Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to return to oral questions, item number 6 on the agenda. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I will answer the question too, Mr. Speaker. If I have to work both sides of this House, I will for the citizens of Yellowknife. Sorry; I was on a soapbox there. Mr. Speaker, the issue is the budget for the City of Yellowknife passed on December 31st, but it only has three months left in that calendar year of that agreement. So essentially, the City of Yellowknife is passing their budget with only three months left of a funding agreement. They have to wait for the new year to be rolled out by MACA and the new year is signed in April. So would the Minister at least agree today that this is a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am going to continue on the questions of multi-year funding that were brought up during my Member’s statement. My question is to the Minister responsible for the FMBS. Mr. Speaker, the City of Yellowknife, to a large extent, is planning nine months in the dark every year they pass their budget on December 31st because they have to wait until April 1st for the territorial budget to be passed. Does the Minster agree it would make better sense to approve funding for municipalities to look at approving multi-year funding in accordance with the municipal...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for his answer. Mr. Speaker, before this story goes too much further, would the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment look into this situation before this so-called story of a person using their language is being discouraged? Before it goes through the meat grinder of arbitration and whatnot, would the Minister look into this before it goes too far? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I will focus my question to the Premier, and he can forward it thereon in. Does the government have a policy to discourage people to use their first language?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my household, we speak approximately four languages, three languages of Chinese -- one would be Cantonese -- and, of course, English, because that is the main one I understand. Mr. Speaker, Canada is a melting pot of acceptance. It is kind of like a secret recipe of culture, but when you start throwing out the right to use one’s language, it is like revealing the recipe or throwing out an important element of that recipe. Mr. Speaker, my first question was not answered. What is the Premier’s position on the usage of the official languages in the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I respect the fact that the Minister doesn’t want to talk about that subject, because it’s out for bargaining or discussion on an informal basis. I can appreciate that, so I won’t go into that. My last question is how does this Minister plan to address the fact that we still have families out there who can’t get a family doctor? We could ask for 35 doctors coming to the city…

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Mr. Miltenberger, for first acknowledging the fact that it isn’t quite working out as it may have been dreamt of. I’m glad to hear that we’re trying to strive forward. Mr. Speaker, I have people in Yellowknife who cannot get a family doctor. I have people who are told by the clinics that they have to go wait in emergency and, if it’s not of a life or death nature, they have to sit there between four and six hours because they’re not considered a priority at emergency. Mr. Speaker, how does the Minister plan to address that type of problem? I’d like to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today because families in Yellowknife are still having trouble getting a family doctor and even simply seeing a doctor.

Mr. Speaker, I believe, a few years ago, the change from switching family doctors to go from fee-for-service to salary has caused a serious gap in service delivery. Mr. Speaker, a few years ago, we had 14 doctors seeing approximately 40 patients a day, but today we have approximately 20 doctors a day seeing 20 patients a day. That is 80 visits a day short, Mr. Speaker, that our constituents and our families are missing out on an...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise to request unanimous consent to return to item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.