Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, Mr. Speaker, again, if you buy a house, it’s probably the largest purchase you’ll ever make. But if you find out, later on, the foundation’s cracked, it’s full of mould, and you’ve been sold a song that it’s the best house in the world and all of a sudden you find out that, you know, no one will ever want to buy your house again and the fact that you can’t get insurance, you may run into trouble even getting a mortgage. Mr. Speaker, there’s no protection for these large purchases and that could break a hard-working family. So would the Minister agree that this is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I would like to address an issue of growing concern in my constituency and the North. In the booming market of real estate, cars and telemarketing, it is obvious that the NWT legislative framework to protect consumers from scams does not go far enough. This leaves consumers vulnerable and allows for dishonest practices to go unchecked in the NWT. Consumers need to be fully protected. Current NWT laws do not require disclosure on the integrity of a house or used car and there are no regulations for telemarketing. Our protection laws are minimal and we are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, if the Minister would like, I could provide him, too, as soon as we go upstairs, my couple of constituents. But the fact is, it isn’t so much that as we should be making sure we’re protecting our constituents. If this isn’t a priority, I don’t know what one is, Mr. Speaker, especially when he knows how difficult it can be. So the fact is, can the Minister bring back, before February, some kind of discussion paper to correct this problem, this lack of protection that we have for our consumers out there? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wrote the Minister of MACA some time ago about my concerns about our lack of disclosure laws and consumer protection laws. The Minister wrote me back yesterday and I want to first thank the Minister for agreeing with me, because it’s quite obvious that the Minister denial training program hasn’t taken full effect yet because he did agree with a Member without a big study of saying no, no, nothing’s wrong. I see the Premier looking now.

---Laughter

Wait a minute; he’s going to recall the letter. But in the letter, Mr. Speaker, the Minister of MACA pointed...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, no one’s suggesting we have to reinvent the new wheel. This type of law exists all over Canada, all over the U.S., so I’m not sure what we’re going to sort of reinvent. The fact is, this Minister could agree to a discussion paper before February so that we can fully address this issue and build it into the priorities. So would the Minister agree to commit to building a discussion paper so that we can look at the fullness of the issue and how it can possibly be implemented in this term? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that. When can we expect this review done? Do we expect it done in a timely way so then we can look at hopefully supporting NACC in a more appropriate and more balanced way? Again, recognizing their infrastructure costs, needs and reflective of the costs and times we live in. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am a big supporter of the arts community. I really believe that arts speak to the heart and soul of the people and to our society, but arts funding all quite often isn’t maybe as shiny as maybe some of the oil and gas funding that is given out. That causes me some concern, because I think that there are many areas of our society in excitement we can represent. Arts bring in things like tourism. I think they build communities, such as personal pride and promotion. Mr. Speaker, the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre is suffering from lack of core...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does "I am willing to work with the Member" mean that, yes, they will do this? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, although I may be strong on the Justice side of the concerns of dealing with the drugs and alcohol when I talk about wanting to bring forward the Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act, I'm also a firm believer that it's part and parcel with treatment programs. So, Mr. Speaker, I have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services in that regard. I'm aware of no formal policy that has a follow-up program for people who go out for treatment, Mr. Speaker, so my philosophy is it's a lot cheaper to call people and ask them how they're doing as...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I pointed out many times over the last Assembly and I will probably this Assembly, that alcohol and drugs continue to be a problem and the downtown continues to have many of these problems and highlighted is the fact that without the SCAN we don’t get the support without the human resources. What can the Minister do today to ensure that we are getting proper staffing levels with our local RCMP to make sure that we have the proper tools accessible in this community to help fight those problems? Thank you.