Wendy Bisaro

I thank the Minister for his comments. It’s always wonderful when both sides of the House are on the same page.

I mentioned in my statement that Members on this side of the House have indicated a concern with equal sharing of dollars and so on. There has also been expressed over the last several months a need for Members to have input into the Capital Plan, a need for Members to get a project on the list. I’d like to ask the Minister what he intends to do to enable Members to get a project on the list. We need a new process, because the current one isn’t working.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Weledeh, that Bill 19, Donation of Food Act, be read for the third time.

I’m sorry, Mr. Chair; perhaps you could repeat that. It’s very hard to hear back here.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, I do have some opening comments.

I’m very pleased to provide comments on Bill 19, Donation of Food Act. Bill 19 is a new act that will ensure protection for donors of food and distributors of donated food from liability for their actions.

In all of our communities perfectly good food often goes to waste due to policies and standards established by food businesses and restaurants. Food is often wasted because we have too much food and too few attendees at social functions. Some concerned and committed individuals have started to rescue this food and pass it on to needy...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to indicate at the outset that I am in support of this motion, and then to the principle of the motion that has been mentioned by my colleague before me.... I think I’d like to make some comments, though, in relation to some of the arguments that have been presented already and try to counter them.

I also feel that there should not be an increase to registration fees in small communities, and I don’t believe that’s what this particular motion presents. It presents, simply, the possibility of implementing a tiered registration system. It does not say that...

Again, thanks to the Premier for his comments. He’s mentioned some of the things that we need to do, that we are doing, to try to mitigate the costs to all of our residents of actually living in this particular part of the country. I would like to ask the Minister specifically what actions are being undertaken to try and lower the cost of living for our residents in the short term. By short term I mean within the next six to eight months, over this winter.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Premier. As I mentioned in my Member’s statement, the Premier believes that subsidies lower the cost of living. As I mentioned in my statement, I don’t agree with him.

All the Members in this House I think have expressed concern recently about the expected increase that we’re going to experience in home heating fuel. Some have suggested that the government must implement a subsidy to assist residents. I’d like to ask the Premier how a fuel subsidy will reduce the NWT cost of living.

Yes, certainly. Thank you, Mr. Chair. With me is Ms. Kelly McLaughlin. She’s legislative counsel, legislative division with the Department of Justice, GNWT.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, I will.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will add just a couple of brief comments.

I’d like to commend my colleague Mr. Bromley for bringing forward this idea and this motion and for thinking creatively. It’s something I think we all should be well aware of and should attempt to imitate. We spend millions of dollars in subsidies on our residents. Albeit this is an additional subsidy, I think it’s a subsidy that probably is more important than almost any of the other ones we currently have, and I think it’s one that is very much needed. I also think of this as one option to try to go a little bit towards...