Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was seeking clarity into the situation of why someone would receive $72,000. Is our goal as a Housing Corporation, is the government trying to make sure that they only pay a $200 a month mortgage? I don't know. Those are the kinds of questions that I was asking the Minister.

The program is based, if you read their web site, on a sliding scale. What is that sliding scale? A lot of the applicants that I have spoken to who have received money don't even know how much they are getting until the day the cheque is cut, at the end of the process. Mr...

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. Being one of the last to recognize visitors in the gallery, I think everyone I had on my list has been recognized, so I will just go through quickly. I have a special recognition to Right Reverend Bishop Sperry, Karen Wright-Fraser, Katherine Youngblut, Ed Jeske, His Worship Gordon Van Tighem, Chief Supreme Court Justice Ted Richard, MP Ethel Blondin-Andrew, chief negotiator John B. Zoe and, of course, to everyone else who didn’t get recognized, and Sandy’s mom. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Before I begin my statement, I wish to make a special announcement. My second son was born just over a month ago, on NWT Day. His name is Hudson; and if pooping and crying is healthy, he certainly is very healthy. Everyone is fine and I wanted to take this first opportunity to announce that.

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Thank you. Mr. Speaker, earlier this month I was invited by a Yellowknife Centre business to go to Japan and attend some aurora meetings. It was at their suggestion that someone with a political point of view come to see how important the aurora is to the Japanese...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again on the heels of my Member’s statement, I spoke about visiting the Canadian pavilion. It wasn’t my intention to go to the pavilion, but I happened to be in the area so I made the extra effort to pop over for a few minutes and see the enthusiasm about the aurora. What I noticed key was the fact that the enthusiasm was built up to such a peak, then there was no one to send them in a direction of booking tours or acknowledging where to go, other than pointing to a map. Would the Minister take those types of comments and look into and investigate an opportunity...