Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Is the Minister able to or willing to share whatever the sales pitch and package they're presenting to the department of national defence to make sure we get all Northerners on side for this type of infrastructure investment and job creation that could be very important and critical to our depressed economic economy when we need it most. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, that's certainly good news. I'd like to hear what the department officials are doing or where are they anticipating the potential base, if that's part of the conversation, could be located in the North. As I said, I'd be happy for it to be in Yellowknife but that said I recognize opportunities it may make better sense in Inuvik. So I'd like to hear what the Minister has to say. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In this process of technology, my laptop died just before so I'm going to go with the roughest of notes with the most genuine of hearts. It's true; I always speak from my heart.

So, Mr. Speaker, regardless of the issue, I wish to speak to one theme I hope is true is the fact that when I do speak for an issue, I do care about it and in the sense of that the impact this has on Northerners is and the choices we make. Now, keep in mind the last Assembly barely passed its own mechanism to manage its own carbon tax processes and, frankly, I don't think they did enough time...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm going to first bring my Member's statement today about one of my and begin by acknowledging one of my favorite sections in the GNWT. That's the NWT bureau of stats, my goodness. I don't know how I'd get along without them, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, one of the recent updates talked about the capital investments in the Northwest Territories and its decline by 11.2 percent. Now, that adds up to almost 900 $900 million to the North. But the bad news doesn't start stop there, unfortunately, Mr. Speaker. The NWT labour force activity has showed continual...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker; I was fine either way. There's another housing motion and I would have picked up on that one but that said, maybe I'll have less to say on the next motion. Mr. Speaker, as unlikely as it is, I'll try.

Mr. Speaker, we all know housing adequacy is a challenge in every single riding. I've been to Wrigley and I see families struggling with their opportunities. I've been to Aklavik, and I've seen people look for places to live. And they have to come to the larger centres struggling asking themselves where are you know, where can they live? The dignity of an individual's...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't expect the waitlist to be like the DMV where you go pull a little tag and you wait until they ring your number or whatever on the overhead board that says now serving A52, you know, Mr. Speaker. But that said, what type of communication is given to people who have, for example, chronic conditions who are sitting there waiting for that important relationship to build in order to buttress their health care journey? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I might not have had a third question but I just want to clarify on the record, in my case I'm not worried about board; I'm worried about boards as a territorial MLA and hence the issue to me is if it's reflective in Yellowknife, it could be reflective in every riding. So will she ensure that all ridings are  sorry, all education districts receive the same type of question and support? Thank you.

So exciting. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can't contain my excitement. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, my next set of questions is targeted to the  I shouldn't say targeted, but being offered ever so kindly to the Minister of education. And so during the campaign, a lot of the teachers complained about the BC curriculum coming in because the lack of foresighted training for  and prep for them. So in other words, they're being handed these packages of saying hey, now good luck, and they had to implement it. Mr. Speaker, what can the Minister of education do to help support these teachers who still haven't...

Mr. Speaker, we're not really talking about a lot of students here. We're literally talking anywhere from 10 to 50 students who need to go beyond that $60,000 cap, Mr. Speaker. What's the Minister's apprehension, really, at the end of the day for expanding the cap? Because we know it's not a lot of students, and she would have the numbers of how many exact students would be attending. So what's her apprehension? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm excited to ask the next batch of questions to the Minister of education.

Under the Student Financial Assistance Act, section 10(3)(a), so that doesn't mean much to the public, but what it is is it specifically points out to the cap of SFA provided to Northerners attending postsecondary school, Mr. Speaker, which happens to be $60,000 in total. That's your total cap of what you can take.

So, Mr. Speaker, recognizing the costs and ever changing needs of Northerners seeking education and recognizing the fact that we want to support Northerners to get education and even...