Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In any given year, one in five Canadians experience mental health problems. The cost to the economy, of course, is enormous at $50 billion. On average, one in three adults and one in four children or youth report that they have only sought help or assistance through treatment programs.

Four thousand Canadians die every year as a result of suicide. These are terrible statistics, but I’m going to go on. Up to 70 percent of adults living with mental health problems report the symptoms started during childhood. In 2010, mental health conditions were responsible for 47...

I thought that was almost a yes, but just a little ways away from making that final step.

Recently, we’re well aware that the government has been reaching out in Eastern Canada. We’re well familiar with the job fairs that happened throughout, looking for people to be hired. I don’t have the budget as an MLA or else I would do it, but what I’m asking for, is would the Minister look at maybe setting up sort of a working group, discussion group, some public outreach as to what people see as some of the challenges for northern employment? I won’t go through them all. I’ve said pay and benefits...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up a little on the jobs issue I raised yesterday, and we talked about the 1,032 positions out there in one form or another and the 466 that are actively being recruited.

I made a post on my Facebook and I got some really interesting feedback, and one of the particular issues that’s been raised that I thought was interesting, more so in the sense of have we ever done this, is have we ever considered engaging the citizenship to understand and appreciate the practicality of trying to hire people for these jobs? We’re trying to get people in all regions...

The Gold Corp found the solution and certainly a fortune by engaging the world basically pre-Internet days. This could be an administrative solution created by the government, and I dare not try to put a dollar amount because I’m not in a position to even estimate what it could be, but could the Minister at least dedicate some interest and resources to finding out how complicated it would be for us to create a platform and a porthole to invite the world to challenge this particular problem? Because just to say clearly, someone from anywhere, any pocket, any corner of the world could have an...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m going to use this opportunity of question period to follow up on a question I had asked Mr. Miltenberger some time ago. At the time I had mentioned Gold Corp. It was a 1990 company faced with a problem. They knew they were sitting on a fortune of gold but didn’t know how to access it. They found a solution by inviting the world to help them find a solution to their particular problem.

Giant Mine has a problem. It’s been under care and maintenance of $1.9 million a year for in perpetuity to protect us from the arsenic environmental problem. I’ve asked the Environment...

Is the Minister in any position to bring to light in this House when this type of update could be considered? Because I have a lot of retailers out there that have spent extra money buying biodegradable bags and they’re paying for it, but they believe in an environment of stewardship. But they’re being penalized by meeting the objectives, which is getting plastic bags out of the environment. So they’re doing their part. They’d like to know when the government will do their part by seeing an update or revision or certainly a discussion on this particular issue. So when could we see something in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the legislation is presently written for the Single Use Retail Bag Program, paper bags are treated exactly the same. If you go to a store, a grocery store, you have to pay 25 cents; if you go to a restaurant you have to pay 25 cents. To draw a further comparison, polyethylene bags, plastic bags, are treated the same as recyclable bags.

Can the Minister explain for the House why these bags are all being treated the same, whereas plastic bags are not so good for the environment and biodegradable or compostable bags are good for the environment? So if he can start off by...

Thanks, Mr. Chairman. I won’t spend more than, say, two minutes. I just wanted to make sure I mentioned something about naturopaths and I would certainly like to see further development of that. Maybe the Minister can speak to that.

The other two subjects are midwifery. I’m glad to see it’s expanding through the Northwest Territories and I will certainly agree that any support that could happen and we can be part of, I’d like to see that. But I also think there’s a glaring gap in the capital region on the need of that particular program, and I certainly wouldn’t mind just hearing a quick...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Not specific to the Minister, but I get worried because the government’s taking the approach, well, we’re running short of days. But the problem is the government marches on every day long beyond us, so the next group will be going on. It’s the same government, just different faces on the ministry.

This initiative is very important, so I’m going to ask clearly, what can the Minister do? It may not be fully completed by the end of this term, but what can we get on the ground, up and running today? You know, what can we do? Because we’re still working until the end of our...

Does the Minister see any problem with the issue of reaching out to the citizenship to get some feedback as what the citizens see, the everyday people, the everyday families trying to get job opportunities here in the North, from their perspective on trying to apply for jobs, be it in Yellowknife, be it in the regions, be it even in the very small communities? They would provide great benefit and insight as to the challenges that they see and face. Many people keep reciting the same problems over and over again, and I often wonder: does the government appreciate the circumstances and...