Robert Hawkins

I am on page 23.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So this would be somebody who travels around and checks our water, or is this somebody who deals with the agreements or transboundary agreements, etcetera?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This motion is bigger than it states on words on the paper. Mr. Speaker, we talk about those who are dependent and we want to denormalize the issue, but we have to also recognize those people who are living with these people who are abusing alcohol. I'd like to take this time to talk about a couple small stories. They're really small, but just to give you sort of a personal sense of where it's sort of gone and come from in my perspective.

I remember growing up in Fort Simpson and knowing somebody who flew in from one of the communities so he could get his hands on a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, Mr. Speaker, I’m sure the Minister is quite accurate on all that information, but I’ll tell you, the public opinion of what seems to be right and wrong sometimes dances a different line and to a different tune than maybe what legally may be correct. I’ll tell you, people out there would think that folks providing false information on a competitive tender is wrong. I do. So, Mr. Speaker, what is the Minister doing to address this ethical question that seems to be overlooked? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, too, will be supporting this motion. It was quite some time ago I talked to Mr. Yakeleya about this issue about trying to find new ways to help communities. I talked to Norman about saying, well, what if we bumped up the subsidy rate to $800, would that help? We had a bit of a discussion on that and there was some free-flowing talk about does that work, will that suit their needs. You know, we’re not 100 percent sure, but there are many ways out there to help folks. That’s kind of why I support this motion, is because it looks at different dynamics...

Mr. Speaker, does the Minister of Public Works and Services monitor the percentage difference between contract bids and contract payments and, if so, what is an acceptable percentage if things are over? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, would the Minister today commit in this House that he would go out to some type of public consultation to engage our engineers and architects on coming up with sustainable design principles for all our public government infrastructures so the percentage of cost overruns are minimized? For a note to that, Alaska has 15 percent as an acceptable overrun. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there’s a solution to this obvious problem. We could engage our public, we could engage our professionals about true, real designs for our northern location. I’m tired about hearing about cost overruns, about one project delaying or possibly cancelling out another because of the skyrocketing costs. I think the future and expansive growth of our Northwest Territories requires smart design, and with community involvement we could solve this problem together. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Twenty-five dollars, according to my Sahtu colleague. The thing is, I’m not sure he’s right, but the point is if we could make things more competitive, maybe we can also help those costs from being spilt down on people and we can also help encourage them to have healthier lifestyles, Mr. Speaker. Conservation versus consumption, it’s great. Conservation is the right idea; change your light bulbs, those things all help. I’ve gone to Arctic Energy Alliance and I borrowed their metre, I plugged it in the wall, I tested my TV for a couple days, my computer to find out ways I could be more...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank Mrs. Groenewegen for bringing this forward. I am in full support of it. That is why I asked her if I could second this motion. To me, this motion really speaks to the principle of the people we take care of. That would be our youth, our children, the people at risk. They could be our seniors. They could be anyone.

Mr. Speaker, I believe we are duty bound as Members here to find ways and take every step that we consider reasonably possible to protect those from the predators that prey upon those people at risk I talked about earlier. Mrs...