Robert Hawkins

It’s really nice the Minister is assuring me they’re going to do this and I’m really happy when he says they like to hear from consumers. I guess my question now is: What should consumers expect and what type of activity is the Minister going to take to demonstrate that they’re going out and getting input from consumers? Because an office buried in a department doesn’t advertise far and wide enough to draw this type of discussion. So if he says he cares about them and he wants to hear from them, how is this Minister going to rise to that challenge? Thank you.

Clearly, two if not three provinces have felt that the regulation that exists is not enough and they’ve taken appropriate steps to show that their citizens matter. I am asking the Minister of MACA what he’s prepared to do to demonstrate that our northern citizens matter by providing them good, solid consumer protection. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Many Northerners and Canadians generally have been raising concerns for years about the restrictive and confusing terms of their cell phone contracts. They complain about being locked into three-year contracts with unreasonably high penalties to get out of them, changes to fees and services without their consent, automatic renewals and the lack of clear information about their contracts.

This is more than a boondoggle opportunity to create changes, this is a real opportunity for real protection. As we see the cell phone services are finally rolling out and expanding...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that committee reports progress.

---Carried

Are they all out of the Hay River area? What type of public relationship do they have in the sense of letting people know what they do, who they are, who will they meet? Are we really talking about a board that governs production just in Hay River and would they qualify as a territorial board in that regard, or are they just a Hay River board looking after a niche market?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to pick up where Mr. Dolynny left off on a particular issue, the egg marketing levy. It actually draws a different type of question for me but on the same kind of idea.

There are a few people who raise chickens in the Yellowknife area and some of them actually sell eggs. What type of requirements are the cut-off where you can be in that business? What does the department know? Are you able to sell a hundred dozen eggs? Any more than a hundred dozen means you have to get in a business? Are there different types of health standard requirements around that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister is sitting here saying, “I’m telling people in the House.” Well, I hate to say it, not everybody follows the House as closely as we do. My last question is: Would the Minister be willing to take an active campaign in the public trying to draw attention to consumer affairs issues, and how can the public get engaged on issues, especially such as this as I highlighted, cell phone usage and cost? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The cell phone rates are clearly a problem to three large provinces. I’m surprised to think the Minister thinks it’s premature that they took action by stating that the NWT will wait until CRTC responds.

Would the Minister be willing to seek some consultation from the consumers in the Northwest Territories to get some input from their point of view as to how they feel about cell phone rates and how it impacts them? As I pointed out, cancellation fees are high, contracts are troublesome and there are ways to solve these things. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I wish I had the former AG’s official comments here last week from which she talked about some of the senators’ expenses, such as accept but verify. How do we verify a yes or no? Quite frankly, a yes or no does not prove to the public that they actually complied with the requirements that everybody else was following. Yes, I’m happy that the lowest bid may be getting it, but the fact is I am happy maybe for the wrong reasons.

Will the Minister prove publicly that they complied with all the requirements as set out to the bid? All we are asking for is a fair playing...

I want to thank the Minister for putting Can-Traffic on the record. This isn’t an issue about cost. This gets down to the bread and butter of ethics of how contracts are won and awarded and, certainly, issued.

Did Can-Traffic fill out Appendix B as required in the contract? When I e-mailed the department, they refused to show me that they even complied, so nobody even really knows. Thank you.