Robert Hawkins

Excellent. All those years of yoga are paying off. First off I’m going to say it’s nice to see the money continue. I don’t see the money really elevating a little bit. Yes, there is more money than last year, which looks like it was taken up at $329,000. Interestingly enough, I notice the Disabilities Council in the Yukon is losing all their funding from the Yukon government, but their funding was twice as much than we offer here today, a little more than twice as much.

The reason I highlight the disabilities funding is I’m a little unsure that there’s enough there to do the work that they...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I was just wondering if we could get a bit of a breakdown of the disabilities funding, how much it is. I see the indicator here at $335,000, but what the breakdown specifically is and what program areas are they targeting in their support. Thank you.

I’m not in a position to say that that lady, Karen Lander, a few years ago the outcome would have been different in her particular circumstances, but what I can say is it might have been a different situation that led to those circumstances. Whether it would have come up with the same end, I don’t know. But I can tell you that if we consider it ourselves for a very quick moment, that if we made a small amendment to the act that it could be varied, many Ministers have the authority to vary certain decisions and this could be certainly one of them. This could be a real opportunity if the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A couple small things here as I begin. As I mentioned at the beginning of my statement today, I said one in five Canadians experience mental health problems. The second thing I’d like to acknowledge the great courage of the Duchess of Cambridge who has come here recently in public support of people becoming more aware and helping fight the stigma of mental health. I think people like that show true leadership. They are tremendous people that step forward and help put a face on this fight, and it makes a big difference for those suffering with it because they do feel...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In any given year, one in five Canadians experience mental health problems. The cost to the economy, of course, is enormous at $50 billion. On average, one in three adults and one in four children or youth report that they have only sought help or assistance through treatment programs.

Four thousand Canadians die every year as a result of suicide. These are terrible statistics, but I’m going to go on. Up to 70 percent of adults living with mental health problems report the symptoms started during childhood. In 2010, mental health conditions were responsible for 47...

I thought that was almost a yes, but just a little ways away from making that final step.

Recently, we’re well aware that the government has been reaching out in Eastern Canada. We’re well familiar with the job fairs that happened throughout, looking for people to be hired. I don’t have the budget as an MLA or else I would do it, but what I’m asking for, is would the Minister look at maybe setting up sort of a working group, discussion group, some public outreach as to what people see as some of the challenges for northern employment? I won’t go through them all. I’ve said pay and benefits...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up a little on the jobs issue I raised yesterday, and we talked about the 1,032 positions out there in one form or another and the 466 that are actively being recruited.

I made a post on my Facebook and I got some really interesting feedback, and one of the particular issues that’s been raised that I thought was interesting, more so in the sense of have we ever done this, is have we ever considered engaging the citizenship to understand and appreciate the practicality of trying to hire people for these jobs? We’re trying to get people in all regions...

The Gold Corp found the solution and certainly a fortune by engaging the world basically pre-Internet days. This could be an administrative solution created by the government, and I dare not try to put a dollar amount because I’m not in a position to even estimate what it could be, but could the Minister at least dedicate some interest and resources to finding out how complicated it would be for us to create a platform and a porthole to invite the world to challenge this particular problem? Because just to say clearly, someone from anywhere, any pocket, any corner of the world could have an...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m going to use this opportunity of question period to follow up on a question I had asked Mr. Miltenberger some time ago. At the time I had mentioned Gold Corp. It was a 1990 company faced with a problem. They knew they were sitting on a fortune of gold but didn’t know how to access it. They found a solution by inviting the world to help them find a solution to their particular problem.

Giant Mine has a problem. It’s been under care and maintenance of $1.9 million a year for in perpetuity to protect us from the arsenic environmental problem. I’ve asked the Environment...

Is the Minister in any position to bring to light in this House when this type of update could be considered? Because I have a lot of retailers out there that have spent extra money buying biodegradable bags and they’re paying for it, but they believe in an environment of stewardship. But they’re being penalized by meeting the objectives, which is getting plastic bags out of the environment. So they’re doing their part. They’d like to know when the government will do their part by seeing an update or revision or certainly a discussion on this particular issue. So when could we see something in...