Robert Hawkins

Thank you. The fact is we have a missed opportunity. We’re going to have to go wherever they present us. Well, let’s be part of the solution when I say where they present us. That means if they’re going to tell us what airport we can send our medevacs to, we should be on the front of this problem rather than just being told at the very end of the equation and that’s kind of what I’m getting at with the Minister of Health and Social Services here. We need to get involved in the solution to ensure that northern needs are taken care of; otherwise we’re going to have to put up with whatever they...

Thank you. In my Member’s statement today I talked about medevacs and I need not remind anyone in this House how important those services are. A lot of Northerners depend on them and it’s more than just lip service when I say that in a lot of cases it is life or death on those medevac services. So of course time is very important.

Yesterday I was speaking to someone which has caused the reason why I need to make today’s statement to talk about medevacs. I found out that Deputy Premier Doug Horner of Alberta is moving towards the Edmonton Garrison solution for the medevac problem on the pending...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Edmonton City Centre Airport is still facing closure, which will impact our medevac flights here from the North, but there is a viable alternative on the horizon. A well-known Edmonton city airport known as the Muni is facing closure, but the Province of Alberta has been working closely with the federal government to come up with a solution of using the old Edmonton Garrison airstrip, which is seven kilometres north of the city of Edmonton. The National Defence runway is located on a good transportation route, which connects to the Anthony Henday road, which rings...

If we’re waiting until the fall into 2012, which is obviously still good. I mean, it’s good to hear that we’re going in the right direction, how are we supposed to work with the ITI counterparts about getting out there, from an outfitter point of view, of selling some of these packages? Is there any way to work early with these outfitters and draw some early indications so they can actually get out there, sell their packages and get back to business, which, by the way, brings a lot of money into our economy? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today the Honourable J. Michael Miltenberger, Minister of Environment, talked about an update on the barren ground caribou management and a particular question that’s come regularly from the constituency is the outfitter problem. We can see significant growth in the population of the herds. I’d like to ask the Minister of ENR when the outfitters can expect to get back into the business of providing outfitting opportunities. Because the caribou setback and moratorium had done considerable damage to the reputation of the North, and certainly these outfitters are bleeding...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’d like to move that committee report progress. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to table the newspaper clipping from the Northern Journal dated January 31, 2012. The article is “Matrix Program Fights Addiction.” It is a great story about the things that are happening in Fort Smith, Fort Simpson and Fort Providence about working on and combatting drug and alcohol addictions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I have to take issue with that particular last point which is saying detox is available across the North. I’m sorry; that is not exactly true. As we all know, the only place with any detox treatment here is at Stanton Territorial Hospital. As I repeated many times over, Stanton is not defined as a detox centre. It is a central wellness for folks. We should be putting people with addictions in an addiction treatment centre for detox.

My point here is we need bold action. This government needs to wake up from its deep slumber and take some action. Will the Minister be willing to develop a plan to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to return to the issue of a residential detox centre required here in the Northwest Territories. I’d like to state for the record, of course, if you really care about this issue, even from a Yellowknife perspective, I want to emphasize it doesn’t matter where the building gets established, where we provide residential treatment for people who have detox needs. I mean, the fact is if we can put it in a regional centre, I would certainly support that any moment that that issue comes forward for any type of a decision.

On that note, a residential centre is much...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I’d like to move a committee motion. I move that this committee recommends that tablet computers or other similar electronic devices be considered as a type of laptop computer/hand-held device, subject to the existing conventions in the House regarding electronic communication devices. Thank you, Madam Chair.