Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have two sets of documents I would like to table today. The first set is specific to N.J. Macpherson, which is the front page of the website I printed off. It is about voting for playground projects with its website address at nj.yk.nt.ca as well as the funding agency I printed off the cover of their website which is ABF community fund.

The second set of documents, Mr. Speaker, I would like to quickly table is the first one is a Transport Canada study done. It is Observed Driver Phone Use Rates in Canada. It highlights the NWT in there. The second document I would like...

Mr. Speaker, the Minister really hit one of the areas that I am concerned about that is holding up this potential policy change. It is the liability issue, because I have done a fair bit of research on this issue. From the perspective that I have taken, as long as the GNWT is not renting the vehicle specifically, and certainly as long as the GNWT doesn’t put their name on the rental agreement, I am trying to understand what, from the Minister’s perspective, is left as a liability. From the research I have done, the government is not liable if it comes down to the person on the medical travel...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a question for the Minister of Health and Social Services, the Honourable Sandy Lee. Mr. Speaker, I would like to follow up on my question that I was trying to ask last week, which was in regards to medical travel. Mr. Speaker, the issue at hand is, quite simply, this: in many cases, it is actually cheaper to rent a car than it is to be reimbursed for taxi fares in that particular case. Recognizing that sometimes that type of flexibility helps the patient, but it also helps the bottom line of the territorial government, because it is considered relatively...

Mr. Speaker, may I say I certainly appreciate the answer from the Minister. Mr. Speaker, when can we expect some type of adoption of regulations or plans to recognize this particular problem? I certainly see it as an issue that we don’t need to wait for a contaminated site to cause problems and set off alarms. Mr. Speaker, I would certainly like to hear from the Minister his opinion and, certainly, objective of the department as to when they hopefully will have this plan in place to update the regulations. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I may applaud the Minister for a fantastic answer on dealing with this issue. Mr. Speaker, just one last question. I certainly hope, as I view this as a territorial problem not just a Yellowknife problem -- and I stress that -- would the Minister look into the feasibility, and I stress, look into only the feasibility at this time about drawing it into a long-term program where we can ensure that all our schools are barrier-free and certainly accessible not just to our students but to our community? Because, as we all know, schools are schools during the day, but they are also the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This afternoon I’d like to talk about barrier-free schools and playgrounds. It is my understanding, Mr. Speaker, that this government stands for inclusive education and has for a long time. The issue being raised today is that some parents recently requested money from the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to improve accessibility at one of the Yellowknife schools, because at least one of their students is confined to a wheelchair and they wanted to make sure that the playground was as accessible as possible to them. However, Mr. Speaker, their funding was...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can see a lot of thought is going into this problem and that’s certainly the direction of a solution in my vision that, you know, it does require a lot of thought. Mr. Speaker, what I’m talking about is that if somebody’s approved to go on medical travel, if that option is the one that they wish to pursue, which is rent a vehicle on their own, you know, it’s built around a flat fee that, therefore, they can’t seek reimbursement for anything else other than what they’ve done. Certainly, a waiver whereas in they acknowledge that they have to be the renter, because the...

Mr. Speaker, I would like to know from the Minister today if she could express to me, or certainly this House, what are the complexities and what exactly are they reviewing that is holding up this possibility of an option, whereas renting a car can be seen as a reimbursable expense on medical travel. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, since raising this issue some time ago, I have had a number of people express certain support for this type of issue. Again, they see two things, the land and gas station looks like an eyesore. The second issue was highlighted earlier today, is the fact that the potential for an environmental risk is certainly there.

Mr. Speaker, hopefully this will be the final question on this issue, because I think the Minister is certainly addressing it. Is the Minister open to public opinion on this? Is there a possibility of raising awareness, of looking for some ideas on how to fairly...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also seek unanimous consent to waive Rule 93(4) and have Committee Report 8-16(3) moved into Committee of the Whole for consideration today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Unanimous consent granted.