Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just before I begin, our report is much more succinct with only one page. Your Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure is pleased to provide its report on the review of draft hydraulic fracturing regulations and commends it to the House.

The Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure recognizes that the issue of hydraulic fracturing is one of great public importance and interest across the Northwest Territories. Throughout the 17th Assembly, members of the standing committee have invested a great deal of time and research into...

Well, first of all, Mr. Speaker, I thank those who have spoken in favour of the motion, and those who spoke against the motion, I probably won’t thank you at this time. But in the spirit of consensus government, I do recognize and appreciate and respect your perspectives.

I did hear a few things and they did cause me great concern. Mr. Speaker, this is a very important question, the plebiscite question on hydraulic fracturing. The reality here before us, though, is if we can’t use the Plebiscite Act for stuff this important, why bother having it?

I heard the cries of people suggesting things...

WHEREAS the Elections and Plebiscites Act provides that the Commissioner may, on the recommendation of the Legislative Assembly, direct that a plebiscite be held on any question that is of importance to the people of the Northwest Territories;

AND WHEREAS discussion and debate of hydraulic fracturing in the Northwest Territories has entered public discourse;

AND WHEREAS the government has recognized the significance of public engagement in this area and announced that engagement on proposed hydraulic fracturing regulations will continue until at least August 2015;

AND WHEREAS, to date, this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Your Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure continues its review of the proposed hydraulic fracturing filing regulations. I am pleased to table its Research Summary: Draft Hydraulic Fracturing Filing Regulations. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m going to use my questions today to follow up on my Member’s statement, which was when I talked about the idea and certainly the issue of the establishment of an environment award.

As I said just briefly in my Member’s statement, we have great awards such as the Premier’s Awards, Education Hall of Fame Awards, Sport North, volunteer, and the list certainly goes on in many deserving areas that need to be recognized.

Not to take away but to add to this opportunity, I’m going to ask the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, would he believe that there would be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday we had the honour of hearing from our Premier through the Premier’s Awards. Last week we had seen and heard very well about the great work through the Education Awards. Recently, many of us attended the Sport North Awards to recognize sport, and often we hear about the great volunteer awards, literacy awards, fire service awards, and the list continues on.

A noticeable absent group to recognize is environment awards. Why are there no environment stewardship awards? Let us use this opportunity with what better way to recognize their leadership and commitment...

Mr. Speaker, today’s motion is a plebiscite. It’s a motion calling for clear guidance from the public to the Legislature. This motion is something that none of us can lose on if we vote in favour of it. Imagine, Mr. Speaker, this is our opportunity to get the opinion of the public.

Fracking is defined as the topic of today. You see this question all over the place, not just here, not in the Northwest Territories, not in Canada, but all over the world. This is an important question for our time. So, it’s not just about what we think we know about fracking, it’s also about what we want to know...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m just going to quickly say I am going to support this particular motion. I do have a fair bit of comments, but I think what I would be doing is duplicating my statement today, because I have a fair bit to add and speak on the plebiscite motion, which is almost, in some ways, the similar theme.

That said, to save my good colleagues from hearing them twice, I’ll just say I’ll be supporting the motion, and I’ll say, “Look forward to my comments,” my good colleagues. “I have some great, passionate statements to make in a few minutes on the plebiscite motion.”

Mr. Speaker, he took my second question away from me and I didn’t even have a question three or four. Maybe I can just ask if the Minister is interested in this kind of concept for stand-alone environment awards, recognizing the issues I talked about, recognizing children, recognizing schools, community heroes, community groups and even government employees who provide stewardship of public policy. I just want to be very clear.

Is the Minister supportive of the concept? I heard him say he’ll take a look at it, but is he individually supportive of the concept? Because it’s important to know he...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To my surprise when I opened up page 3 of the Yellowknifer today, I saw and I counted 194 families still in need of some type of shelter.

What it is, is a cry to this government for more housing, more emergency shelters, more transitional space. These shouldn’t be numbers that anyone should be proud of. This government itself should be hanging its head in shame.

Last year the government built just over one house per 33 communities. The actual stat was 1.15, when you do the math. This government has allowed 19 percent of the NWT houses to still have core need. The poverty...