Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe we’re at a critical time in Aurora College development. There’s a widespread call across our Territory to build towards a northern university, a full degree, university-accredited degree programming that could be satisfied very perfectly in the next of what we’ve seen our Aurora College develop into.

I believe that Aurora College offers fine programming today and I believe it must stay true to its roots where it has provided much needed upgrading to students for its 40 years. It must also include a focus that moves forward, not back.

I believe great challenges...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the Minister for taking the issues as serious as I do and being willing to address it by looking at it and see if there is something we can do.

Mr. Speaker, a lot of homes fail even after a good inspection. That is ultimately the concern. Mr. Speaker, if the NWT had a policy to ensure that that would be the case, does the Minister see a need for this to become a government policy for government housing? What type of inspection do we have from a MACA point of view on this type of industry that would any of our new houses built through Housing Program, we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like Member Menicoche, we certainly heard and learned a lot of interesting information from Mike Holmes when he discussed it. I was really glad that Mike Holmes shares my concerns about the lack of consumer protection for residents. The funny thing is, when we told my son the other day he was coming to town, he asked, “Is he coming to fix my house?” Mike Holmes brought to light a lot of important issues.

Again, to hearken back to my Member’s statement, the consumer protection issue is a very significant one. He highlighted in Ontario it is important for new home...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’m pleased to provide a few general comments to the opening address. First and foremost I will say that I am pleased, as a number of my constituents are certainly pleased, that there are no new taxes in this proposed budget. People are finding it difficult through the cost of living that we’re working through in Yellowknife. I can only imagine that is amplified in the communities, undoubtedly. That’s certainly well-taken news, if I may define it that way.

People are concerned about taxes the government may be flirting with. The expression is mixed, of course. A hotel...

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of MACA is correct about the probable placement of this regulation, but I believe that this could be a regulation that we can start working on today and we wouldn’t have to wait and hope that the 17th Assembly would make this particular decision.

As we all know, government likes to take its time and I often phrase, we move at the speed of government, which means it probably won’t happen. My fear is the momentum would be lost and the reality is we will allow people to continue to be put at risk. Mr. Speaker, what would stop the Minister today to review and see if a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday Canada’s most trusted contractor was here in Yellowknife speaking at a construction conference. His name, I’m sure no stranger to most, is Mike Holmes. He raised many topics of interest in his talk, but one area that was of significant interest to me, which I’ve raised in this very House, is consumer protection for new homeowners.

New homeowners, Mr. Speaker, need consumer protection and it is a growing concern in my constituency, across the North and even in Canada. To be direct, a new home buyer is left to the goodwill of the person they are buying their new...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would argue with the Minister by saying that the direction starts here and although the rattling of the swords should not be happening in the department of opposition, they should be following the direction of the Finance Minister. So when he says that it would be difficult, the dye needs to be cast at the FMB table, not within the department telling the Finance Minister where their cap is. I’m convinced that the cart is leading the horse.

What, really, at the end of the day can the Minister speak to this budget where we’ve had a significant notice in the reduction of...

Mr. Speaker, I suspect that answer wasn’t for me. It was for someone else. By and large, that answer was very inefficient in its quality because it didn’t actually have an answer to it. The reality is, Mr. Speaker, I would like to know what would stop the Finance Minister from hiring an efficiency expert just like large industry does, whether it is BHP or any type of large conglomerate that spends a lot of time examining every dollar that they spend. Would the Finance Minister be willing to do that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. Thank you, Finance Minister. I was expecting at least a heckle over there.

As I was trying to say, the biomass heating energy retrofit will save $775,000 on our $1.3 billion budget, but in all fairness, we have to keep in mind that’s 0.0005 percent of savings. I think it’s the right track and the right type of thinking, but we need to see more of those types of initiatives.

The legendary military man General Patton always believed in providing the direction and allowing the right people, the skilled people to find a way to get us through.

In...

Mr. Speaker, to some degree I think that the Finance Minister gets it, but he is spending my question period answering the previous Member’s questions, which isn’t very efficient for my issues.

Mr. Speaker, part of the other issue I raised during my Member’s statement, which still is in line with the same issue about efficiency of government, is about setting the appropriate targets. In the Finance Minister’s budget, he did talk about capping expenditures at 3 percent. Mr. Speaker, what was the resistance setting it at either a reduction of 1 percent or a reduction of 2 percent and allowing our...