Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I heard an opening with potentially a couple Members who are trying to decide which way to go, and I think I can help clarify or aid in their final-final decision. So maybe if someone's leaning towards a yes but sitting on the no side, hopefully this will do it, or someone looking for the reason why it was sort of filtered or created this way, I'm hoping I can do that.

I just want to respond to a couple things. You know, Cabinet's surprised by this motion. I assure you everybody on this House was surprised by this initiative in general, how it was cut. So I...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I'd like to move a motion. I move that $5,250,000 be deleted from the 2025-2026 Main Estimates for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. Thank you, Madam Chair. And I'll speak to it at the appropriate time.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I guess to my question again, would the Minister be willing to take on some type of evaluation to see if we can get more tradespeople -- sorry, more apprentices into the trades by adjusting or meeting further needs of the employers who end up spending a lot of money and time and energy that they can't get as a return by constantly mentoring. And that's the key to the program, obviously, but it's a financial loss for them for the first two years to get ahead. So I'm asking can she -- would she commit to reviewing this and doing some analysis to see if we can...

All right, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, and it's regarding the trade and occupation wage subsidy program.

Mr. Speaker, employers who -- tradespeople, that is, can hire trades apprentice up to 3200 hours, and they can help through a subsidy program for a max of $9 per hour, I believe for a male apprentice, and up to $16 an hour for a female apprentice. All excellent. My question starts with when was the last time this program subsidy has been reviewed, if the Minister is aware of that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Why don't we start with the objective of saying yes, we will find a way as opposed to no we can't do this. Mr. Speaker, Alberta finds a way. Ontario find a way. And even in BC, they have a check-in process where they monitor someone's international skills to ensure they're on pair -- on par, sorry. That said, we can make all the excuses in the world why we can't do something. Let's try an unusual one by saying how we are going to commit to doing something. So, Mr. Speaker, I prefer local nurses here. Would the Minister say or find a way to find a solution to this and...

Mr. Speaker, can the Premier assure this House that there will be no office setup costs, there will be no staff costs, there will be (audio) sorry, the light went off. Maybe on the government too some days.

Mr. Speaker, can the Premier assure that there will be no additional costs to setting up an office because if we're setting up a special envoy that we will now be referring to his excellence or something or other, I mean, are we -- what is this going to cost the Assembly? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to follow up on some of the questions I had asked yesterday to the Premier regarding his special envoy to Ottawa, and one of the concerns, of course, I had was about how much this costs, and I'll wait for that return, of course. That said, I didn't try to come back to the question with respect to process.

Mr. Speaker, we all hear the theme over and over again we have to work together. Well, Mr. Speaker, the Premier was very clear he made the decision, he consulted with Indigenous governments, and furthermore, he consulted with his Cabinet. Maybe he...

Mr. Speaker, the Alzheimer's Society is an organization here in the NWT that helps people facing dementia. Their team of navigators, volunteers, staff members, all share a common vision of a world without Alzheimer's or any kind of dementia. The Alzheimer's organization believes that each person living with dementia can thrive, and the society's focus is care today and a cure tomorrow.

Through dementia awareness programs and services, the Alberta-NWT society works relentlessly in their efforts to find a cure while supporting our loved ones. The Yellowknife office supports northern partnerships...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to introduce the details of why the motion is here and the dollar amounts and the process or purpose.

So, Madam Chair, it's no surprise to my colleagues that -- I should say we were all taken by surprise of the decision by Aurora College to cut the community learning centres. Now, that said, being kept in the dark is one thing but then we find out that they want to keep the money, the over $7 million appropriated towards this. That said, the program, if I understand it correctly, is intended to run until June, and, again, if I understand that correctly. So...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Your committee would like to report on its consideration of Bill 11, An Act to Amend the Motor Vehicles Act.

Bill 11 received second reading in the Legislative Assembly on November 1st, 2024 and was referred to the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment for review.

The standing committee held a clause-by-clause review of the bill on February 13th, 2025, with the Minister of Infrastructure. The committee moved to amend three clauses in Bill 11 during the clause-by-clause review. The Minister of Infrastructure concurred with all three amendments.

Mr...