Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have a number of issues. There always are a huge number of issues with this department and most are comments. I don’t need the Minister to respond. I will try and ask my questions when I get to the page on detail.

I want to start off with the issue of continuing care. We did get a report from the department, from the Minister, but it did not commit to an action plan, and that’s a concern for me. There doesn’t seem to be, at least not that we’ve seen on paper, a cohesive, coordinated effort towards care for our seniors. From what I can gather, the mentality seems to be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. Yes, affordability in Yellowknife is the major issue in housing and in my community. At this point, I looked at the NWT Housing Corp website. There’s no indication that this program will end.

So I’d like to know from the Minister, it’s been two years, what are the intentions of the Housing Corp? How long will this program continue? Do they intend to continue it and for how long? Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister. So, if I understood the Minister correctly, that’s 68 or 70 out of a possible 150. That’s unfortunate. I would have hoped that the program would be oversubscribed.

I’d like to ask the Minister, when is the two-year anniversary date of this program and will the Housing Corporation be doing a formal review, a formal evaluation of the program at that time? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we know, the 2015 Canada Winter Games is currently in full swing in Prince George. In addition to the 2,400 athletes participating over the next two weeks, the Games are expected to attract as many as 20,000 visitors.

Our NWT contingent I know will be great ambassadors for the territory, and like my colleague did yesterday, I want to acknowledge the individuals from Frame Lake who are representing the NWT in Prince George. There aren’t quite as many as there were from Range Lake, but they are certainly just as worthy.

Emily Paddock and Dakota Earle are with our female...

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

---Carried

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Two questions. The first one has to do with contributions to the Heritage Fund. I noted in the Minister’s opening remarks, he stated an increase of $7.4 million to the contribution to the NWT Heritage Fund and that the total will be $7.6 million. I didn’t quite understand where the extra $0.2 million comes in and how we went from what the increase of $7.4 million is. I don’t understand the numbers.

Mr. Chair, thanks to the Minister. I guess it kind of makes me want to ask the question then, of why did we bother having the Program Review Office to give us recommendations, but I say that with a bit of tongue in cheek. If the department gets these recommendations from the Program Review Office, how are they handled? How does the Minister ensure that other departments at least consider them? The goal here is to try and determine program effectiveness I read on page 150, which presumably should lead us to some efficiencies as well. If we have recommendations and they’re not binding, how do...

Yes, that’s right. Thank you for the reminder, Minister. I’m done.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We wish to continue with Tabled Document 188-17(5), Northwest Territories Main Estimates 2015-2016. We would like to continue and start with the Department of Finance and then Education, Culture and Employment, time permitting.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to revert to item 8 on the Order Paper, written questions.

---Unanimous consent granted