Robert Hawkins

Thank you very kindly, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we still need to address the problem by this Minister, which is people are clear-cutting roads from the highway to the water there. How are we going to deal with this? How are we dealing with the garbage being littered along these areas? They’re becoming mushroom party spaces. How does this Minister plan to deal with this? This all goes back to the question that I started to ask six months ago when he said it was MACA’s problem. Now that MACA says it’s RWED’s problem, again, whose problem is this that we’re going to solve? I’m talking about...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I truly say thank you, Mr. Minister, yet I’m still waiting for an answer. I asked, when am I going to get a response to this letter. I’m waiting again now, in front of the public. My constituents are waiting. Their safety is an issue. We have people ploughing down trees in reserve areas. Are we going to wait for the chiefs to come say why we’re allowing people to destroy our land? Someday that’s going to be their land out there. The Minister almost…He said the Department of Justice, DOT. I’m surprised he didn’t say Housing and Education have a responsibility over this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to hear today that the Premier will tie that promise to funding all education authorities. I want to hear it clearly that he is tying their funding solely to the fact that they have to do this as a first step. As I see it, we have lost wages by these students who graduated on the promise that they would be hired. Mr. Speaker, will the Premier either withdraw that commitment made by the highest office in this Assembly or promise to fulfil that commitment, one or the other? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that extra information by the Premier. I have never heard of the incentive aspect. Mr. Speaker, that still doesn’t speak to the crux of the problem. Have the authorities expressed any further problem with hiring northern graduates? Do they not want them? Do they not know that they are out there? What is this incentive? Why aren’t they hiring them? I need to know from the Premier today, have they communicated problems as to why they are not hiring these northern grads? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish, like my other colleagues, I could quote from Mr. Roland’s finance budget delivery address earlier today, but, unfortunately, I can’t quote what isn’t there. That is, we don’t have a plan to hire our northern teaching graduates.

Mr. Speaker, we are all well aware of former Premier Kakfwi’s grand promise to provide all northern graduates of recognized teaching programs with employment. Well, Mr. Speaker, those were nice words back in those days, which were only a couple years ago, as a priority, but the reality is that those graduates out there are not...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister because I can start to feel an answer coming any minute now. I can tell you personally that the RCMP do not go out there. My constituents have phoned when they’ve heard people shooting at outhouses. Nobody goes. I mean, do we have to wait for an accident to happen? That’s why I tried to work six months ago with this department to say let’s start identifying the land. This is land right along our highway. This is certainly an area that could be addressed. I’ve suggested that, geez, let’s have land management policies out there. I need an answer...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise with a serious concern with the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development. Late last summer I had a meeting with a constituent who had brought serious concerns to me about having a legal cabin out along the Cameron River and the fact that people were bulldozing trees down, making roads, shooting guns at their cabin as well as other legal cabins and no one was doing anything about it. No RWED officer would be there, no RCMP officer would be there. Well, much later the Minister’s staff comes to me and says it’s not their problem to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Premier tell me from his position what kind of hammer do we have in place to tell these educational authorities to hire our northern students, because we have a policy on our books to hire these northern students? It can either be a hammer or it can be a carrot. I need to know because we have northern students who are graduating from our teaching programs who are working at Extra Foods and other places while southern hires are being hired. So what hammer or carrot is he willing to commit to today just to solve this problem? Thank you, Mr. Speaker...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am going to direct my question with regard to teaching and graduate placements to the Premier. I feel it was the highest office that made this commitment and it’s up to the highest office to fulfil this commitment on hiring northern graduates.

Mr. Speaker, my question to the Premier is since the directive to hiring responsibility for teachers is with the education authorities, what steps has his government taken that these authorities are taking to heart that promise made by this government to hire northern graduates? I want to know what we are doing to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise to recognize a few people in the gallery. We have Mr. Jeske and we have Mrs. Braden up in the gallery. I’d like to recognize them. My new constituency assistant, Coady Summerfield, will be in the gallery as well. I’d also like to take time to recognize the Year of the Rooster as Ms. Lee did, I’m saving it for this time. My wife is of Chinese background and I’d like to wish everyone Happy New Year in Cantonese, which would be…(English not provided)…which basically means Happy New Year everyone. Lastly, although he’s not in the gallery, he’s sitting next to...