Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When I think about the Mackenzie Valley pipeline it raises a number of concerns for me; primary concerns such as what it will do to benefit northerners. We should be asking these questions for a long time. We had been, is the way I see it. At this time, I think we should know some of the answers before we break ground. Our return to the Mackenzie Valley pipeline for the Northwest Territories without a resource revenue sharing agreement is expected to be $900 million over the next 30 years compared to what the federal government’s share is, which is almost $22 billion...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is not a new issue. Mr. Speaker, it is time to get this job done. Mr. Speaker, I am not sure what we need to do as Regular Members or as a Caucus as a whole. Do we need to put barricades on the road and say no more resources out of the Territories until we settle some of these basic things? Does the Minister need a commitment from all Members to put forward a motion to get the support? What does the Minister need to get done in order to get his job done at the federal level? We need that money. It is time that we stopped bankrolling the federal...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I didn’t hear the actual number, so I suspect that will be a commitment to follow shortly, of course. Mr. Speaker, if I may entertain this a little further, noting section 3.4. This is an item noted many times by the Auditor General. We follow yearly agreements that have to get negotiated and when we finally get an agreement in place and money paid, they still hold back 10 percent. Mr. Speaker, is the Department of Health and Social Services working on an agreement so we get this done on a timely basis? Sometimes we have to wait over a year to start getting our money...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today because of an event that happened yesterday. The subject that I am going to talk about is certainly no stranger to this House. The sad thing is that it never gets enough air time.

Mr. Speaker, I want to talk today about the unsung heroes of this Legislative Assembly. Their names never get on any plaques. We never really talk about them very much. They never ever get paid. They very rarely get mentioned under any circumstance. Mr. Speaker, they are the backbone of every politician. Mr. Speaker, what I am really talking about is the commitment our...

Not Miss Lee. I hope that’s not misleading.

---Laughter

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I’m just going to provide a comment. Recognizing how billings changed in the sense of elements they get more sophisticated. The fact that you have to move so much air, the fact that we’re basically talking about hard costs, fuel and electricity, I mean, things change. So I don’t know what more to say other than the fact that it’s a bit of a surprise. Maybe we should be asking the Minister to provide us the accounting mechanism used, rather than complaining about the fact that the number is wrong...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if I may remind us all again, in 2002 we had almost $35 million outstanding. Of course, by the time that got paid out, we had to have a 10 percent holdback. As I’ve said earlier, in 2003 we had $25.4 million held back. Mr. Speaker, we’ve had the same Member of Parliament since 1988 with the Liberal Party. She’s been in Parliament. She’s been consistent. That would be the Honourable Member Ethel Blondin-Andrew. Since 1992, Mr. Speaker, it’s been the same government in power. So that’s a lot of years, Mr. Speaker. So my question is to the Minister of Health...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise with questions to the Minister of Health and Social Services. I’m going to bring to his attention the tabled document 2004 Report from the Auditor General that was tabled last week. Mr. Speaker, I read section three the other day and I was quite surprised -- which would be no surprise, I’m sure, to that Minister -- by the fact that the territorial government is bankrolling some of the responsibilities of the federal government to the tune of for the year 2003 almost $25.4 million for services that the federal government is responsible for. The...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues, especially the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation. Mr. Speaker, it is time that we move from a voluntary compliance to a mandatory policy. I would like to see the Minister responsible for FMBS work with the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation to create a mandatory policy where we bring the Housing Corporation into the fold with the rest of the government. Mr. Speaker, in closing, I will have questions for the appropriate Minister later during oral question period. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about the technology services centre, also referred to as the TSC, and their current voluntary compliance with that centre.

Mr. Speaker, since I was elected in the 15th Assembly last year, I have been quite vocal about my support for the TSC. I believe that this position is shared by many of my colleagues here in the House. Today, in this day and age, IT services are absolutely vital in running a government bureaucracy. As everyone knows, it takes up a big piece of our budget.

In the 2004-05 Main Estimates, Mr. Speaker, we spent about...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it’s been brought up that there could have been other options out there and maybe one of the examples could have possibly been let's put that in the Centre of Northern Families. Mr. Speaker, would the Minister be able to say clearly if that could be considered a conflict because of dealing with both sides of the client issue of legal services issues? So could that have been considered a conflict to put it in a place like that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.