Robert Hawkins

Is there a dollar amount attached to any program here that could help start or seed an opportunity? Is there a particular budget line item that could reflect that opportunity if people were to come forward in the private industry and say they’d be willing to take on some of these challenges? Is the Minister able to highlight that? Thank you.

I could swear that the Minister was reading off my list of questions because I wanted to go through that. He did mention tires and that’s another issue that I’ve raised a number of times, about getting a tire shredder organized and perhaps we could partner with the Yukon government whether we drive it up the Mackenzie Highway throughout the winter and drop it off in communities and leave it there in a centralized place over a couple-year period or, for example, as I mentioned earlier perhaps even barge these things down in a collective manner. I mean, basically this becomes just a useless...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’m not sure the Minister is getting my point. The fact is, he’s saying that there’s a review going on and I’ve got a school board that says they haven’t heard from the reviewer. So that’s the only issue at hand here, Mr. Speaker, is the fact that I need to be assured, this House needs to be assured, there needs to be a clear message from the Minister of Education that the consultant will be instructed to make sure that they consult with YK No. 1 in a timely way to make sure their schools that are in desperate need of renovations are considered in this...

Mr. Speaker, in discussing this matter with the chair of the YK No. 1 board, they seem to feel strongly that no one has approached them from the educational review as far as their facilities are concerned. Mr. Speaker, in essence, I’m not trying to create a problem here. I just want to make sure that the educational review facility team actually does get in contact with the YK No. 1 board and does a full, fair and honest assessment of those two facilities I highlighted. Will that happen? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the answer from the Minister. Mr. Speaker, could the Minister elaborate a little further, such as does he anticipate that he’ll look into this right away or is it one of those little things that will hang there and say someday we’ll take a look at it; we’re not against it, but maybe we’ll be for it? So could the Minister, sort of, elaborate a little further on his answer? Because my expectations are reasonable but certainly are there now. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, in information that’s been sent to me it says basically it’s at the discretion of the lending agency. So I’m really curious what MACA is doing as they watch this evolve. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to talk about Payday Loans and the need for territorial regulations. Mr. Speaker, it is in the middle of the month. What does a person have to do if they are short of cash? Well, in Canada, there is a $2 billion industry out there to help. They are eager, Mr. Speaker. This conventional short-term lending isn’t available by the big banks so a person has to go to one of those short-term lending agencies often referred to Payday Loans. Now remember this, Mr. Speaker, convenience does come at a price. It is a short-term loan and you have to promise to pay it...

Mr. Chairman, points of order are the next item on the agenda.

Mr. Chairman, the Minister highlighted some interesting things in his opening comments and I just wanted to sort of acknowledge them. I’d like to hear a little more under the Transportation Licence Plate Program to find out when exactly that launch is predicted. A couple of years ago I suggested that we use our tourism catch phrase on our licence plate and I’m not sure what’s evolved from that other than the fact that the Licence Plate Program would start off with some new ones and I’m just curious if we’ve gone with a bit of a...

Thank you for that answer. If I could just be 100 percent clear then, then when you take the two items into consideration, community government funding and of course the additional funding, I mean, is there a net difference? Thank you.

Obviously, the Minister doesn’t have the information here today, as he said, but would he be able to have it broken out by community when he assesses the tax-based municipalities? Thank you.