Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to report to the Assembly that the Standing Committee on Government Operations has reviewed Bill 6, Forgiveness of Debts Act, 2010-2011, and wishes to report that Bill 6 is now ready for consideration in Committee of the Whole. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I want to thank the Minister for that particular answer. I think he knows exactly the concern I’m on, and I think I recognize that in his response from the last questions.

Mr. Speaker, I don’t know if I need my fourth question. My third one will quite simply be: would the Minister be willing to have a meeting with some of the industry reps from the medevac community? Again, if I could coordinate them in a very succinct way that had solutions to fine tuning our medevac process or system, would he be willing to sit down with them and discuss these types of issues and perhaps maybe we can find a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like earlier today, a number of my colleagues both had statements and asked questions regarding the closure of the Edmonton Municipal Airport and the planes being diverted to the International Airport. As such, I think they thoroughly thrashed around the concerns about being involved in the process of the advisory committee.

I think the next phase of this particular problem, really we should use this as an opportunity and perhaps maybe a call to action to address how we run our medevac system, Mr. Speaker. Our health system would issue a tender and have protocols...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like my other colleague today, I’d like to speak about the Edmonton airport closure. The closure of the Edmonton City Airport has alarming implications on our medevac patients. Our medevac patients already face a very long flight from the NWT to Edmonton for help, Mr. Speaker. Now their transportation time from the airport to the hospital is getting much longer. To be frank, Mr. Speaker, access to timely health care emergency services is the single most important priority I have; as well it’s of great concern to many northern residents.

In the context of the changing of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was just hoping for a yes, he’d be willing to do that. But, actually, the Minister is correct about that last meeting, because I did bring in an industry rep a week ago just to talk about medevacs in general, and I was well aware of that particular meeting. Perhaps maybe what I could do is ask the Minister to commit to bringing me up to speed as to the information done in that dialogue with the group that take care of medevacs and to see if, once we digest that, there’s some input that can be offered, because I think the medevac community wants to be involved in the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In a similar vein, I want to stress, like Mr. Menicoche did, I think we still have a lot of work to do, which is to hear from people in a broad sense. Right now a number of us have heard from certain groups that they’re worried about their particular areas. For example, as mentioned, Mr. Abernethy had pointed out the NWT mining had made contact, and I certainly received an e-mail from them. I think their concerns are valid in the sense that they need to be looked at and examined and see how it’s weighed. I’ve been contacted by the tourism industry concerned about their...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Income support is supposed to be the backstop of public policy if you are down and out due to whatever reason has brought you to that point. It’s to ensure you have the basic necessities and I agree with that, Mr. Speaker, but one of the programs in income support is to encourage people to get out there and get work. I’m quite curious on how a person on income support could make that type of contact with a potential employer without a phone call or to be waiting for that opportunity and to say that they have extra money, I would assure you that at least 80 to 90...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The person talking to me has high blood pressure, probably other heart-related problems. I’m not a doctor, so I’m not going to try to diagnose him, but they said what would happen in this particular case if they were starting to have a health attack in some manner that required immediate assistance and urgency. What do they do? They have no one to call because they have no phone. So they find it seems to be more than a luxury item. Why does the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, namely income support, define a telephone service, even a strapped phone that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not trying to debate the bill in this particular instance because it is question period, but I’m just trying to get some sense of what’s actually happening and some definition of the particular bill that’s before the House as people have questions. I certainly have questions. That’s why I’m trying to get for the record what is the definition of the present bill of “close observation.” Because I’m trying to get a sense as to the contradiction it may have with the work ITI is doing when they’re trying to promote things like the outfitting industry to move towards the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we all know, ENR has now formally presented and proceeded with the new Wildlife Act. As we have all heard, there are many concerns from mining, outfitting and tourism industries. For the sake of observation, Section 87 of the new Wildlife Act states, “no person shall, without a licence or permit authorizing it, establish, offer or provide an organized activity for profit in which big game or other prescribed wildlife is the object of interaction, manipulation or close observation...” Therefore, Mr. Speaker, by way of example, if an Aurora Village tour bus happened to...