Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What would this session be without a little bit of discussion on the topic of jobs? Jobs matter. It doesn’t matter where you’re from. If you live in Tulita, Aklavik, Ulukhaktok or even Yellowknife, jobs matter. Jobs are what help people get along. We need jobs to pay our rent, to take care of our kids, to put food on our table. Jobs matter to everyone. Recently something drew my attention to this problem and I’m trying to figure out what we are doing about this. Well, recently the government was touting, once again, that it has been nominated and found as one of Canada...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a quick question. Is it written off, forgiven, or how do we address an issue of somebody having rental arrears that’s on the list that I know still lives in public housing? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure is pleased to provide its report on the development of the Economic Opportunities and the Mineral Development strategies and commends it to the House.

The Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure sees the development of the Economic Opportunities and Mineral Development strategies as major initiatives of the 17th Legislative Assembly. The policy direction of these strategies and their implementation action plans will have significant bearing on the work of government departments and...

Back to my very first question, I will accept that as an offer, but back to my first question. I want to find out what competencies that these people who are going to go in there and do these particular assessments. I suspect that the everyday person can spot mould, but are they aware of what type of mould it is and how dangerous it is?

We have overcrowding in that community and we have zero options. We own 60 of the 80 units in that town and there’s nowhere to go, but there are nine sitting empty with nothing being done, but your information provided to me says there’s only three. So we need...

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...