Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up on my Member’s statement today and my questions will be directed to the Minister of Health and Social Services. Mr. Speaker, for the record, B.C. Ministry of Health notes that nerve damage from spina bifida can lead to deformities such as club foot. Mr. Speaker, with that said, when does the Minister see any type of update of our extended health benefits list to address this gap in services being provided to our children? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, again I think the Minister underscores the oddity here; whereas we pay for the surgery but we don't pay for the treatment. I mean it becomes completely irrelevant at that point. Why do the surgery? It's confusing, Mr. Speaker. So my last question to the Minister is, what will it take this Minister to recognize and identify that this is a real issue to go on our extended health benefits? Does he require letters from mothers? Does he require a motion in this House? Does he require camping out at his doorstep? Does he require a petition? What would this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, clearly, this is a problem having a club foot in the Northwest Territories. There may not be an epidemic, but it is an issue, Mr. Speaker, and, further, it’s an issue that we could solve; it’s something within our reach. So, Mr. Speaker, what is the apprehension of adding club foot to our extended health benefits? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, once again I am rising in this Assembly to speak about the inequities of our NWT health care system. Our health professionals do a fantastic job meeting our northerners’ needs. However, like me, they also have trouble comprehending the logic of what is covered and not covered by NWT health care. I raise the issue of constituents with a child born with club feet who were told that the government would pay for all surgeries needed to correct the condition, but the government would not pay for the required braces needed between the surgeries. I am pleased to say, through the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister avoiding my question, which is the fact that the parents posed all of these formal questions to the Minister. Will he be formally responding to them? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions will be for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. It is, yet again, about the Yellowknife school problem. Mr. Speaker, my question will be framed around lack of consistency, clarity and practice throughout the Northwest Territories where there is more than one school in that community. Is there any ECE legislative authority, policy or directive that is enforceable which points to a minimum capacity level that community schools must be at, and, if they are not, are they either amalgamated or closed?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can’t deny that the Finance Minister was correct on that information. However, I’m talking about a proactive approach that actually gets ahead of the problem before it gets away from us. I’m talking about getting ahead of the problem so we don’t have to work on trying to force and try to reach a compromise to have these big, deep, forensic-style audits. So, Mr. Speaker, the fact is the Auditor General will do this. All we have to do is put it in a line item now that we have the FAA open. Would the Minister reconsider that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions will follow the line my Member’s statement drew out, so my questions will be directed to the Minister of Finance. Mr. Speaker, in short, I want to make sure our Crown corporations are giving all the NWT citizens value for money. Mr. Speaker, my question, therefore, is, is there a value to the directors of the Crown corporations and the GNWT shareholders in conducting occasional performance audits on Crown corporations? Can the Minister indicate whether there has been any progress on this file since I raised the issue back in February 2006? Thank you, Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In February 2006, I made a statement on the need to perform regular performance or value for money audits on Crown corporations owned by the GNWT. At the time, the Finance Minister indicated he was open to examining the issue and possibly considering an expanded role for our very own Audit Bureau. Over a year has gone by and I have yet to hear anything from our fine Finance Minister on this issue and there have been no concrete steps on implementation of this idea.

We all know that Crown corporations are subject to annual financial audits by the Auditor General’s office...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, Mr. Speaker, I urge the Minister to find an alternative solution because he talks about all of this work he has done for over the last two to three, even almost four years by striking out a report and striking out a committee and getting a mediator for the committee. You can only drag one school board to the committee discussions if they came with the point of view that they were going to get a school or else they didn’t want to participate. Why is the Minister not putting forward the shared solution so this community can more forward? Thank you.