Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to talk today about a very important subject, and that subject is jobs. Jobs are critical no matter where you live. They help your family, they help you and they make sure that the economy runs. Economic opportunities are absolutely critical throughout our Northwest Territories because they do bring those jobs so we can have Northerners working. A Northerner working is certainly a much happier one than one living on the system.

With true employment rates as low as they truly are, we cannot wait for the federal government to step in or some other person such as a...

I want to thank Member Moses for his very ministerial technique of dealing with that.

---Laughter

It’s funny no one on the Cabinet side is laughing. The only other thing that I think, I think pretty much it’s self-explanatory on some of the changes that folks who do read this very closely will probably figure out. Maybe we could get Mr. Moses, or if he would again use his technique to help us find out why we’re repealing some of the prohibitions on broadcasting. I think that a bit of a detailed answer on that would probably help the general public. It’s probably the only area that I show...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this issue. I am going to support the $40 million, but I do that with sort of the side comment of saying I feel that we have little choice. By obstructing the $40 million, I feel that we put the project and other types of headaches for us and we view them as let’s frustrate the process by causing a delay, I guess, in some manner or form.

Members have been very unhappy with the $40 million and how it has come about, but at the same time, I’m a realist and know that if we struck this $40 million, what frustrations have we caused? We...

I want to give deep and sincere thanks to the Minister for recognizing my concern about public housing. It’s an important issue for me. I will accept every offer he just made about providing that information.

In the spring I was asking some details about certain public housing units and they were in the Nunakput region, interestingly enough, the one that you represent, Mr. Speaker. I had some concerns about the particular condition rating. I drilled down a little further later on, asking about if they were as qualified to do it as such and was the information fully contained.

I’d like to know...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I love asking questions and I certainly enjoy the answers that I sometimes get. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Housing Minister.

We all know mould is a serious issue in the Northwest Territories, certainly in public housing. Quite often we hear a lot about it. I want to know how often public housing units are tested for mould, who does the testing, what skills do they have, how do we ensure authorities are testing them properly and what expertise do we use. Those are the bulk of the questions and, well, let’s find a way to get through them.

I can appreciate from the very first response from the Minister that he’s maybe not able to fully answer the question, so maybe I’ll take a slightly different tact.

Does the Minister agree that regional grassroots input is important so each region can identify what’s critical to them to help spark their individual economy?

The example I gave in my Member’s statement, I’m sure you’ll recall, Mr. Speaker, was I mentioned how maybe in Tulita the fishing industry isn’t quite the same as it is in Hay River, where we need to support Hay River slightly differently because they have a big fishing...

I’m going to use the opportunity of oral questions here to talk about the issue I raised in my Member’s statement, which is the regional economic plans and how will they be implemented throughout the Northwest Territories.

My question to the Minister of ITI is as such, as I’ve already stated. I want to know a little detail about these particular plans before we get into, sort of, the harder types of questions. I think we need to know how much money is being spent on each plan and which regions will be focused in on these plans in this budget cycle. Let’s start with that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to use today’s question period opportunity to talk about the North Slave Corrections Centre. The information provided by the department said the position for the Aboriginal wellness coordinator has been empty since June 3rd. This is a vital position that provides much needed services and strengths and supports to those seeking rehabilitation.

I would like to get an update from the Minister today. Has this position been filled, and if it has been, when, and if it hasn’t been filled, what’s the plan for the department to ensure the rehabilitation efforts are being...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For some time there hasn’t been an Aboriginal wellness coordinator at the North Slave Correctional Centre, and it’s been my understanding that this position has been vacant this summer as of June 3rd.

Being someone who is actually familiar with the Correctional Centre by working there only, I actually am familiar of how critical this cultural-appropriate programming is to the healing and rehabilitation of many. It’s important that we have relevant programming that is meaningful for those who are seeking help. With this position vacant, people are not getting the...

Thank you. I appreciate that information provided by the Minister, and I didn’t give him any notice. It’s an issue that we’re sitting here thinking about.

Is there any type of formal coordination for this normally? I need to think that this is a one-off circumstance that we always try to figure out as it happens. When Northerners go missing, we’re familiar within the Deh Cho and MLA Menicoche’s riding of Nahendeh that somebody had gone missing at one time and it was difficult to get the resources up and running immediately.

What type of things do we have in place so when a terrible circumstance...