Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Premier. Please provide a current list of all direct appointments from the beginning of the 17th Assembly to today’s date, including the following information:

Cabinet approval date;

position;

department;

community; and

name of individual appointed.

Thank you.

Perhaps my interpretation of suspended immediately is much different than the Minister of Human Resources. How does the Minister of Human Resources stand there and say it’s business as usual if the website itself says, and it’s current, that it’s suspended immediately?

How is the Minister of Human Resources doing his job if he’s giving us one answer one way and the facts lay before us that say they’re not recruiting? Are Northerners put at risk? Will the Human Resources Minister account for that?

Thank you for recognizing me, Mr. Speaker. My questions will be directed to the Minister of Human Resources. I won’t go on at length, but we all know about the 1,150 vacancy snapshot information provided by the Minister a few days back. We also know, and I’ll remind the House, that the Finance Minister is being quoted quite eloquently about the 571 jobs they’re pursuing. Mr. Dolynny put on the record today that, of course, he made note that the Department of Health and Social Services has now suspended their human resource campaign to get more people there.

My question for the Minister of Human...

The Minister continues to talk about these wonderful platitude solutions. At the end of the day, they’re wonderful. Yes, I agree. But, frankly, they do nothing for the everyday taxpayer and certainly working families trying to get by. The Economic Opportunities Strategy, again, recently said that the power rates are holding Yellowknife back. It’s a negative, not a positive.

What is the NWT Power Corporation doing to ensure that we can keep our power rates low, because right now, as we all know, there’s a new application before the PUB to further increase them. We should be working to push these...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When mortgage costs are certainly eclipsing the costs of running a household when it comes to heat, power and certainly water, something has to be done. Furthermore, we have to find a way to help our northern people because there’s just, frankly, no way we’re going to ever attract anybody and it’s hard enough to keep the people we have here.

My first question to the Minister is: What can he do, as Power Corp Minister, to help reduce our power rates that continue to rise at the direction of the NWT Power Corp?

Mr. Speaker, I don’t care if it’s a team effort to answer the question. The point is the questions need to be answered, and the question is this: How many vacancies do we have out there that are not being filled? We’ve all heard this great number of 1,150 positions been vacant for various reasons, 571 actively pursuing. We have a website now that says, by the way, hiring practices are now suspended.

How many positions are out there vacant, not being pursued, and are we putting Northerners at risk whether in a big community or small community? We’ve got people fighting for people in their...

On the website it says recruitment and retention programs are being suspended effective immediately.

What is the Minister of Human Resources doing to ensure that this is not happening across the departments, across this government? Are we putting Northerners at risk? What is the Minister of Human Resources doing about this?

Mr. Speaker, the Minister can continue to gild the lily on this problem but it’s not changing the fact that the everyday ratepayer can’t afford their power bills. People are leaving and there’s no way we’re going to attract people here to the Northwest Territories.

The last thing I’m going to say is there’s the old saying, death by a thousand cuts, and I think the everyday ratepayers had 999 of them and they cannot take one more. The question to the Minister is: He talked about the Stabilization Fund, is it not time to continue to focus in on other solutions that deliver immediate respite to...

The Minister talks about all great and wonderful things in the fullness of time. Global warming is coming sooner than some of the results of these initiatives, and quite frankly, I think we should wait for global warming over those initiatives because they will solve our problem at the speed they’re flowing through.

Has the NWT Power Corp ever done any type of analysis on the burden of the everyday ratepayer in comparison to other cities? So, in other words, have they taken any analysis of what the city of Yellowknife ratepayer would pay on their power bills versus their income versus other...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to use today’s occasion to talk about an important issue. I want to give thanks to all those people out there that ensure the Northwest Territories and, more particularly, the city of Yellowknife is at number one.

We’re number one and normally that’s something to be truly proud of, but not in this particular case. Why, many ask? Well, this city of Yellowknife’s power rates continue to outshine all other cities across Canada. Believe it or not, our power bill rates are higher than Iqaluit’s or even Whitehorse. So we’re number one. Is that something to be proud of...