minister, I did ask what that plan is. We have an increasing number of adult disabled children who are going to need accommodation. I’d like to ask the Minister when we can expect to see a plan or when can we expect to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Health and Social Services. I spoke in my statement about the lack of facilities for adult disabled children who need to move out of their parents’ home and into assisted living or independent living. The impact of the situation on families is huge when they have no space that they can move into. For this family of constituents of mine, this is their home community. Yellowknife is where they’ve been for some 30-plus years. They want to stay in their community. They want their child to be able to stay in the community...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I recently became aware of a growing problem in our health care system in my community here in Yellowknife, and in the NWT in general, and it’s important enough that I need to bring it to the attention of this House and the public.

I have constituents in my riding who are a family with a disabled adult child, one who needs supervision 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The parents are aging -- something we all do, unfortunately -- and they realize that at some point they will not long be able to care for their child at home.

In an effort to be proactive, to plan for the...

I’m referencing page 10-5, third item down, description: conduct preliminary consultations and develop preliminary design and design guidelines for new visitors centre.

Thanks to the Premier. The other comment that was made in the interview this morning was the dollar value of the agreement, and I believe the former Premier mentioned $85 million and that the agreement contains a figure of $65.5 million. The former Premier seemed to indicate that we should be holding off on this agreement-in-principle because we’re not making up that $20 million difference. I’d like to ask the Premier if he could comment on that comment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s my pleasure today to recognize two constituents, a newly published author, Ms. Karen Hollett, and Bettylou Mcllmoyle, who is up behind me somewhere. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As Members already know now, tomorrow, October 22nd, is International Stuttering Awareness Day, and I’m going to use my statement today to talk about stuttering.

Statistics show that in the NWT alone approximately 500 children and adults could be affected by stuttering, but it’s a little known, little acknowledged condition, Mr. Speaker. We don’t often speak about it. Stuttering is a condition which we as a society are uncomfortable with. It’s a disability that’s kept in the shadows, one that nobody talks about.

For differing reasons, people with a stuttering disability...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, that, notwithstanding Rule 4, when this House adjourns on Thursday, October 21, 2010, it shall be adjourned until Monday, October 25, 2010;

AND FURTHER, that any time prior to October 25, 2010, 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 stated in such notice...

It seems to me that we have reached this point or close to this point before where we seem to have an agreement. We seem to have an agreement here. We seem to have an agreement-in-principle that possibly could form the basis for us going forward and negotiating a final agreement. I’d like to ask the Premier, in the absence of… Sorry, there are some people who agree. There are other people who are quite negative about this agreement, that we should not go forward because we don’t have everybody involved, we don’t have the agreement of everybody. What is it about this particular situation where...