Mr. Speaker, the subcontract for the welding services and the structural fabrication for this school has gone to a Whitehorse company and they fully intend to hire...I have a copy that was provided to me on the ad that they are using for trying to attract welders and/or welding companies from Inuvik. They are going through that exercise right now and I can’t say, because it hasn’t been wrapped up yet, how many people from Inuvik are being hired. It’s my

expectation, and I believe that the company from Whitehorse is intending to provide the work to the Inuvik welders, but they have to remain the main contractor as they’re the only one’s certified and they’re the only ones with a certified shop to do it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as a government we’re in the fortunate position right now of having a lot of capital projects to deliver and I don’t expect the Minister to manage and be the general on every contract we’ve let in the Northwest Territories. However, somewhere in his system, in the Department of Public Works and Services, there must be someone -- and I had asked this question earlier -- who is in charge of monitoring, to ensure that if people getting negotiated contracts and say I will do this that, in fact, that is what happens. I would like a more clear explanation so people don’t have to come to the Minister with their concerns. To whom may people appeal? What is the recourse if you feel like the general contractor is not living up to the terms of the contract they received? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I’m glad the Member recognizes that as a Minister I can’t be involved in every aspect of all the contracts we have, but we do have people on the ground, we do have people in the communities. Each project that is under our responsibility has a project manager. We also have engineers and they should be the first point of contact. They all have supervisors as we progress up the ladder, and at any point any one of those people can be contacted with concerns. If it...(inaudible)...or hear a satisfied response, of course, you could go to their managers and my office is usually where it ends up anyway. A lot of times people come directly to us. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the government and the Department of Health and Social Services has a very strong and long relationship with the Yellowknife Association of Community Living and we currently fund about $1.74 million for them to deliver four different programs: Supported Independent Living, Respite Program, Community Skills and Supported Living. So we expect that we will continue to have a very strong and healthy working relationship with the association. Thank you.

I’d like to thank the Minister for that response. I’m happy to hear that they’re going to have a continued relationship with the association, especially with respect to this Family Project. The Yellowknife Association of Community Living receives about $80,000 a year in federal funding to support its Family Project. Much of this money goes to service provider salaries -- the people who work for the association -- limiting the project’s capacity to improve and expand this important service. Will the Department of Health and Social Services consider matching these funds in order to increase the Family Project services throughout the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I’m not familiar with what the Family Project is. I understand it’s federal funding. It would be ideal for the federal government to step up to the plate and continue to fund that. We will do our part to support the Yellowknife Association of Community Living.

I happened to be talking to the executive director a couple of weeks ago and she did not indicate that there was any issue with the funding situation. I am also aware that my acting deputy minister had a chance to discuss just general issues of the organization with her last week. We were not told that there was any issue with the funding issues. I’m always ready and willing to meet with any NGOs and I do on a regular basis. If they want to make a proposal to us, we would always be willing to look at those. Thank you.

I thank the Minister for that. The Family Project is an important project and right now it’s funded primarily through the feds. They’re looking for some matching funds on that. I would encourage the Minister, rather, can I get the Minister to commit to meeting with the executive director and some staff from the Yellowknife Association of Community Living and maybe her department staff, as well, to talk specifically about this Family Project and the possibility, well, first off, learning what the project does, the advantages it has to the Northwest Territories as a whole and

possibly working out some funding arrangements, if appropriate? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, as I indicated, we fund the Yellowknife Association of Community Living and many other organizations such as the NWT Council for Persons with Disabilities and many others. I think we are doing our part to provide them with the funding that they need. As far as I’m aware, they have not expressed issues with their funding. If they are, I would encourage them to contact the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority, who is the funding-through organization, and we will, through that way, be willing to look at any issues they may have. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to the Minister for that. The executive director from the association has talked to me and she has outlined their Family Project and has indicated that they would be interested in talking to the department about some matching funding. So rather than waiting, can I encourage or seek the Minister’s commitment to be proactive and have her departmental staff contact the Yellowknife Association of Community Living to discuss the Family Project and its future in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I’m hesitant to make a commitment to say that we will match a federal funding project because I would like to encourage the federal government to continue to fund the projects that they are in many of our organizations. As I have indicated to the Member already, I did...Actually, I was quite proactive in talking to the specific executive director. I asked the deputy minister to call her last week. We asked her if there were any issues and she indicated to us that there were not. The executive director of the association knows that we are always there to listen to any of the concerns they may have, as we appreciate the partnership we have with that organization.

Mr. Speaker, I just want to add that this is Disabilities Awareness Week and I will be hosting a tea in honour of the work that the Persons with Disabilities community do in Yellowknife and the Territories, and I would invite all Members to join us for tea tomorrow at noon at the Great Hall, if they are in town. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister for Education, Culture and Employment. The Minister

has heard me a number of times in the last 18 months or so encourage him to consider an increase to the minimum wage and that this government needs to look at the minimum wage and do something about the level. I understand that there has been some work by the department and I’d like to ask the Minister as to the status of the consideration by the department of an increase to minimum wage. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, I appreciate the Member’s questioning in this area. Since our last session that we had, she did raise this issue and I did commit to her that my department is going to look into the area and work on what needs to be done. Certainly, my department has been working diligently on this specific area, a wage increment. Certainly, we’ve been in the process of having consultation with small businesses, because we have heard from small communities and also from a couple Members that we should consult with the small businesses in the communities because they will be impacted. We’re hearing correspondence from those businesses, saying that if we do increase the minimum wage that we may not be able to hire students. So those are taken into consideration and we still have a lot of work ahead of us. But, certainly, we are making progress in that area. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you to the Minister. I appreciate the work that the department has been doing, but it begs the next question: When will there be some report of the investigations that have been ongoing and when can we expect a decision relative to an increase in the minimum wage? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, as I stated, the discussion is ongoing and we’re hoping to finalize our final discussion with the various parties within a month or two. Then we are hoping to have a final decision by the fall. That was the plan before we were approached to say do your consultation with the small businesses. That’s the initial plan that we’re working with and if there are any changes, we’ll certainly let the standing committee and the Member know that there are going to be changes coming. Mahsi.

That’s good news. I think that’s a little behind the timeline that I was advised of earlier, but things are still moving forward, so that’s a good thing and I’m appreciative to the department and the Minister for that. I guess I would just like to note, though, that in the considerations that are being done by the department, are they looking at an ongoing mechanism to adjust minimum wage so that we don’t have to have Members stand up in the

House for 18 months running and demand an increase. Will there be some mechanism set in place where the wage will be reviewed on a regular ongoing basis? Thank you.

Certainly those are the types of discussions that we’re having currently and creating some options on if we’re going to increase minimum wage, how much increase. It was mentioned here in the House possibly $10 an hour compared to other jurisdictions. Or could we give them $9.25 and then the following year $10? So those are the options we’re working with. But certainly we’ll come back to the standing committee to give them an update as soon as we finalize our consultation. We’ll certainly be prepared to do that. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.