Robert Hawkins

Mr. Speaker, today I raise the issue of concerns I have with the Residential Tenancies Act. I know it’s coming forward eventually, and let’s hope it comes forward in this Assembly.

Mr. Speaker, the issue is about concern with protection, and the fact that I, not unlike in many other constituencies hereabouts in Yellowknife and throughout the Territories, have many rental units. It was told to me that someone was forced to sign a lease of…. I don’t want to belabour the circumstances, but it was like: you sign here and pay this much, or basically get out if you don’t like it, and the cost to...

Mr. Speaker, I move that Member’s Statement 9-16(2), a statement by Minister Lafferty regarding Public Housing Rental Subsidy survey results and plans for the future, be moved to the Committee of the Whole.

I haven't tabled the letter yet, so I’m not going to read it word for word. But one of the facilities has a phone number for people to call when they so desire. I’m talking about changing that around. I think the Minister perhaps has not read the letter that was written for her closely enough, because it says the situation is the other way around.

Would the Minister set up a program as I have suggested?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I respect the Minister’s answer, but while I’m not going to say wrong, I don’t agree with him. The fact is, Mr. Speaker, I’m talking about people trying to get here. I’m talking about small businesses that want skilled and semi-skilled workers here to help do specialized jobs that they can’t get just walking out on the street and saying, “Here, I’ve got a job application. Please jump on board, and I’ll pay you.”

Mr. Speaker, we need talent. Sometimes we have to reach outside the N.W.T. That’s what I’m describing. I’m saying there’s a role for the Department of Education...

In this heated economy many Northern employers face shortages of both skilled and semi-skilled workers. Allowing employers to fill their labour shortages through foreign employees, both on a temporary or permanent basis, is a win-win for our economy, and there is a role for the G.N.W.T. to play.

There are shortages in a variety of industries, and we lack the number of interested people to catch up. Eleven jurisdictions, including the Yukon, have a provincial nomination system that helps speed up the immigration process for skilled and semi-skilled workers who wish to become permanent residents...

I have a number of written questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. They are as follows:

What is the foreign worker assistance program designed to help small business owners fill skilled employment vacancies called?

What is the budget for this program?

When was this program instituted?

How often has this foreign worker program been used, both successfully and unsuccessfully?

What is the average processing time with these applications?

How many businesses have been assisted by this program?

Provide a breakdown of the communities that have businesses accessing this program.

What...

Mr. Speaker, I want to be very clear here, because we’re getting these sort of semantic answers. Is the project in or out for this capital budget?

Mr. Speaker, there has been a plan on the books for a number of years to consolidate the clinics in Yellowknife to create a downtown consolidated clinic. There has been a business case made to do this, basically on the principles that we can take our existing staff and our doctors and we can put them all together and provide more services for less money. So what seems to be the problem? There is money in the budget. Where is this plan today?

Mr. Speaker, the system, I hate to say, doesn’t exist to anyone out there on the street. The system must exist under some rock hidden in some broom closet or something, because I’ll tell you, we’ve got small businesses out there that need help filling out the paperwork . That’s what they need. They need someone to help them along with the process. They need someone to help them work with Citizenship Canada. They need that process. Not when they’re here, because when they’re here that’s not the problem. They just want to get them here. So the problem is getting them to the Northwest Territories...

Mr. Speaker, I believe quite firmly in the concept of lifelong learning, and I’ve been reading a lot of Greek mythology lately. I have to admit I did have a tongue-twister trying to describe this situation. In modern terms it’s referred to as a rock and a hard place. But in my reading it was called the Scylla and the Charybolis, and it was about that six-headed monster versus the monster that sinks your ship through whirlpools. I thought that perfectly — perfectly, I have to stress — describes the struggle of small business, where the monster of the system chews you up and spits you out and...