Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just a quick question. He was mentioning about the berm and I’m just curious: Do we end up booking these as liabilities under our environmental file or do we, at this time, when we do replacements, remediate them? That said, do we actually remediate them on site or do we actually remove the soil completely as the contaminant from the area? I’m just trying to get a sense of how we juggle that or deal with that booking. Because, I mean, I could be not correct on this observation, but through my short time on this earth I’ve seen very few berms that are around tanks that don...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to get on the record that, as I said in committee, I respect the concerns that Mr. Bromley has been raising regarding the display case or a space for artisans to sell their works and wares, but the intent is there and I want to stress that. But the reality here is I disagree under the principle of we can’t be giving free space away. There is a rental market in the downtown that would be of significant concern if we were giving space away to some groups and not the next, and the next NGO will be phoning me or another MLA, asking if they could have free space...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recently the City of Yellowknife launched a public news release to inform the public that they have now taken on the Certificate of Recognition program that they have been awarded with that accreditation. Asking for the COR program to be implemented in the Government of the Northwest Territories through the leadership of Public Works and Services here, I’ve been asking them for some time about when they will be bringing this program forward and implementing it when it comes to our contracting of services.

My question to the Minister of Public Works and Services is, quite...

Madam Chair, I move that we report progress.

---Carried

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was a little disappointed by the final answer of the Minister of Health and Social Services and I still don’t believe that they’re going to tackle the issue. I’m going to ask him in this particular manner regarding the challenges of the detox and addressing those types of issues. What is the Minister willing to do differently this term that has not been done any other term, to move this file forward? I can assure you, addiction problems have not decreased; rather, they have increased in the Northwest Territories.

We are talking about investment in capital for further growth and we have to ask ourselves at the same time, is this good management of money. Ultimately it comes back to the question of good fiscal responsibility would look at this and ask these types of questions and allow the political types of decisions left up to the politicians. That said, it ties it all together. Then we make the decision on policy because we believe in them. Under fiscal and responsible point of view, what is to stop the Minister for asking the cost of these? If you want to invest in capital facilities, we need to...

I appreciate the facilities or the locations the Minister has highlighted, but in fact those are areas that help people to carry the burden of their addictions, but yet it’s not a detox or a treatment centre by typical design.

Although the Minister doesn’t need to be educated on this particular issue, we know we had an addictions centre downtown that was used for many years, then was closing and then given away. Then they built one on the Detah road and that was closed and now is being used as a training centre. I mean, how many more addictions centres do we have to open and close and still not...

Okay. Then on one hand you’ll say that it’s better to have local programming even though it may be a lot of money, but we don’t know this for sure, of course. Yet, on the other hand, you’d say we’d like to see our money spent specifically to help people. I mean, quite often I’ve heard calls for on-the-land programs, but yet the first answer is we don’t have any money. What I’m asking for is what harm has it done to do an analysis to ask ourselves the cost of running – and I’m talking about the smaller type of facilities where we only have a couple of inmates potentially, be it now or certainly...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about concerns of addiction. Certainly, as we look at the beginning of this new Assembly, there are many people here that would like to see the addictions problems addressed. Although I know the Minister is new to the job, I would like to highlight a comment made in Wednesday’s Hansard on December 7th on page 5, in which the Premier says we need to find creative ways to address addictions, mental health, and promote wellness.

That now brings me to the question to the Minister of Health and Social Services. Is the new leader of that...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I would ask the Department of Justice if there is any reason why they wouldn’t create a cost-benefit analysis to ask themselves where they’re getting good value for money when considering balancing the costs of carrying offenders and the costs of findings alternative options. Thank you.