Robert Hawkins

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 74)

I understand, and some days I like to think I’m reasonable in the area of things happening.

Can the Premier explain why it’s taken this long to address this matter that was directed by the House? Was there a technical issue? I didn’t quite understand the confusion part he was referring to when he gave his first answer about different directions. If we could get a clear answer about why it took this long, thank you.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 74)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On February 9th I asked the Premier a question on whether he forwarded on the motion to other Premiers. That motion was the one that was passed in this House regarding the missing and murdered indigenous women. Of course, the Premier says he acts on all motions passed in this House and said he would check on it. He offered to forward me all the copies of the letters. I said I don’t need all of the copies, I just need a note to say that they’ve done this. I also accepted that maybe if it had not been done at that time, to ensure it was done.

Mr. Speaker, I’ve waited a...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 74)

I’ll allow the Minister to correct me if I’m incorrect on this point, which is I believe power to the golden gates of Yellowknife is delivered at about 18 cents a kilowatt and I think that there’s a big margin between that and the end user who picks up their power bill monthly.

Can the Minister confirm what the power rate is delivered to the Jackfish plant that comes available for Northland Utilities to pick it up for its distribution cost, and how we can help narrow that gap so Northerners can afford a power increase, especially knowing that in a couple short days we’ll be receiving another 6...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 74)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m going to use the occasion to once again return to the cost of living under the context of power bills, and I’m going to ask questions to the NWT Power Corp Minister.

Let’s start off by examining the cost of power and its distribution here in the Northwest Territories. I’d like to ask the Minister, would he be able to speak to the rates of return to Northland Utilities and the NWT Power Corp in both the thermal, non-thermal and the hydro zones here? If he could do that breakdown on the cost that Northerners are paying to get their power. Thank you.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 74)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish the Premier had let us know that earlier. My question and concern is who would have authority over the House authority to provide the direction? Would it be staff who said this? Has the Premier decided, or would it be multiple… I’m trying to appreciate and understand and get to the bottom of who would have the authority to override this House’s discretion and decision to pass a motion and encourage you to forward it on to the other Legislatures. It just seems odd without letting us know. Thank you.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 74)

Just to be very clear, the letter will be sent out to all Legislatures and all Premiers. Will you be sending out our motion suggesting they do something similar? I just want to be clear on the record. Thank you.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 73)

The only one that the Minister left off the table was devolution to help people’s health.

Can the Minister explain what areas under his responsibility, under health care indicators, why there is such a discrepancy between the report and the D minus received, rather than blaming other departments and referencing other proposals by departments? We’re talking about health care indicators and health.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 73)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, like my good colleague Mr. Ramsay, am happy to be back to work as well. I’m losing time on the clock, so I’d better get going.

The overreaching goal of the Conference Board of Canada is to benchmark the quality of life in Canada relative to its 15 peer countries. Most people agree that without good health care, quality of life is severely compromised. On February 12th of this year, the Conference Board of Canada published results on the status of Canadians and their health with their 15 peer countries.

The report is known as How Canada Performs and zeroes in on key...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 73)

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to say, for the record, I notice Highway No. 9 is missing, the one that runs off the access road straight into Yellowknife Centre, and I think it’s time we start to put that on the books.

In all seriousness, Mr. Chairman, I’m just wondering, not to get too far ahead of the detail, but is the additional money requested for the Detah road over and above the original contract? Thank you.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 73)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a general comment and I guess I’d call it a question. What is the change in costs? We’ve switched security over to an internal mechanism as opposed to a contract fee. What was the previous cost and what is the estimated cost now?