Robert Hawkins

Mr. Speaker, my questions aren't intended to be a trial by ordeal. My questions are intended to be like: be honest, how much are you asking for? So you sent a letter requesting we don't know how much we need, we don't know how much we want, but we want more? Please, we must be able to narrow it down a little bit because Northerners are the ones who are going to be saddled with this debt. Hence, Mr. Speaker, what range of debt has the Finance Minister requested that Northerners will now carry without a MLA discussion? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can appreciate it's status quo, you know, as in the -- they're using inertia to move forward, but the fact is that we're concerned about the direction, the firm and clear direction of the mandate letter to give them the direction and plan and commitment to do the transition from a college to a polytech. Can the Minister confirm in the House today that it will be absolutely crystal clear that the transition into a polytech is part of the moving forward mandate letter? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to use my Member's statement to come back to some of the matters raised by me and other Members, of course, in the June session.

Mr. Speaker, many of us had some excitement coming into the election almost a year ago and about where the Aurora College was going in the context of transition to a polytech. And, of course, it wasn't until after being elected sometimes when you find out what really is happening behind the scenes that you find out actually that they're still working on the transition plan but the transition plan isn't funded and things they...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I heard that response loud and clear and I also had the earpiece. That's said, what has been done to date? Because I was speaking to the school boards and their concerns about how much resources they're dedicating to address these particular needs in these students. So what's being done to date and how long has this been going on? The Minister has been Minister for a year, so she must be aware of how we're trying to address the current problem. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It must be the air conditioning in here, Mr. Speaker, or the sound of the air moving. It's hard to hear some days or sometimes today. Mr. Speaker, I was going to leave on a positive note but I'll make a list the good but not bad. The next question will be back to the Minister of education regarding supports for students. It's not terrible, but I'd like to hear what the Minister says -- the issue's terrible but not the questions per se.

We were recently at a meeting with both school boards. And I know this applies to all school boards. This is not news to me, I know it's...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Very excited. Mr. Speaker. It would be nice to end today -- well, we're not ending today per se, but, you know, work towards the end of today on a positive note. And the reason I'm bringing this up, in my Member's statement yesterday I talked about the naming of the Whitford building, Mr. Speaker. And there's not a specific guideline through the EIA or housing that says how do we need name buildings that are non-office buildings, but let's follow the office building process and protocol. And section number 5, Cabinet may approve a public engagement process, so may, to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I would appreciate in the context of transparency if the Minister would share that letter with Members because I don't believe we have it and if we do have it, it's the old government kind of context because I certainly don't have a copy of it. So we're going on what we understand.

Mr. Speaker, the next part of the mandate letter is will it be funded for a transition to a polytech? Because currently, if we're following the old methodology, they're using money left over from the education diploma -- or sorry, education program as well as the social work diploma...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Similar to my colleague who had just spoke a moment ago, I want to further follow up on the mandate letter specifically. So it appears we're working well together on this type of concern and initiative. My question would be is that if the former mandate letter expired in July, had the department not been working on it previously? Because it doesn't seem as if there was -- there shouldn't be an overlap period of gap within -- in other words saying there's no mandate or no one's doing any mandate or following any mandate. So I'm asking the question, why wasn't there a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as an example of this burden falling on the school system, which is actually taking money out of the education process that it was intended for, these school boards, particularly in Yellowknife -- and I wish I could speak to the regional communities as well -- but that said they ended up hiring their own speech pathologists, and they were finding they could find them. In other words, they put out advertisements. They were getting people interested in the jobs. They've hired them. And they're funding them within. That really is education dollars for the old...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I actually couldn't hear her answer but I'm assuming maybe we could look at this again, is that what can she do as Minister to financially support the school system if the Department of Health and Social Services is no longer doing this. We have dental services -- we found ways to do things. In other words, like, for example, Inuvik does dental supports when it can. I don't even know if they've done it recently. But I've seen seen the room that they've done that to support families on the health care and the young people. So what can the Minister do to ensure that, for...