Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to table an article from a magazine called Bridge Design and Engineering. It’s a UK magazine and someone had brought it to my attention, so I’d like to table the article regarding the Deh Cho Bridge Project. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister did not answer the question. What stops the Department of Health and Social Services from creating a policy in the medical travel directive that recognizes respite and uniting families through such difficult processes? What would stop the Minister from creating a policy to recognize these challenges that wouldn’t probably be needed very often? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about my concerns with the Medical Travel Policy. To be very specific, we don’t have a policy that works with the families that help them go through the medical transplant process, and the policy does not support parents beyond the initial one that travels down.

Mr. Speaker, my question directly to the Minister of Health and Social Services is: how does she see the present Medical Travel Policy accommodating the extended family that needs to be there through trying times such as this? Thank you.

So why are we not a territory of compassion that takes circumstances and fairly weighs them with the empathy and understanding that needs to be taken into consideration?

So to close my statement with one final matter that needs to be put into perspective -- and most certainly, God forbid, that this day ever does come -- however, if that dark day and disappointing moment had to come where this child, a two-year-old smiling and wonderful little boy named Jonas, had to have his machines turned off, our Medical Travel Policy wouldn’t unite this family one last time. It would leave that mother alone...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will be voting for the motion.

---Laughter

I feel strongly I can make that commitment. I think an important factor to emphasize here, although it’s a side of this fundamental issue which is the fact that this $500 million debt wall is an arbitrary number set by an Order-in-Council by the Government of Canada on us. It has no basis or values, in my view, that speak to the fact that is a $500 million debt wall a reasonable debt wall for this government in its ability to pay. You know, it doesn’t speak to the bigger problem. I mean I support the motion, but the problem is...

I think the Minister cited the $15 million extra, and if I heard him correctly -- and I ask him to correct me if I’m wrong -- he said that would be charged back to the project under the regulations under Section 10. It talks about the ability to have money deducted from the cost incurred by the government from the amounts payable to the concession area. I’m wondering, that $15 million that was additional because of the change in the project and the project scope that affected the project’s financial bottom line. Is it that type of section that we’ll be drawing back that $15 million? So...

In reading the Deh Cho Bridge Act I noticed that under the regulation section when they’re drawn up, of course, it looks like Members of the Assembly need to be included in this process even for being kept up to date. That’s under one of the sections. It’s under 10, it’s not important to go to, but it’s under 10-2(b)(1) and I’m just wondering have regulations to this date been brought up or drawn up and have they been developed in any form or fashion. Thank you.

By and large can the Minister describe our payments as, again, by and large, self-liquidating to a large extent? Can it still remain to be seen as this is a project that’s paying for itself? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First off, I do support the principle of the bridge project. I certainly believe strongly that this is the type of infrastructure that needs to be built in the Northwest Territories. I also believe strongly when I had asked last month about why haven’t we sought federal government support, why hasn’t the federal government come to the table to assist us with this project. I think that seems to be a significant gap in this process that has been happening.

Today I tabled an article from a magazine called Bridge Design and Engineering. It is a magazine from the UK. It...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As Members we are often busy lobbying for more programs and services and certainly more facilities for our constituents and ridings. As we all have become well aware that our job, number one, is to make sure that our constituents’ issues are brought forward, and our roles as MLAs make this very important as we try to demonstrate the needs in our ridings.

Every community, I believe, needs to be treated fairly. Therefore, I want to use my Member’s statement today to talk about the importance of community and regional standards. By that I mean standards that provide...