Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about the further programming opportunities before Aurora College and one of the problems put forward is the lease is expiring in about two years. The issue is about not just the lease, but its present location, I don’t believe it suits its need for future growth. My question would be to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. What is the Minister’s plan to help support the college to move forward towards an independent campus that I believe Aurora College needs to have in the Yellowknife Campus location? Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, well, if it is only two years old or even two and a half years old, I wouldn’t define it as old. I am sure we are dealing with other facts that are much older than that. Does the Minister or anyone, for that case, know what that zero-based review would have cost to do? Furthermore, what results have been driven out of this? So the costs and results that have been formalized. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, can I request a copy of that informal document? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What is the goal of MACA when they do the development and review of the new formula going forward? What is their goal or effort going to be in the context of developing a reasonable proportion? The example I give is that there’s one community one-fifth of the size of Yellowknife but still gets approximately almost the same amount as Yellowknife. I’m just trying to get a sense of what they’re going to do to work and achieve a fair and equitable balance on the distribution of those types of formulas. As we all know, Yellowknife has a very large population and has a very...

I appreciate hearing that from the Minister. Does the Minister have any knowledge as to what level of detail is shared with the communities when you talk to the Association of Municipalities? Do they actually get to see the funding formula or do they just hear about the overtones and the spirit and the intent of what the formula is about and how it’s driven? In essence, do they get into the nuts and bolts of how the formula is developed so they have an appreciation to fair and equitable distribution of that type of money? Thank you.

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 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...