Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I wish to direct my questions under the medical travel assistance program. It may not be solely in there so -- but I'm sure it's a good place to start.

I'm hearing from several GNWT employees about their medical travel and how their claims are not processed in a timely way. Does the department have a standard outlined whereby it says, you know, within two weeks, you will be paid your submitted and obviously approved travel claim? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And, by the way, I do recognize that a budget revenue is much different -- they're a different creature than the borrowing limit or the debt wall. But the thing is I'm looking at it from a bigger picture of the financial wherewithal so I'm just -- why do we keep saying $6.1 million when we know that's the placeholder number but, you know, when we're so tight on the budget on every aspect of it, it just seems -- wouldn't it seem more prudent to budget it at 3.1 as an example, being more realistic? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I think that something that keeps getting lost in this conversation is it doesn't need an election to make this change, just so you know. It's something that could happen on the fly, so hence, being prepared for whatever may come is really what I'm getting at.

So before I push off of this, I may return to this point of carbon tax, but my area of question next was going to be the heritage fund. And we can actually see the actuals for 2023-2024, just 3-point -- well, we'll call it $3.1 million. I'm just using round numbers for sake -- but it's prescribed as 6.1 in the...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to pick up on one question before I go to the area I would like to explore. But one of the questions I think in my mind -- maybe it wasn't 100 percent clear, and perhaps it's -- I'll frame it this way: Is the department exploring options for a replacement carbon tax? Have they come up with scenarios or any type of framework if things change? Because I can't imagine the government sitting in complete absence of this in their mind and completely sitting on their hands while this is a live issue? So this is not more hypothetical. This is the fact that are they...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, these strategies have yielded probably something, and I'll let the Minister explain what they have, but there's an enforcement perspective that doesn't seem to be there, including consequences. Mr. Speaker, how are we meeting these financial objectives without going over the wall, as they say, or hitting the financial wall? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate my colleagues as well for this extra second. What would it take to bring it down to a -- say, a two-week standard as opposed to a 30-day standard? Again, recognizing that some of this is a lot of money, is there a way to practically do that just because of how much money can be outstanding for some people given -- well, I don't have to go at length, Mr. Chairman. That's only my question is, what would it take for the department to do that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, again, perhaps it's a bad question in the sense of I'm not focusing in enough because what I'm finding is the income support workers -- at least we agree that they're not social workers. But, you know, it's not a system that encourages in a manner of making it part of the program to get them to seek counselling, get them to go to job fairs, get them to show productive choices. It's literally show up, drop your paperwork, and then you qualify. I'm saying let's turn that around by making it part of the income support or income assistance program that they must be...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First I'll say I appreciate what sounds like an offer. I would say no, I don't want every detail, I want ranges, and I will leave it up to the competent people in Finance who can come up with some reasonable dates for ranges. I don't want every day as in this -- ten people waited one day, 200 people waited three days; that's a lot of work. But I would like to see, we'll call it responsible responses, and I'll leave it up to the department to say -- define days and define numbers. So that's two different separate pieces of information so I can look at it that way. So I...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I noted in my Member's statement today about the income support program and how it provides the basic programs support and it does just very that, like exactly that, the basics. But I also cited concerns about the fact that it's not designed to empower individuals to not only stabilize but to get ahead and get back on their feet and back being productive members in their own way, whatever that's defined as, as productive members back into society.

Mr. Speaker, what can the Minister do to help change that attitude, perspective, and I'd say modus operandi, of...

I would hope that there would be an offer somewhere to provide me the most current stats. I would ask that first question.