Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll be voting for this excellent motion here today. I want to thank Mr. Menicoche for bringing it forward. Mr. Menicoche, I think, truly hits upon a nerve that should be a value that we wear on our chest every single day here. I mean, this Assembly quite often talks about its respect for elders and our seniors, and this motion replies to that call for action. It says that we should be helping people age in place. Aging in place is a philosophy out there to ensure that aging people are allowed to stay as independent as possible with the support of those around you, and...

Mr. Speaker, it is not so much about the cost; it is about the waste of money. The fact is the house will be sitting between four and five years completely empty and there is no guarantee the next Commissioner of the Northwest Territories will be taking up residency in there, regardless if they are from Yellowknife or any other jurisdiction in NWT. Mr. Speaker, my question is simple. Would the Minister be able to work with the cross-Cabinet officials, depending on whether it is the Minister of Finance or even the Premier’s office, about looking and evaluating the offer made by Bob Engle a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a question for the Minister of Public Works. Mr. Speaker, it’s regarding the Commissioner’s house of the Northwest Territories. Our present Commissioner won’t be taking up residency in the Commissioner’s house that we’ve allocated them for their privilege, of course, if that’s one that they want to exercise. It will be sitting empty for four years. Mr. Speaker, in the past, Bob Engle, a well-known aviation Northerner, has offered to give his house to the Northwest Territories for an appropriate tax credit. It’s more of a regal style of house to accept important...

Although I’m confident, I sense a little bit of humour in the Minister’s answer. The way he said it, does he mean that it’s only prescribed to hunters and trappers or is it prescribed only for hunting and trapping? I’m just trying to get a clarification. If a hunter or trapper decides to, say, farm honey, as a matter of fact, would they qualify for the program? I just give that as an example.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a quick follow-up on the Community Harvesters Assistance Program. Although if you read the description, it is contributed to local wildlife committees which have been recognized about harvesting resources. Is this program specifically and only targeted to harvesting animals? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I suspect under the Municipal Towns and Villages Act they have the ability to create a hotel tax, but that’s not exactly what they would like. They would rather see it as an across-the-board, fair, even policy created by the Finance Minister and, if anything, allow it to be targeted at tourism initiatives, that it could be a tax targeted with a special purpose.

Mr. Speaker, is there apprehension from the Department of Finance to creating a territorial tax from doing this type of initiative or do they just not want to do the work? Because as I understand it, tourism wants it and the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about the need for a hotel tax which is being called upon by the Hotel Association asking the Minister of Finance to create such an initiative that could help support tourism initiatives in the Northwest Territories. What is the hesitation of the Department of Finance from simply creating a hotel tax that could be targeted to help support the tourism industry?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that we report progress.

---Defeated

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I see we have lease commitments for infrastructure for the visitors centre in Inuvik as well as Dawson. I’m just wondering, does ITI provide any sort of contributions to the visitors centre in the Northern Frontier Visitors Centre that’s located here in Yellowknife that serves the whole North Slave. Thank you.

That’s good.