Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this has been a really short session, two-and-a-half weeks long. To be quite honest with you, I haven't had quite enough opportunities to get a few more issues in that I wanted to raise. I will bring them up under this item on the agenda today.
The first thing I want to start with is the Housing Corporation, and, Mr. Speaker, I want to let the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation know that we have to continue to push him and the Housing Corporation to seek every avenue to explore ways that we can foster northern manufacturers and local businesses here in the Northwest Territories when it comes to fulfilling the mandate, when they figure out their mandate, of the Housing Corporation. We have to look at the overall plan for housing in the Northwest Territories in the years ahead. I know the Novel project, I've seen that project myself, and I'm a believer in it; I think it will work, but, wherever possible, we have to include northern manufacturers. Yesterday, I tabled two letters from a constituent of mine, Energy Wall and Building Products Limited, here in Yellowknife. They were addressed to the honourable Premier, Mr. Handley. We have companies out there, Mr. Speaker, that are looking for opportunities, and I think it's incumbent upon the government to go out and consult with local businesses, northern manufacturers, and see where they fit into the housing picture, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to see the Housing Corporation Minister take that upon himself, and his department, to carry that through. It's very important.
The other thing I wanted mention -- there are a couple more -- has to do with Education, Culture and Employment. I'd like to really applaud the Minister. I think the changes he's bringing forward for SFA should be applauded. I think these are long overdue, and...
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Certainly, I know the Minister has gone to bat on those proposed changes. So I'd really like to commend him on that. On the other hand, Mr. Speaker, there are a couple of things that ECE has done in the past year, and when the bureaucracy makes a mistake and my constituents have to pay for it, I don't take too kindly to those types of scenarios. There are a couple of them that have happened with ECE where, in one instance, the student filled out the forms according to the letter of the law, and then she went to school and came back and was challenged because SFA approved the forms as they were filled out, but she didn't take a full course load in the last semester and, subsequently, had to pay back a substantial amount of money to SFA. SFA just approved her paperwork. So it was a mistake, on the department's behalf, that they failed to recognize. She went through the appeal process, but still she's left to have to pay the money. Luckily that's one of the changes that is proposed on the SFA side of things. So I'm happy to see that, but, again, mistakes made by the bureaucracy, people should be held accountable for those mistakes, and constituents of ours shouldn't have to pay for those mistakes.
Another one that I'd like to bring up is, a particular constituent has had a real nightmare in dealing with ECE because they messed up on her tax slips early last year, and she didn't get the credit she was entitled to. Now she's going to school and because the department messed up on her tax slips, she got the benefit recently, and now she's not entitled to her day care benefit, Mr. Speaker. It's no fault of her own. It's the fault of the department for messing up her tax slips in the first place. Yet, they don't want to take responsibility for the fact that they messed up. To me, it's not the constituent's fault; it's the department's fault. Ultimately, she ends up paying the price because she doesn't get her day care subsidy. So it's things like that that really bother me, Mr. Speaker.
I know I've spoken at length about the situation at corporate human resource services, and the fact that people are messing up employees that have been with the government for 30 plus years, Mr. Speaker, and they're messing up their retirement. It should be the best time of their life, but it's not. They have to go back to FMBS, time and time again, to try and get some answers out of them. Luckily, in two of the instances that I've raised in the House earlier in this session, there has been some resolution, and I would like to thank the Minister for that. I know there are a lot of headaches, let's say, in corporate human resource services, where I know the Minister is working on some kind of resolution, but there are some things there that, before we move on with whatever CHRS becomes, I think some of those kinks certainly have to be worked out, Mr. Speaker.
I want to again say it's been a good time coming back into the House and speaking to the issues that are before the people and the government here in the Northwest Territories. I really do appreciate the two-and-a-half weeks. I think it's really a short session, and we don't get enough time to come back and debate the issues, and talk about policies that affect people. That's why I always look forward to session, and it's going to be here again before we know it, by February 1st, Mr. Speaker, and the government should be ready for some more action then. Thank you.
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