Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Madam Speaker. On February 6th of this year, I had asked the Minister of Health about what type of protocols kick in when someone who doesn’t have authorization is visiting other people’s files. In essence, they are cyberstalking. I don’t know any other way of describing it. The only way the people find out, that I’m aware of, is purely by accident. It could be quite some time between the initial incident and by the time they stumble upon it by information being shared. My specific question is built around what type of protocols that inform those who are in charge of the system and...

Madam Speaker, perhaps they don’t get any complaints because no one knows they exist. That could be part of the issue.

I guess my question would be: When would the Minister be able to address this problem? He says he’s going to go back to the department. I heard that; that wasn’t lost upon me. But he did say almost a year ago that they would get on this, so I would like to know if he could have an action plan sent to my office before the end of next week as to how they will address these issues.

The action plan doesn’t mean they’ve done it. What the action plan clearly states is these are the...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I want to use today’s opportunity to ask certain questions regarding the consumer affairs division. Sorry, I’m going to change topic for Cabinet and I’m sure they’re disappointed.

On March 6, 2013, the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs committed to me in the House several items, but perhaps the issue really boils down to simply this: I was concerned, and many people in the public are concerned, that the consumer affairs division is anonymous, just like those 571 jobs as a matter of fact. Incidentally, I should say. But that said, I asked the Minister what he...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Before us here today, we have an interesting situation which reminds me of an almost identical circumstance that happened on February 16, 2006, to be exact. I raised a point of order and it is described as such: I felt a Member of the Assembly used unparliamentary language to insult me. However, it’s important to note that this was not brought up in a timely way. I quote Speaker Delorey of the day and his quote is as such, when he ruled that it wasn’t a point of order: “I’m going to rule the point of order should have been brought up at the time, so I’m going to rule...

The department agencies can manage their vacancies and variances by meeting their goals, delivering their programs and services while staying within their budgets. So, what that’s saying is departments can manage their money by turning around and moving human resource money over to program money. I can tell you, the Finance Minister has witnessed a claim made by senior management where they’ve chosen to use HR money for program needs.

What is the Finance Minister going to do, after I’ve just heard his last response from the last question when he sat and heard the proof, because he was there...

Mr. Speaker, this Legislature approves money to be directed specifically to human resources. In other words, we dedicate money specifically for jobs. The Northwest Territories as of December 31st, had an unemployment rate of 8.2 percent. We’ve heard that deputy ministers will move money that is intended for human resources over to projects because they want to fulfil their mandate within their department. My view is they are actually breaking direction laid out by the Legislature. In essence, it’s tantamount, in my view, of breaking the law.

My question to the Minister of Finance is: Will he...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that we report progress.

---Carried

Mr. Speaker, it begs the question why do we even approve any budget if we know this? There are 571 vacancies the government is actively pursuing, but we can only find 100 on-line. We know, at the end of the day, no matter what we approved as the budget, the deputy ministers can go do an end run and move the money over to projects they want. So the reality is when the Legislature makes the decision, it just seems to be a waste of anyone’s time, including Cabinet and certainly the public. With jobs being denied to Northerners, this just doesn’t sit well.

Explain why we’re here if the deputy...

I’d like to ask what the Finance Minister is going to do if we know that deputy ministers are signing off human resources money that is designed, protected and passed in this Legislature by a duly elected body when they go behind the scenes and re-appropriate the money for their pet projects. What is the Finance Minister going to do?

Northern job opportunities continue to be denied to the everyday Northerner. Hardworking Northerners want these opportunities, so again I’m saying this not because I am frustrated but I can tell you that they’re frustrated. They’re frustrated because they hear about this job fair in Ottawa, but they are saying to me, why didn’t they do the whistle stops all throughout the Northwest Territories first? Does it mean we can’t go to Ottawa to look for special skills, certain types of hard areas to hire? Absolutely not. It doesn’t mean that. We should show Northerners we care about them first. What...