Robert Hawkins

Clearly, two if not three provinces have felt that the regulation that exists is not enough and they’ve taken appropriate steps to show that their citizens matter. I am asking the Minister of MACA what he’s prepared to do to demonstrate that our northern citizens matter by providing them good, solid consumer protection. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Many Northerners and Canadians generally have been raising concerns for years about the restrictive and confusing terms of their cell phone contracts. They complain about being locked into three-year contracts with unreasonably high penalties to get out of them, changes to fees and services without their consent, automatic renewals and the lack of clear information about their contracts.

This is more than a boondoggle opportunity to create changes, this is a real opportunity for real protection. As we see the cell phone services are finally rolling out and expanding...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that committee reports progress.

---Carried

Are they all out of the Hay River area? What type of public relationship do they have in the sense of letting people know what they do, who they are, who will they meet? Are we really talking about a board that governs production just in Hay River and would they qualify as a territorial board in that regard, or are they just a Hay River board looking after a niche market?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to pick up where Mr. Dolynny left off on a particular issue, the egg marketing levy. It actually draws a different type of question for me but on the same kind of idea.

There are a few people who raise chickens in the Yellowknife area and some of them actually sell eggs. What type of requirements are the cut-off where you can be in that business? What does the department know? Are you able to sell a hundred dozen eggs? Any more than a hundred dozen means you have to get in a business? Are there different types of health standard requirements around that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister is sitting here saying, “I’m telling people in the House.” Well, I hate to say it, not everybody follows the House as closely as we do. My last question is: Would the Minister be willing to take an active campaign in the public trying to draw attention to consumer affairs issues, and how can the public get engaged on issues, especially such as this as I highlighted, cell phone usage and cost? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The cell phone rates are clearly a problem to three large provinces. I’m surprised to think the Minister thinks it’s premature that they took action by stating that the NWT will wait until CRTC responds.

Would the Minister be willing to seek some consultation from the consumers in the Northwest Territories to get some input from their point of view as to how they feel about cell phone rates and how it impacts them? As I pointed out, cancellation fees are high, contracts are troublesome and there are ways to solve these things. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I use the opportunity to ask questions to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. In my Member’s statement I talked about consumer protection. My questions really come down to the moves that Manitoba and Nova Scotia have taken to cap cancellation fees, stop auto renewals and, certainly, build a communication line between cell phone service and their customers.

What is the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, who is also the Minister of consumer protection, aware of and what can he enlighten the House about? Thank you.

They could have complied with the award by leaving those pages blank, as well, by submitting them. That could have been an essence of how they complied with the greater contract.

The issue is simply I cannot take good faith on this. I am looking for information that proves they complied with the requirements and my e-mail dated February 13th asks for that information. I am not sure I need to resend it. Thank you. That’s my question. Will the Minister reconsider my e-mail sent February 13th? Thank you

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I had an exchange earlier with the Minister of Transportation that the only one element that I think was left out of this particular issue was timeliness of his response to complying with my request. The issue is that this bridge contract has been tendered. If you read the details, it looks like it’s been awarded, but has the...