R.J. Simpson

Thank you. And there's been comments about protecting, you know, other protecting governments. The legislation's not about protecting governments, it's about ensuring that workers get paid. And the GNWT is not an entity that we're worried about being insolvent. There's not a concern that the GNWT won't pay their bills. There's you know, we hear concerns from the Members about when the bills get paid, but the issue isn't that they won't get paid. Thank you.

Thank you. Well, during that incamera discussion, I didn't say that this is a bad piece of legislation. I said that if I would have started if I could have gone back, I would have started over again in a different way because I see that the GNWT, being exempt from this bill or being having different provisions applied to it under this bill would not go over well with the Regular Members. And lo and behold, here we are in this situation where it was reported back as not ready.

There is you know, when we see that the Government of the Northwest Territories is being treated differently, that in...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, that Bill 94, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes. With, you know, income assistance does provide funding for rent as does the housing corporation. So, you know, we have two essentially parallel housing support programs in the territory. So we have been working with the housing corporation figuring out, you know, where we can reduce some of these redundancies and how we can better support clients. So, yes, that work is ongoing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As a former RCMP member, a former Speaker, I think the Member's well aware of what my job is and my role in this investigation and what I can do and what I can't do. So as I've already stated, the family the RCMP and the family are in contact. If what the Member is saying is that the RCMP are not informing the family, then what I can do is reach out through the channels to the RCMP and say this is what we're hearing in the Assembly. It doesn't make sense for me to go speak to the commanding officer, he goes and speaks to the officers, they relay it back to the commanding officer, they relay...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I've stated, it still is an open investigation. I do talk to the commanding officer from time to time and, you know, I do discuss this case with him from time to time. That being said, I'm not privy to the details of, you know, of the investigation. But if there's new information that comes to light, then the RCMP can use that and take further steps. So I reiterate the Member's comments: If you know something, please come forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And of course I can't make any assurances on behalf of the board of governors. They are arm's length from the Government of the Northwest Territories and from the Minister of ECE, but I don't think there's any concerns. I'm not at all concerned about the future of the ENRTP program. I think it's very well established and will continue to produce results for many years to come. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The start date, I believe it's early in the new year, was what the program wants to when they want to begin the program. If we wait until after the election it will delay that, and they will miss their I guess their first semester. And so there are some deadlines involved here. Things would have happened earlier had it not been for the evacuations unfortunately. But I see what the Member is saying. You know, we have an environmental studies program. This is another one. You know, there's nothing wrong with a little bit of competition, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Range Lake, that Bill 81, An Act to Amend the Education Act, No. 2, be read for a third time. And, Mr. Speaker, I request a recorded vote.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the employment assistance program provides funding to people to help meet their basic needs. So it is not a program to you know, to make people rich or anything like that. So I understand that for the amount of money that you get, it can seem like a lot of work to provide all of these documents. That is why at the beginning of this Assembly, I set out to change the program and overhaul the program. And we have done the work, and we are months away from launching the new income assistance program for seniors and persons with disabilities. Once that happens, the...