Robert Hawkins

Mr. Speaker, I heard a long time ago somebody say do or do not; there is no try. So why don't we commit to doing something. We could waive the hours through some form or regulations. It's not as simple as that; I understand that. But that said, we have very smart, capable people. Would the Minister investigate the process opportunity of waiving those hours and restrictions required by the gatekeepers, our northern nursing association, that would allow these people to practice. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in late November, I received the letter from the Minister of Health and Social Services regarding my concerns about the licensing of nurses here in the North. And basically, the letter comes back and says status quo is the way we go. My question is is what's stopping the Minister for providing direction to the association saying we're making it part of our funding agreement that we find an easier way to register foreign nurses who are qualified in Ontario, Alberta, but the gatekeeper process here refuses to let them join the service that we're in dire need...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was going to wave off a second question until the Premier had said the last piece. I was going to concede on maybe his contrition in the sense of he'll communicate better or work better. For the record, Mr. Speaker, we work here too, not just Cabinet, and in theory the Premier's principal secretary should be working with Members and, you know, whatnot. That said, how much is this office going to cost now that he's made this unilateral decision? Because we know how much they're paid because on the -- what's online, the GNWT website. They're paid the highest employee we...

Thank you, Madam Chair. And by no means am I getting into the geopolitical experience or wave down there, and that wasn't the intention of the specific line. But my concern is about young people exercising their opinion and how what oversight or abilities does the department see or have to address these types of issues.

I am aware of another parent bringing forward an issue that the individual teachers bring up on the screen in the classroom, how to complain about civic politicians where they're -- the teachers are exercising their personal opinions and encouraging students to focus their...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to ask a question, not about the money but about the establishment of the envoy, where he got his mandate from, Indigenous governance.

Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. This brings me to the question of concerns of policy and what type of oversight is provided. The circumstances I'll sort of framework is that I'll start with the beginning is does the department have any policy or influence on the school boards and authorities to be -- I guess I'm trying to say it -- nonpartisan in their political intervention in education? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. From my understanding, I didn't know we had the federal lands Minister here, so I'll focus strictly on territorial lands and territorial lands that may or may not need a survey. I thought they worked through the cost of the survey issue in order to transfer them in larger quantums rather than parcel them out into small pieces which costs a fortune. So, Mr. Speaker, has any specific headway been gained or made through that type of challenge to ensure that it's an efficient process and doesn't become a cost burdensome to the municipality? Thank you.

So how did they -- how did it come up with that the lottery is the best or most efficient way of doing this? Noting that it was given a week's notice that they would open it up for applications, 60 were already allocated, in other words unavailable, and the remainder would be open for anybody who were able to put a package together. Was there no consideration to evaluation of impacts of these particular jobs or on positions not being filled? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker; I was worried you missed me.

Mr. Speaker, I guess I'm so old I remember MACA managing the land, so I'll redirect the exact same questions to the Minister of ECC which I'll give him a moment because it looks like he's ready. But I can repeat the question in case he needs me to repeat it. That said, the question was about the block land transfers to municipalities, and I've heard in particular that there's been some challenges in the Yellowknife transfer. Can he bring this House up to speed as to what is being done and what he can do to ensure that we have timely and...

In essence, was the program going to relaunch itself, or did it take some intervention from the Minister to relaunch it?