Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not sure how the Premier can justify wasting the Assembly's time by not saying how he can help seniors better, Mr. Speaker, by giving the portfolio the respect and due it deserves. If there's a seniors' portfolio in the Government of Canada, I mean my goodness, are they wasting their time? So maybe the Minister can chair sorry, the Premier can clarify why that wouldn't serve them better? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that relationship already existed before this Premier took office. So the Simpson government has created the new position of doing less as the appearance of doing more from the sounds of it. Perhaps maybe he can explain how this is actually better, because the previous relationship worked just fine but we've taken away the symbolism, the prominence, the emphasis of a Minister responsible for seniors. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm rising today because I want to talk about Northerners living healthier, longer, and retiring in the North.

Mr. Speaker, it is a shifting demographics and makeup like the seasons in nature, people's lives similarly follow their own course. People travel from their spring to their summer to the fall and even to the winter cycle of our days. Each journey is different, and each journey certainly has its own supports and needs. We need supports through independence, care, but always through respect as we go through these stages.

Mr. Speaker, seniors are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's really tough to hear from a public justification, I assure you is the answer. I mean, that may work for a spiritual advisor that I can accept on that basis but that said, when it's from the government it needs to have some transparency. Mr. Speaker, how do we know that that's the truth? That's the problem. It's not I'm saying he isn't telling the truth, it's how do we know it's being a fair transparent process and what level of reporting can we see in this Simpson government? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, he's talking about the public process. I'm talking about the direct appointment process that falls under the Executive Council ability to do so. And it's a bunch of recommendations all framework; I won't go through them today, we don't need to hear them, they know them, Mr. Speaker. But there's no public transparency on when they say a lady, you know, Joe Schmoe, whatever it is, is all of a sudden being recommended to a department. Do you agree? Agree. There's no transparency on it being done. There's no transparency on any potential accountability when it...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, over the course of this Simpson government, they will be moving forward with probably hundreds of direct appointments. Previous governments have been known as if that's their hallmark to be proud of, these secret appointments.

My question for the Premier is how is the Premier going to bring some level of transparency to direct appointments that nobody knows about where they give permanent fulltime jobs to time we know nothing about until one day they just show up at work? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there lies the opportunity. The Premier could have had the courage to put money behind the portfolio and dignity and respect finally in a portfolio that's supposed to mean so much to so many. Why doesn't the Premier have the courage to make that proposal to Members now? Because not one of us would say no to supporting seniors. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with respect to my Member's statement today, I want to point out to how important I should say maybe it this way. I want to reaffirm how important seniors and elders are to me and our community. And I have no doubt every Member on the Member's side is feeling just as strongly that we care very deeply for our seniors and our elders, and we want to support them.

So my first question would be directed to the Premier, asking the question and perhaps maybe he can explain as the question why we don't have at least one Minister fully responsible for seniors and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, let's use some easy numbers. The CERB payment was about $2,000 a month. That's about $500 a week. So the fire was about three weeks, and so if we use their $750 mark, that's 250 a week. So there's quite a bit of a disparity. There's a standard, a considerable one. But CERB was during COVID and people stayed home, so they didn't have to worry about driving out. That said, how can we justify and explain that $750 was an impact payment worthy of the expense that many people paid considering they pulled the government ordered people out of the Northwest...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I just want to follow up a little further on the evacuation travel support program. And I suspect now, the Minister was saying I didn't expect the question but that said, to be all fair in all fairness, she is the Finance Minister of this government and the last government and oversaw the programs, so I expect her to know some elements of the program.

So that said, the evacuation support program paid out $750 to people as a onetime sort of payment. How did they actually come up with that specific $750 for the impacts of individuals obviously per vehicle...