Robert Hawkins

Mr. Chairman, maybe the Minister was so excited to get his message out he forgot my question. If he would like me to repeat it, I would be happy to do that.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Thursday, June 5, 2014, I will move the following motion: now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, that the Legislative Assembly strongly recommends that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment identify and seek new funding to support the implementation of junior kindergarten instead of reducing funding to any other education districts; and further, that the department ensure that the Junior Kindergarten Program be professionally designed and delivered by properly trained staff; and further, that the...

I think the last sidebar provided the Minister is ultimately the crux of the issue. It’s not the fact that we have to self-nominate. Sometimes we have to draw attention to the great things we do. I understand that. But when we have to pay $795 to self-nominate, it does start to draw into question. This government has said, through its own little PeopleSoft software, that we have over 1,000 job vacancy positions. This government has said that they we are actively pursuing 571 jobs. I went to the job career website today and there were about 102 job postings. We all know there has got to be...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Minister and I just had a sidebar. My questions have been completely cleared up. I guess in my case, my concern, yes, has been validated, but the Minister has shown me reasons why it deserves, and I will respect that and not pursue it any further. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m going to use my questions to follow up on my statement today and it will be directed to the Minister of Human Resources and it’s about jobs.

In order to get, sort of, down to the nuts and bolts here, maybe we could ask the Minister of Human Resources to help explain the self-nomination process where we pay $795 to self-nominate in a program, and how is that making a dent into the fact that the last update from this government said we were pursing 571 jobs? I’m just trying to get a sense of what value we’re getting here when we self-nominate ourselves in a program...

I’m fine with that and I’m happy to start straightening it out as soon as I’m done talking here.

The only issue I would have then, is if we passed this act noting the amounts, does that stop us from pursuing it through other methods? Especially when I know they’re alive. I know, roughly, where they live. I can’t 100 percent guarantee that they’re in public housing, but I do believe they are. So I can at least say confidently, two out of the three I can check off with great confidence.

So how do we deal with this? If we pass the act, have we taken away our ability to pursue this money? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What would this session be without a little bit of discussion on the topic of jobs? Jobs matter. It doesn’t matter where you’re from. If you live in Tulita, Aklavik, Ulukhaktok or even Yellowknife, jobs matter. Jobs are what help people get along. We need jobs to pay our rent, to take care of our kids, to put food on our table. Jobs matter to everyone. Recently something drew my attention to this problem and I’m trying to figure out what we are doing about this. Well, recently the government was touting, once again, that it has been nominated and found as one of Canada...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a quick question. Is it written off, forgiven, or how do we address an issue of somebody having rental arrears that’s on the list that I know still lives in public housing? Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, is the Minister really clear that a value on branding has not been decided nor a process has not been decided thus far? I have been led to believe that that has already been considered. So when you say these are things we still have to work out, you would think that the plan would have come to our committee and our attention just a little clearer before you ask.

Basically you are asking us to trust you. Then when you go on and you can do whatever you want, and by the time it gets back to us, that is long down the river and it’s too late to care about it.

Is the Minister very clear...

Thank you. As far as branding goes, who is paying for the implementation or how are they going to be branded? That is one of the problems that are being discussed here. I think, frankly, it’s the elephant in the room. How are they going to be branded? Are we talking about 50 percent of the screen and it stays on the brand name 20 minutes? Are we just talking about a small piece on the side like we see on a BlackBerry, et cetera, just small, little wording? What are we really talking about when we talk about branding in reflection to size and the impression it may have?

I mean, let’s be...