Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have some questions today I would like to address to the Premier. I have yet to weigh in to express an opinion on the devolution agreement-in-principle, which has been an issue for the last week or so. In general, I want to say that I agree with the agreement-in-principle, with the components, the elements that are in there. I think we probably should move forward on this.

I listened with great interest to the CBC Morning Show this morning as a former Premier made some comments on the agreement-in-principle. His comments triggered a few questions in my mind and I’d...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

TAKE THE LEAST INTRUSIVE AND MOST EFFECTIVE MEASURES TO DELIVER CHILD AND FAMILY SERVICES

The legacy of the residential school system and the historically poor relationship between the communities and the department responsible for child protection continue to colour people’s present-day experience with child and family services. Their relationship is marred by lack of confidence and trust in the staff, the policy and procedures, and the administration of the Department of Health and Social Services.

In every community visited by the Social Programs committee during the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Premier. I’d like to play a bit of a devil’s advocate, as I am wont to do sometimes, and if, as we get to the point of possibly signing this agreement-in-principle and we don’t have all of our partners on side and with us, or in terms of what the federal government is willing to offer us, they’re not offering us what we think we need and the amount of money that we need to go forward and manage ourselves from within, should we play hardball with the federal government in particular? Should we basically throw our hands up and walk away from the table...

I think that’s the shortest answer we’ve heard from the Minister all day.

Last May I had some questions about NGOs and volunteers and so on, and Minister R.C. McLeod at the time indicated that there was work on another manual, not the manual for GNWT program managers but a manual for NGOs to help them with protocols and how they should deal with the government and so on. He was going to get back to me on that and I haven’t seen anything. So I’d like to ask the Premier if he can advise whether or not there is a manual that is being developed for NGOs to help them in their dealings with the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seek consent to return to the orders of the day, item 7, oral questions.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thanks to the Minister for that little summary. That was about what I had understood, that the facility is in extremely poor conditions and it really needs to be replaced yesterday, not a couple of years from now. I was somewhat surprised that there is no indication of any kind of money for the replacement of this facility, the women’s facility, in this particular budget. I appreciate that there is planning that’s ongoing at the moment, but when does the Minister expect that there will be some money in the capital plan to actually start the construction of a new women’s facility? Thank you.

I understand, I understood the statement the first time, but I guess I have to encourage you to change your intent, which you’re not willing to do. So I will agree to disagree with you. Thank you, that’s just a comment.

Just a quick follow-up. I’d like to know from the Minister whether or not there is any possibility that the review could be started and could actually be done between now and the end of March of 2011, which would be the end of this fiscal year, so there could be an evaluation of the current infrastructure contributions to communities, that there perhaps could be an amendment to those contributions, an increase, hopefully, and that we could maybe fund that by way of a supp in the next capital year. So basically I’m asking if we can increase the $28 million that’s showing in this capital budget...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just have a general question in regard to the infrastructure funding for communities. I think it’s well known, I don’t think it’s anything new to the Minister, that communities suffer an infrastructure deficit. Every community in the NWT, every community across Canada is suffering from a lack of infrastructure or aging infrastructure or infrastructure that needs upgrading and/or renovations. It’s my understanding that the amounts of infrastructure contributions to communities have been the same amount for about five years. There hasn’t been any increase for quite some...

I appreciate the commitment on the part of the Minister and I look forward to that, hopefully a little sooner than from May to October.

Members have often spoken about it, I know I’ve often spoken about it, but there is a real need for this government to provide adequate and consistent funding to our NGOs. One of the things that the government has done, that I think has been received positively with our NGOs, is to establish an NGO Stabilization Fund, and the applications, I guess, have recently been finished for that fund. It’s based on awards that are determined by our GNWT staff and I don’t...