Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, would the Minister provide any comment in relation to timeline for issues to be discussed like making the telephone an allowable expense under income support, and will he be allowing public input on that type of expense? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today in my Member’s statement I spoke about the need for the telephone to be an allowable expense under the act. I spoke about the fact that many government services, such as the Department of Health and Social Services’ new Tele-Care line, are not accessible to people without a phone. It’s hard for people to get a job if a potential employer can’t get hold of them in a timely fashion. My question for the Minister is whether his department is considering, under the income support program, including basic telephone as an allowable expense. Thank you, Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise because I’m going to tell the Assembly that I’ll be voting against the motion. I told the assembly earlier that I would be speaking against it, although I would not stop unanimous consent to proceed with this motion strictly on my own personal belief.

The assembly was scheduled to continue to Thursday. It is my opinion, even though we did not have bills to pass, business was done in an orderly fashion, which I would commend, but I believe we are missing out on valuable question time. Mr. Speaker, just to quickly sum up, we’re missing out on question...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If the Minister could comment specifically what is holding up the telephone being considered an allowable expense? Basic telephone service is no longer a luxury of the modern day. I would quantify it as just as important as rent and food. So can the Minister explain that, please? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for his answer. Could the Minister reply with some further clarity as to whether he would be willing to consider a telephone expense as an allowable expense under the income support program? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Today, I would like to draw your attention to income support programs and the list of allowable expenses under the act. Mr. Speaker, a telephone is not a necessity under the act. If you ask the department why this is, they will tell you they allocate a certain amount of money to each person on social assistance and leave it up to them as to decide how they wish to spend the money.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to tell you the way I see it. Let us imagine a mother with two young children. How much money would this mother receive each month to house, feed, and...

I don’t need to? Okay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’ll be speaking in favour of the motion. I think what my honourable colleague, Mr. Allen, brought forward is an ambitious idea that probably has been dreamt about for many years, since the origin of the Northwest Territories, which goes back several hundreds of years. Mr. Speaker, I truly believe nothing ventured, nothing gained. I think this is an opportunity to fully get this discussion on the table. It may not be realized by Canada through fruition, yet if we don’t ask the question they can’t say no. So by moving forward with this motion, at least we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At this time I’d like to recognize my constituent assistant’s parents. Although they’re not constituents of mine, they hail from Capreol, Ontario, and they’re here in the Northwest Territories visiting my assistant. Their names are Gerry and Mary Lynn Sorel. Formally, I have to say that I’m not supposed to mention that Julie forgot to pick up them up at the airport, so nobody tell her I said that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to talk today about the strategic plan of this government presented by the honourable Premier, Mr. Handley, on May 26th. In previous sessions, I presented the issue of legal aid as one of my highest priorities. I repeatedly mentioned there are constituents of mine who have waited over six months to receive assistance. I believe that this period is too long to expect families in crisis to wait. I am pleased that the government agrees with my position. Mr. Handley announced that, during the presentation of the strategic plan, and I quote,...