Robert Hawkins

Mr. Speaker, I suspect that answer wasn’t for me. It was for someone else. By and large, that answer was very inefficient in its quality because it didn’t actually have an answer to it. The reality is, Mr. Speaker, I would like to know what would stop the Finance Minister from hiring an efficiency expert just like large industry does, whether it is BHP or any type of large conglomerate that spends a lot of time examining every dollar that they spend. Would the Finance Minister be willing to do that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. Thank you, Finance Minister. I was expecting at least a heckle over there.

As I was trying to say, the biomass heating energy retrofit will save $775,000 on our $1.3 billion budget, but in all fairness, we have to keep in mind that’s 0.0005 percent of savings. I think it’s the right track and the right type of thinking, but we need to see more of those types of initiatives.

The legendary military man General Patton always believed in providing the direction and allowing the right people, the skilled people to find a way to get us through.

In...

Mr. Speaker, what is stopping the government today for reaching out to the local radio stations, whether it is CKLB, CBC or CJCD, in getting out there to get our message out there? Of course, like any campaign and any situation, it is about who gets their messages out first. Unfortunately, I have seen the naysayers campaigning out there loud and strong aggressively. I often wonder if these leaders are just spinning their points of view without giving people a chance to hear what the AIP is from the point of the view of the government. What is stopping the government from doing this in the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement as well as many other Members who spoke today, we talked about the uncertainty and the communication plan of this government and how they are reaching out in explaining the AIP agreement to the everyday person throughout the Northwest Territories. My question will be to the Premier of our Territory. How is the Premier making sure that everyday Northerners are understanding truly what this agreement is about? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Timing is important. Even the Regular Members put forward a non-biased, plain language document. I can tell you that people scooped it up like crazy, wanting to find out just the average details of what is actually going on and how it is affected. We can do this in a matter of days with our fine staff here. I am just kind of concerned that the messaging from the Premier’s office and Cabinet is dragging on this particular initiative on such an important issue. Can the Minister use what we have provided as an Assembly, Regular Members, to get that message out there to...

Clearly the communication factor seems to be a significant roadblock on this particular issue for people understanding what is happening about the AIP. I know people are trying to form opinions, but, unfortunately, there have been very few, and the few have been very loud, which have caused a galvanization, polar points of views. Mr. Speaker, I daresay the communication plan may be a bit late, so I am kind of worried on how long this particular issue will take. When can the Premier expect to be launching a campaign that reaches out to everyday Northerners to make sure that people know what is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like many of my other colleagues, I too will be speaking about the AIP devolution agreement today.

This agreement signed, I believe, is a great forward-thinking step in the destiny of all Northerners. It’s about many things, but in my view, it’s most importantly about one thing: it’s about the transference of authority to Northerners. As northern people, we are ready to claim that future. This is about who is guiding the course of our future collectively. It’s about who is making the decisions of the northern future.

I’d like to see someone in the North making those...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister didn’t answer the question, probably because he’s not aware of the answer. The fact is that I’ve had another business come to me and complain about government process and they’re concerned about if they raise it to the next level, that they’ll be treated in a biased way coming forward. I can give the Minister the example, but what process exists in today’s context that shows that there will be some independent evaluation that there is no nepotism when someone works to develop a tender and then subsequently wins it? We have nothing to show that we have clear...

Mr. Speaker, I would like to hear from the Minister, because Public Works is simply seen as the safeguard for...(inaudible)...policy in the Government of the Northwest Territories. The Minister would be correct that individual departments do have their own individual policies, but Public Works is seen as the centre of excellence when it comes to the area of recruitment and the rules to be followed by.

Mr. Speaker, the issue comes down to unfair advantage. You can’t tell the right side of the brain don’t talk to the left side of the brain when you go bid on a tender even though you tried to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The fact is we have a lot of infrastructure issues and we could go on at length about highway needs, hydro needs. We could go on about a lot of things that are very important to the future of the Northwest Territories. Yes, the spirit and the intent may work to accomplish this, which I’m not against. The fact is it seems like there’s a huge gap in the communication, Mr. Speaker. Clearly, to the Minister of Finance, I think this should be a Finance Ministers’ discussion or Premier to Prime Minister discussion in Ottawa, but not an MP forcing this issue to be discussed.

Mr...