Robert Hawkins

I’m glad the Minister talked about trying to find specific targets that would point at present needs of business. Certainly, I guess he was alluding, in one form or another, to what would work in our economy that makes sense. I would say, would the Minister be interested in supporting some type of panel discussion or conference that would work with business to help develop a business growth strategy here in the North that could attract new business and investment and, furthermore, get Northerners to work? This is not just a Yellowknife-centric issue. I think we can find ways to spread and seed...

Not that it’s a problem for either of us.

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I’m really glad that the Minister didn’t comb over the issue as I’ve been combing through the department.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about a potential taskforce concept or certainly a business team that targets business growth in the Northwest Territories that reaches out and finds good business that could invest in the North and create jobs. In combing through ITI’s business plan, I didn’t see anything that focused in on attracting new business to the North. I provided a number of examples. Can the Minister tell me who’s been tasked with that type of initiative that can attract business in the Northwest Territories?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Menicoche.

The Auditor General expressed concern that there was no detailed territory-wide plan to improve student performance.

A key finding of the OAG’s report is the lack of improvement in student performance between the school years ending 2005 and 2008. One bright light is an increase in the number of students of secondary school graduates; however, the results on Alberta Achievement Tests and diploma examinations, and the number of students working at their functional grade levels, show little or no improvement. The OAG questioned ECE as to how this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we have all seen quite clearly, this is an important issue. It sounds as if the Minister can appreciate that it is a significant issue for many families. The point being here is that timing is everything. We need a meeting as soon as possible. Can the Minister ensure that she will commit to having a meeting before Christmas? That way, Members will have time to get down, help source out some solutions and we can get this process moving as fast as possible. Otherwise, if we leave this open without a focus to challenge ourselves, it may sit and drag on forever. The...

Mr. Speaker, I have gotten to know many of these families and they certainly depend on this respite care very highly. It is an important break through the system. It is not a holiday. It is a way to organize their life and give them the chance to be part of a program that allows them to do more. If anyone knows anyone who has a family in this situation, although there are certainly challenges before them and my heart goes out to how hard they work to get through these things. Mr. Speaker, my question being to the Minister now, is the fact is what is the department doing to advocate further...

Mr. Speaker, would the Minister responsible for the WSCC let me know when that mandate was given and specifically what that mandate was to do? If he could clarify the instructions given specifically to the Safety Advisory Committee. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I recently asked some questions regarding the WSCC and my concerns regarding the occupational health and safety regs that are being reviewed and certainly ensuring that they will be fairly reviewed by the public, such as businesses. The Minister did respond in a good way and certainly said that he would make sure that did happen. After that, I did approach the Minister with some concerns regarding this situation with the Safety Advisory Committee. Specifically, where do they get their mandate to do this review that’s approximately 400 pages of regulations? In discussing...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about ways we can support the artists’ community in our North, and as I said, that represents one in five of our population, or I should say almost one in five of our population. Mr. Speaker, it is a considerable amount of people and I would say that they certainly deserve a certain amount of respect certainly by this government.

Saskatchewan has adopted what’s called the Arts Professions Act and what that basically does is it recognizes, supports, enshrines and protects the work that these artists do to make sure that they’re...