Robert Hawkins

Thanks, Mr. Chairman. I won’t spend more than, say, two minutes. I just wanted to make sure I mentioned something about naturopaths and I would certainly like to see further development of that. Maybe the Minister can speak to that.

The other two subjects are midwifery. I’m glad to see it’s expanding through the Northwest Territories and I will certainly agree that any support that could happen and we can be part of, I’d like to see that. But I also think there’s a glaring gap in the capital region on the need of that particular program, and I certainly wouldn’t mind just hearing a quick...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Not specific to the Minister, but I get worried because the government’s taking the approach, well, we’re running short of days. But the problem is the government marches on every day long beyond us, so the next group will be going on. It’s the same government, just different faces on the ministry.

This initiative is very important, so I’m going to ask clearly, what can the Minister do? It may not be fully completed by the end of this term, but what can we get on the ground, up and running today? You know, what can we do? Because we’re still working until the end of our...

Does the Minister see any problem with the issue of reaching out to the citizenship to get some feedback as what the citizens see, the everyday people, the everyday families trying to get job opportunities here in the North, from their perspective on trying to apply for jobs, be it in Yellowknife, be it in the regions, be it even in the very small communities? They would provide great benefit and insight as to the challenges that they see and face. Many people keep reciting the same problems over and over again, and I often wonder: does the government appreciate the circumstances and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, I guess that’s kind of what I’m asking, is would the Minister be willing to apply himself and certainly the department to examining the scope of this particular problem? Banting gave his gift to the world with insulin. We could be giving our gift to the world by protecting them from the arsenic trioxide that could poison the world. All we need is a little bit of initiative and foresight on this problem not to see it as a short gain but as a long gain for environmental stewardship, and that’s what I’m asking the Minister.

Would he be willing to at least look at the...

I don’t think the $10 million prize is actually the problem. I think that’s something we could engage the federal government in, because as we all know, AANDC pays that $1.9 million for care and maintenance, again, for in perpetuity, so it’s not just my lifetime, it’s everybody’s lifetime, forever.

Would the Minister be willing to take this project on with an eye of what’s best for the Northwest Territories and propose it to the federal government through AANDC and ask them that if we could maybe run the logistical administrative side of reaching out to the world on this particular problem...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Is the Minister familiar enough with the legislation to find out if it’s all in regulations? In other words, can we make changes easily through the regulations, or is it through legislative initiative we’d have to tackle some of these particular problems? For the everyday folk there’s a real big difference in timing and efforts to change these types of rules and, as such, I look to the Minister to ask, what’s the easiest way to make these changes if appropriate and certainly where appropriate? Thank you.

Thanks, Mr. Chairman. I was listening to Mr. Dolynny’s questions regarding the cost of living tax credit. I’ve been actually doing research on this the last few weeks. I was wondering if the department could explain not the theory but the actual cost of how we drive our numbers. In other words, if we raise it by $1,000, the tax credit, how does that directly or indirectly affect us on a dollar amount? Could the Minister or someone provide a clear example? Is it strictly dollar for dollar or is it based on percentage? Who eats what? Right now, it’s set at a rate that has basically stayed since...

I think the Minister meant to say e-mail addresses are on their way, not on the website. I just double-checked while I was there.

Why is this Minister concerned about the feelings of the Board of Governors and not suggesting or giving them direction, which is well under his authority under Section 7 of the Aurora College Act? What is he concerned about? Is he worried about hurting their feelings? Because he’s in charge for the best benefit of the college, the students and certainly the direction the MLAs provide.

Would the Minister of the Department of Education, who is in charge to provide...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Aurora College Act under Section 8.(2) says, “The board, in exercising its powers and performing its duties under this act and the regulations, shall act in accordance with the direction of the Minister.” I won’t read the previous Section 7, which allows the Minister to provide direction to the board, because I’ve read that in the House repeatedly. I’ve asked the Minister of Education to provide e-mails to the Board of Governors and to tell the Board of Governors of Aurora College to have town meetings with their students. Has the Minister done such a thing? Thank...

I asked about a policy that redirected human resource money to other functions and I didn’t get an answer, so I will assume we don’t have one.

Wouldn’t it be in the interests of the Department of Human Resources to track this additional money because it would lend the argument to the government knowing what type of money it has and its availability to spend on human resources, and it could give the membership of this Assembly, the MLAs the opportunity to talk about redirecting it as training money to help build strengths and competencies for these types of vacancies. Would that not sound...