Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Premier, then I guess I would like to ask him to advise me and the public. I know there was a lot of concern about the legislation and that changes were needed. So can the Premier tell me and tell the public how they can get their views to the government, to individual departments so that legislation can be amended as necessary? Thank you.

Thanks to the Premier for telling us what has been done. I asked what kind of a plan the government has going forward to review devolution legislation. It sounds from that, that maybe we’re done. I would certainly hope not.

These are very complex pieces of legislation. The education and the advertising campaign that were done, I think that’s great. We needed to advise people of that.

I’d like to know from the Premier, what consultation with groups has been done, or hopefully will be done, because I don’t think it has been done. So, what consultation is planned in order to gauge the interests of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Information and Privacy Commissioner often chooses to highlight topical aspects of her work in her annual Commissioner’s Message. This year the Information and Privacy Commissioner pointed out that the 2013-2014 Annual Report marks the 17th year since the ATIPP Act came into force in the Northwest Territories. The committee takes note of the observations made by the Information and Privacy Commissioner in her Commissioner’s Message, in which she discusses how much has changed in the intervening years. She notes that the public is becoming more aware of matters...

Thanks, Madam Chair. I do have some comments. Thank you for the opportunity. I have a couple of questions. One of them comes from the Minister’s comments yesterday when he opened the department. I was struck on page 3 where he said that, “NWT Housing Corp activities are just part of the overall support as homelessness is addressed through the activities within a number of departments in the GNWT.” I thought that we had consolidated homelessness within the NWT Housing Corporation. That struck me as a little strange. I would appreciate an explanation of what that means.

Right after that, the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess I need to say to the Minister that industry itself is concerned with the impacts it has on the social conditions in communities that they’re close to. So I guess there are no terms of reference. I would like to ask the Minister, that as terms of reference are developed, as this project goes forward, if he will involve committee in providing some feedback to this board as it is developed. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister. So a wide-ranging experience in the mining industry. How are these people going to be chosen? Are they simply going to be representatives of mining companies? Are they going to be representatives of chambers of mines? Will there be any representation from social interests? As the Minister stated in his press release, “something that will encourage economic growth while maintaining high regulatory, environmental and social standards.” So that’s a concern that has been expressed. What will the representation be on this five or seven?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to start today by praising the Finance Minister for the initiative he has shown for holding budget dialogue events for the last three years, allowing NWT residents to comment on NWT budgets.

Over the three years the meetings have produced considerable feedback, but due to the timing of the forums, I’m not sure that feedback has actually been used. I have to wonder about the value for money of this initiative. Having said that, though, I’ve previously said that we can’t put a price on democracy. Consultation is a necessary evil of government.

This year there were...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do have a couple of comments here. First and foremost I would like to comment on the Wellness Court. It’s been a long time coming and I’m glad that we are getting there. When we reviewed business plans, Members expressed some concerns about the resources which may or may not be available for the Wellness Court. We had concerns about whether or not the services and the programs were going to be available to make the program succeed. I think there was going to be an update ready for us somewhere around this time, so I guess I would like to know from the Minister and from...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I’m sure we want to continue with Tabled Document 188-17(5), NWT Main Estimates 2015-16. We’d like to continue with the NWT Housing Corporation and, time permitting, do the Department of Justice. Thank you.

I thank the Minister for his Member’s statement. I have no qualms with increasing mining in the territory. I know we need the economic development. However, when we have economic development, the offshoot and the results have an effect on our social conditions. I think it is extremely important that we have a cross-section, not just people who are experts in mining but people who are experts on the impact of mining.

Can the Minister provide me and Members on this side of the House with a terms of reference for this committee? Thank you.