Robert Hawkins

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 16)

Has the Department of Finance ever examined something like this type of tax credit such as the example I’ve given, a film tax credit, and furthermore, what cost does it actually affect the Government of the Northwest Territories? I mean, are we talking about fifty cent dollars? Are we talking 75, 25? I’m trying to get a sense of an example of how much it costs and affects the government’s books. Thank you.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 16)

I’ll decline. The Minister answered the question satisfactorily.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 16)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today in my Member’s statement I talked about a perceived or real process problem of potential conflict. Perceived or real are about the same in this type of business. It’s about the integrity of our particular system. The folks I’m talking about in my examples, I know are all good and honourable people and they certainly work to do the best job that they can. My questions will be directed to the Minister responsible for WSCC.

Knowing that the Governance Council is well within its authority to make rules and procedures regarding conflict of interest, and with respect to...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 16)

Mr. Speaker, I am completely surprised, but I am happy to help.

The following guidelines were established for the pilot project.

The Assembly would maintain the current process of paper petitions.

Electronic petitions could be used on their own or could be combined with the traditional paper petition.

The electronic petitions would resemble the Assembly website as closely as possible.

The Assembly would approve the format of the electronic petition before it was posted on-line.

An acceptable petition must contain a proper and respectful request of the NWT government or Minister to take or refrain...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 16)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I’ll certainly be brief. As I understand it, this will be a future discussion on the upcoming Caucus agenda, where Members will discuss at length. So what I will say and leave, certainly in brevity, that is I’m very concerned about the lack of collaboration with Regular Members on the development of this. I view this as a blueprint on the mission of where government is going from a vision context.

So in absence of sort of a collaborative approach, which we often hear about how we work together, the assurance of the 20-minute speech turned into 45 minutes and I’m sure it...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 16)

I just want to make sure it’s clear on the record, I’m fully supportive of the money being spent today on the environmental assessment and I wouldn’t want anyone to think that that isn’t the case. I’ve even stood steadfast on any questions from the public when they say we should stop now before it goes out of control. This is absolutely critical information to get the right price. I don’t change that.

Is the Minister saying today that we have to get all the environmental assessment work done for us to be able to develop a price in order for us to have a formal discussion with the federal...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 16)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was listening to the questions very intently by the Member for Range Lake and I just wanted some clarity on this particular subject. It’s not coming from an angle of criticism but more as an official clarity on the issue of 75/25 split. That’s been bouncing out there quite a bit. I’m not speaking pro or against the project. I’m just more committed and curious, of course, around the firmness of that offer from the federal government, because this is going to be an important element of the dialogue on the future bridge. If the Minister of Transportation could get that...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 15)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Your loyal committee would like to review Bill 1, An Act to Amend the Student Financial Assistance Act; Bill 3, An Act to Amend the Human Rights Act; Committee Report 1-17(3), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the 2010-2011 Annual Report of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of the Northwest Territories; and, finally, time permitting, Committee Report 2-17(3), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the 2010-2011 Northwest Territories Human Rights Commission Annual Report. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 15)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to return to my questions to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment because I think he provided some really good overviews to the questions I asked. I’m hoping this round he would provide the answers to them. What I want to do is come back to my very last question in which I asked him if the government monitors the decisions made by our employment standards office that are actually taken and appealed to the Supreme Court. The reason I ask that is there may be some reasons why people are consistently appealing them or have problems with them. There...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 15)

Part of the training question that I’d like to ask at the same time, is does his department offer any ongoing training. As many people know, there are types of mediation training such as decision-writing training and these are the types of the capacities. Does his department support these statutory officers with that type of support mechanism, again, to ensure they’re making clear and good decisions? Thank you.