Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I’m still concerned with this EDAP program that we’re not really getting anywhere, and I’d like to hear some real solid answers from the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation. I want to start hearing some real details of how we’re helping honest people out there to get them into houses, and I want to see some reasonability of this program, because I still think it’s out of touch and it’s only helping certain people. The reason I say that is because the program is structured in such a way that if you have two incomes, you’re practically...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I think we were really close to an answer that time. We heard “will be turned down,” but we didn’t hear “were turned down.” So, Madam Speaker, were any applications turned down, yes or no, because of lack of funding? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recognizing it has been a long day, I will just ask one question and quite quickly to the Minister of Health and Social Services with regard to TTC. That being said, it may be a little bit of a lengthy one, but it will be fast. Mr. Speaker, I’m trying to understand why this government preaches decentralization, about being fair and equitable and making sure everyone gets a fair shot, but the bottom line is I think the Minister just mentioned Fort Smith has a facility somewhat of a similar nature, and the bottom line is now if we remove the one out of Yellowknife and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am a little concerned that we have to wait until the end of this session; we should be waiting until tomorrow. Will the Deputy Premier be willing to commit to seeing if we could wield some of this high profile information, this high detailed information, because there must have been some business case put forward in order to decide to just move this out of Yellowknife. Would the Deputy Premier be able to bring forward this information tomorrow so we can deal with it in a timely manner, because we only have four days after tomorrow in this session to deal with this?...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise with further questions for our friends on the other side of this Assembly. The Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation is smiling because he knows I can’t ask him any more questions today because the last one was taken as notice.

I have questions for the Deputy Premier of this Assembly, Mr. Floyd Roland, with regard to the TTC that’s being taken out of Yellowknife. The Minister of Health and Social Services had mentioned that there was a facility in Fort Smith. So from the sounds of this, there will be two in the South Slave. Maybe if the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that didn’t explain anything, I’m sorry to say. It just said there’s a sliding scale that goes up to 40 percent. Mr. Speaker, we have a situation of $72,000. Explain the scenario. Tell me they came from low income housing and they were paying $200 a month and this government was darn well going to make sure that they paid a mortgage at $200 a month regardless of how expensive this house is. Explain the scenario. Show some transparency on this program. Would the Minister do that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise on the heels of my Member’s statement with questions to the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned in my Member’s statement, $72,000 was given to one person and as far as I see it, we could have given three people $24,000 for a down payment and that would have been considered reasonable. Could the Minister explain to me in somewhat reasonable detail, obviously without giving out the name of the person who we gave it to, why there was such a variance between one down payment of $6,500 and another down payment of $72,000?...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with serious concerns regarding the Housing Corporation and how it is running its EDAP program. That is the Expanded Downpayment Assistance Program.

Mr. Speaker, first and foremost I am really glad to see that we are putting people into home ownership and I think that is the bottom line that I really like to see. However, there are serious concerns in regard to how we treat our down payment. We are now treating it as a big handout as opposed to the help-up that I have always believed it should be.

Mr. Speaker, I posed some sound questions to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to hear at the same time when we get this high level, detailed information that really speaks of why we are moving it out of Yellowknife and affecting both the staff and the children, what was the motivation that is preparing to move this out of Yellowknife. The e-mails I am getting now don’t say we want to move to Hay River. The e-mails are saying what is going on. Can we hear some reasoning behind the motivation? What is the true motivation? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Maybe the Deputy Premier could help emphasize some clarity. This sounds like a done deal and I hate to say it, but the Minister of Health has been in charge of the health portfolio for quite some time and I put a lot of faith in the fact that they must understand and know the depth of their portfolio. This decision must have been made quite some time ago, so there must be some information that they can share with us today. What was the business case that could justify this move? There must be some answer we could give this House today so we can move forward. We could...