Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have thought about this motion quite a bit actually. I think to myself, why couldn’t I support a motion that requests an audit? I have no issue with that on that principle, because many projects deserve a second look going over and whatnot. I think it deserves probably that respect and due, especially considering, respectfully, the number of questions that have come out of this whole process.

Mr. Speaker, I also question the value of this, considering that the Auditor General has already been requested once before and rejected doing the special audit. As the Premier...

The Premier raised the issue of power purchase agreements. Those are all well and good. But to date I have yet to see these power purchase agreements. As I said in my Member’s statement, if they are such a great deal for the diamond mines company, they would drag us to the table kicking and screaming and make us sign them with them. The point being, Avalon wants to sign a deal, Fortune mines is interested, the City of Yellowknife has a life of in perpetuity that we could be hooking up. Don’t forget about Dettah, Ndilo, Behchoko, Whati, and many other customers that we could create a grid with...

I think the Minister cited the $15 million extra, and if I heard him correctly -- and I ask him to correct me if I’m wrong -- he said that would be charged back to the project under the regulations under Section 10. It talks about the ability to have money deducted from the cost incurred by the government from the amounts payable to the concession area. I’m wondering, that $15 million that was additional because of the change in the project and the project scope that affected the project’s financial bottom line. Is it that type of section that we’ll be drawing back that $15 million? So...

In reading the Deh Cho Bridge Act I noticed that under the regulation section when they’re drawn up, of course, it looks like Members of the Assembly need to be included in this process even for being kept up to date. That’s under one of the sections. It’s under 10, it’s not important to go to, but it’s under 10-2(b)(1) and I’m just wondering have regulations to this date been brought up or drawn up and have they been developed in any form or fashion. Thank you.

By and large can the Minister describe our payments as, again, by and large, self-liquidating to a large extent? Can it still remain to be seen as this is a project that’s paying for itself? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First off, I do support the principle of the bridge project. I certainly believe strongly that this is the type of infrastructure that needs to be built in the Northwest Territories. I also believe strongly when I had asked last month about why haven’t we sought federal government support, why hasn’t the federal government come to the table to assist us with this project. I think that seems to be a significant gap in this process that has been happening.

Today I tabled an article from a magazine called Bridge Design and Engineering. It is a magazine from the UK. It...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am not suggesting that we create a medical travel policy because someone is flying down and they are getting a needle in their shoulder and we have to send the whole family to Edmonton to make sure that they feel comfortable. Mr. Speaker, I am talking about a situation whether it be this particular case or similar cases whereas these are truly life and death days. Every day is an important day. Every day is certainly a blessing. Mr. Speaker, when it comes to urgent situations as I am trying to describe in this situation, what is stopping the Minister from...

Mr. Speaker, it was probably very stingingly obvious in my Member’s statement, I believe, that a family should have access to their children throughout such a difficult time. I am asking the Minister what would stop her from developing a medical travel transplant policy that could reflect family values to ensure that there is family support ongoing through this type of process by allowing the extended family such as the other parent and possibly even the children from travelling down from time to time to provide much needed support through this medical process. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have two people in the gallery I’d like to recognize. First, I have Mr. Chris Bassi. He’ s the father of our very well-known assistant deputy minister, Sheila Bassi-Kellett. Mr. Bassi is a retired bridge engineer, of some note, and he finds the discussion today very interesting. The second person I’d like to introduce today is Mr. Neils Konge. He’s the father of young Jonas, the person I was talking about in my Member’s statement, and his son is waiting in Edmonton for a heart transplant. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to use my Member’s statement to talk about the Medical Travel Policy in relation to people requiring transplants. As I’ve raised on a number of occasions, there needs to be a clearly defined policy with a specific aim to assistance for people who go through the medical transplant process. We need a policy that takes into consideration the real and much needed support of family members who should be there through this difficult time.

I want to now paint a picture of how disappointing the present Medical Travel Policy is and, in my view, how it is very...