Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister has provided me with a briefing note. The Minister has provided me with some stats. The Minister has provided me with some further information, and oddly enough, all these three pieces of information conflict with each other. I’ve talked to the people in the community of Paulatuk and their information conflicts with all three pieces even further.

I’d like to ask the Minister of the Housing Corporation who is doing these particular assessments on these units, what is their qualification, what are their competencies and when were the assessments of these...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As you know, housing conditions in remote communities matter to all Members of this House regardless of what constituency you represent. I want to talk about some of the public housing conditions in Paulatuk here today.

I’ve been reading some of the condition ratings provided in detail by the Housing Corporation, and I am quite concerned, and I think we need to discuss them today. Now, if you have visited or perhaps been in contact with any of the families there recently, you would hear one point of view, and of course, if you have asked for information such as I have...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think this whole issue really boils down to something very simple as saying this: We don’t want to cause any further strain to this family’s economic situation, and furthermore, we don’t want to provide any extensive financial hardships to the person who has volunteered or, in some cases, doesn’t really have a choice. They have to go as the medical escort. If you weigh and balance the great strain being a medical escort can cause – and I’m talking about the pocketbook or the financial hardship that can be created by this situation – it causes one to say, well, we don...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re getting somewhere on this file and I want to be very clear. Will the Minister send proper professionals with appropriate credentials to go and assess those particular units, not send some secretary in there to walk out or some administrative assistant to walk in there, count heads, count bodies, whatever the case may be to say is your unit well. I want competent professionals that can go in there, assess them properly, develop a plan with the community and show them that the housing issues matter to them. Because right now I’m getting calls that there’s an oil...

I’m glad we have confidence in these people who deliver the program, because somebody who, obviously, we have confidence in said all the molding material was removed, area was treated, new material was installed, and by the way, that’s the fall of 2014. There is conflicting information with this work done. I’m speaking to people in the community. The Housing Corporation owns 75 percent of the housing units. There is nowhere else to go. They’re deplorable.

Will the Minister step this up and do an evaluation of all the housing in Paulatuk, because there are no options and nowhere to go, and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have been given a long list of seniors to recognize, so I will go through them quite quickly and I will even re-recognize a few. We’ll make sure we get them all. I’ve got Barb Hood, NWT Seniors; Kim Doyle, YK Seniors; Yvonne Quick and Carol Robinson; Mrs. Esther Braden; Dawn Lacey; Martha McLellan; Barb Bromley; Patricia Jasper; and, finally, I would like to make special mention to Mrs. Marlowe and Mrs. Carter for their educational contributions. I would also like to recognize George and Doreen Cleary, who I know. The first thing Lorna Storr said to me this afternoon...

Mr. Chairman, I asked this question well over three months ago and I’m still waiting for an answer. I’ve asked it in committee. The Minister said that they would get back to me. If it’s my error that I’ve received your response, which I’m pretty sure I haven’t, please resend.

The fact is my understanding is that no one has responded to me after three months on this issue. I, frankly, want us to find ways to ensure that we attract well-educated people back to the Northwest Territories. I think it’s of great value that we have people from the Northwest Territories who have spent most of their...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m going to use today’s opportunity to return to one of my favorite subjects, which happens to be the consumer affairs protection division, or lack thereof, Mr. Speaker.

Many Northerners continue to wait for any action from this division and certainly by the Minister and for years have been continuing to raise issues about the restrictiveness and confusing concerns around cell phone contracts, problems around homeownership purchasing, protection, the fact that homes don’t require full disclosure under protection rules, and payday loans continue to hold people at risk...

He just said Ms. Saturnino.

Mr. Speaker the government official continues on by saying if you can’t manage your own money, give us your budgets and we’ll do it for you, and by the way, you probably won’t notice any change. What facts support that when the government takes a third of the revenue stream and moves them over to Junior Kindergarten, and the government seems to be telling everybody, don’t worry, go to the schools for free child care, but don’t worry, lots of people still want to pay $1,000 a month, so you’ve got no problems. What does the government think about that and does the Minister stand by that, that...