Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise on a point of privilege. Although the matter has clearly been dealt with, upon further personal reflection this weekend, I decided that I wanted to specifically withdraw certain remarks I made on February 12, 2014, which were called into order by you this past Friday. The specific words I wish to withdraw and apologize for are: “It’s tantamount, in my view, of breaking the law.“

Mr. Speaker, I do this because, in my view, recognizing the dignity of this House, it is certainly the right thing to do and also because I’d like to move forward as we work on the job of...

Generally, I would agree with I’ll call it the broad observation provided by the deputy minister, and I would say, from my point of view, I hear your point, but the issue of a 10 percent average, as the Minister has highlighted, a 9 percent average as he said earlier specific to the Department of Justice, and this dollar amount adding up to, on a rolling basis, just under $6 million. That tells me that if a position is open, there are dollars not being allocated whatever number of days that it’s not being allocated towards. Now, you don’t pay casuals at 100 percent of the normal cost and they...

Thank you. I consider also what they cost as part of that request.

Where does the funding come for these positions? Where does it come from? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. It is unfortunate to do this, but a Member can’t walk into a Chamber during an actual calling of a vote as it has been called, so I would say that it is my observation that there are issues with that vote. Thank you.

What would the dollar value be of that particular average? Could the Minister put it on the record?

Thank you for that. Over and above this, how many casual positions does the department carry? Thank you.

What positions and how long?

What is the fully encumbered cost or the average the department is using? Again, I can’t use committee documentation that the Minister keeps referring to here because it was given in camera. It makes it difficult when he keeps saying it was given to us, but we can’t reference it specifically. That is why I’m asking what is the average cost used for the fully encumbered cost per position as he’s highlighting. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Please provide the following information:

the cost of expanding the Social Work Program at Aurora College by one year so that three years of study toward a degree in social work are available in the NWT;

the steps that would be required to expand the Social Work Program at Aurora College by one year; and

the obstacles, if any other than funding, that would have to be overcome in order to expand the Social Work Program at Aurora College by one year.

I request a recorded vote, Madam Chair.