Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise again to speak about my concerns about the territorial government not having a formal policy in dealing with social housing with people with disabilities. Mr. Speaker, I happened to go back to the transcripts and I noted that for some reason that slipped through my fingers during question period, and so I will be raising that concern with much stronger diligence this time.

Mr. Speaker, I had asked the Minister at that time about where our policy is, and I still don’t see us having a policy and I’m afraid that got missed. So, Mr. Speaker, I have to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I totally support this motion. I just want to make a couple of quick comments. First of all, I find it really heartening that we have a clause in there that points out about disabilities and independent living. Mr. Speaker, I would like to see that this government takes a strong, firm grip on the type of policy that helps enable our people in healthy living conditions.

Mr. Speaker, I truly believe housing is a critical issue out there. It’s a basic need. Tom Jackson, the famous singer, once said, you know, if there’s no house, life doesn’t really matter. He...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when does that agreement that the honourable Minister speaks about expire, and does that apply just to surgeons or does that apply to all general practitioners? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise again today because I have a question for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Yesterday I talked about my concerns about the shortage of doctors in emergency rooms and in clinics. Mr. Speaker, a national physician survey conducted by the College of Family Physicians in Canada, the Canadian Medical Association, and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons basically said there was an alarming state in regards to doctor supply. In brief, there were two serious observations: 21,000 doctors were surveyed, and 60 percent of them are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will now be looking for the Minister to go over the top from whelming me to overwhelming me. Will the Minister commit that by the new year he will investigate and have a report back on developing a policy based on national standards for our social housing for people with disabilities in regard to accessibility issues? Will he commit to having that done by the new year so we have something once he’s had a chance to investigate it? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is in line with all the other Members here on theme day for the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation. Mr. Speaker, I’m looking for a commitment from this Minister. Will this Minister develop a policy that will meet the existing standards based on accessible living for people with disabilities in social housing? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, recognizing that we do have clients with high needs, I do appreciate that. But the fact is they’re gone. They’re down there and from the sounds of it, it’s as if they’re going to be there forever. Why are we not working towards establishing a northern facility to take care of our own people? Why are we not looking at investing in the Northwest Territories? It doesn’t matter where, but why are we not taking those steps to invest in the Northwest Territories to take care of our people with our dollars? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not sure what the Minister’s referring to by not understanding that question and it seems I’ve lost my first question, so I’ll try to squeeze it in again clearer. There was a crisis with regards to accreditation about our people being down in a facility in Edmonton and we’re talking about people with severe developmental disabilities. There were concerns of abuse, and who knows what else was happening down there. The folks were being shuffled around in a non-accredited facility. Mr. Speaker, my question clearly is what is the Minister doing about these folks down in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My apologies, I didn’t hear that, but I will go into my last one. Will the Minister be willing to commit to looking into the problem of waiting times, as well as possibly addressing this problem directly by putting another doctor in this emergency room because the nurses need a doctor to do the job that they do? So would the Minister commit to looking at that problem today? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can appreciate the fact that the Minister gave me a little bit of a history lesson on the 14th Assembly, Mr. Speaker, but we’re a year into the 15th Assembly and I can appreciate that the 14th had priorities as well. Mr. Speaker, I’m talking about real life waiting times. I’m talking about where people have to wait six or eight hours. If you are a mother with a child who has to go get them fed, you just can’t sit there and wait; or you’re a senior, you can’t sit there forever. Mr. Speaker, I’m talking about dealing with the six or eight-hour service...