Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight met on October 11, 2005, to review Bill 6, Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2005. This act makes minor amendments to a number of statutes. Following a clause-by-clause review, a motion was carried to report Bill 6 as ready for Committee of the Whole. This concludes the committee’s general comments on Bill 6. Individual Members may have questions or comments as we proceed. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can appreciate the goals are important factors to judge against, but unfortunately those goals were measured two years ago when oil was at 30-some dollars a barrel. It was $64 a barrel yesterday. So recognizing times have changed and contracts need to be adjusted to reflect those things, it’s important. I take this as a serious enough issue that we should be involved in what are some of the criteria that these DMs are being judged against so they get their bonuses, because I’d like to see this government reward good behaviour and not reward less good...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Would the Premier, also known as the Maytag repairman, be willing to make these requirements and management criteria available to all Members of this House? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No one wants to circumvent the process for the Yellowknives Dene in the land that is rightly theirs. But, Mr. Speaker, consultation needs to come to a close eventually. So if there is still a process that has reached no further results due to the negotiations on land selection, what is the Minister going to do? Is he going to finally agree to turn over those lands in January that the city has had out on request for quite a long time? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That wasn’t quite the thought-provoking answer I was looking for.

---Laughter

I will certainly take any answer. He said once the land is turned over to the city by this government. Does he mean that it is the intention of his department to turn over all of the remaining lands in this term of this government to the City of Yellowknife? I just want to get some clarity on that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Once again I rise to bring the House's attention to the City's difficulty in getting the land it needs for development.

Yellowknife is a growing city; it needs land for homes, businesses and green space. It shouldn't come as a surprise to the MACA Minister. Although the Premier indicated in June that the government had no requests for residential land from the city before it, I understand now that that was not the case and that there were several applications still outstanding at that time.

I was pleased to hear the MACA Minister has recently made a timely decision on...

All I can say is the Premier will expect that question tomorrow, so that’s his notice on this question.

Mr. Speaker, to ensure maximum conservation on the part of this government, given the new reality, I want to hear what this Minister has to say about mandatory reporting and monitoring of all government agencies, boards and departments. Do we do this? If not, why not? What do we do with this information that we get to ensure we conserve to our maximum ability? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Minister. We’ve all heard the saying many hands make light work. We all know if these many hands turn off those light switches that I talked about or turned off those ignitions to stop making cars idle, we will save a lot of money. So those many hands will be contributing to those lower costs to run these facilities and cars. So my concern last year was what was their policy and action plan. We now find ourselves in peril where fuel prices are skyrocketing. So my question for the Minister is -- and all residents of the Northwest Territories want to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is a pleasure that I recognize three constituents that I could see from my vantage point. The Right Reverend Bishop Sperry; one of my favourite feisty seniors, Ed Jeske; and Lydia Bardak who wears so many hats there is nowhere to start. So thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have two written questions. The first written question is to the chairman of the Financial Management Board.

Would the chairman consider creating a task force to look at how end-of-year expenditures by department can be better controlled to ensure public money is not being spent for unnecessary items or to avoid lapsing funds?