Robert Hawkins

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...

Maybe it’s the weather that’s stopping the Minister from breaking the hard exterior of the answer, no, we’re not helping in the sense of funding, we’ll write a letter and that’s the best we can do. Maybe the 259 families aren’t touching a note. What about the approximate 600 children that live in that riding, in that small, medium-sized community that’s representative, as I probably said in a comparative value only, of the size of Aklavik? Mr. Speaker, is there no extraordinary funding that MACA couldn’t find for this particular issue to make sure that these 600 children, the 259 families are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about the concerns of the water and sewer infrastructure in Northland Trailer Park. It’s reached about as bad as it can get, Mr. Speaker. To put the problem into perspective, in the sense of comparative value, Mr. Speaker, Northland would be representative of a medium-sized community here in the Northwest Territories. If you want to lay it out in another way, 259 families probably captures in a similar comparison as maybe the community of Aklavik. Again, just as a comparative size of a medium-sized community. Mr. Speaker, we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The problem with water and sewer infrastructure at Northland Trailer Park continues to be a serious problem. For the past two weeks many of its residents are still trying to cope without water and sewer. These residents undeniably are in a difficult situation and immediate action needs to happen to save our homes. To date the discussion around financial responsibilities continues to overshadow or overtake the problems of health and safety concerns of the 259 families that are at serious risk of losing everything.

As such, the GNWT needs to rise to the occasion and help...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Quite clearly, water is undoubtedly an essential service. I can only imagine how these families have been in this inhumane sort of circumstance for two weeks being without those services. Mr. Speaker, the Minister said just a moment ago that many of these groups set money aside. Actually, the condo corp was established under the old Condo Act which actually did not require that condominium to set money aside to deal with these types of maintenance and infrastructure problems. Since that time, fortunately, I will give compliments to the updated act, which goes to the...

Mr. Speaker, as I said in my Member’s statement today, water and sewer is certainly a vital service needed by a lot of people and, quite frankly, I can’t imagine how they’re coping, to be fair and realistic. I mean, two weeks without this is beyond ridiculous. That’s not fair and I can only imagine what they’re struggling with.

Mr. Speaker, the time for talking on this particular issue is done and I think the time for writing letters is done. What financial contribution can MACA bring to the table to help support the City of Yellowknife in solving this particular problem? Because we have 259...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like my colleague Ms. Bisaro, I’d like to recognize the hard work of all our Pages that have been helping us here for the past six weeks, but specifically I’d also like to make special note of two Sir John students who are residents of Yellowknife Centre; that is Theresa Johnson and Karol Manning. Thank you for your hard work and we appreciate the work you do.