Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about poverty and its impact on seniors. To better set the stage, in Yellowknife we have at least 55 seniors on the waiting list to get into Avens. As a matter of fact, there’s not a week goes by that I don’t have a call from someone who says they can’t even get on the list, they fear, maybe even their lifetime.

So, knowing that the last investments at Avens was 2007 where they were able to build eight units, and in 1992 where they were able to build 24 units, I’d like to ask the Minister of Housing when was the last investment...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The issue of poverty is very complicated, as we all know. Like a jigsaw puzzle being put on the table, you must first look at the problem by seeing the big picture, then you tackle piece by piece.

I view the challenge of poverty much in the same way. First you start by looking at the corners and the sides, or some even tackle the middle. Yes, poverty is something we can tackle. If we look at the big picture, we see problems and we must pick away at them piece by piece, whether it’s putting our energies into housing, jobs, affordability, or even other types of necessities...

I appreciate you allowing me to sort of describe it at the beginning with great detail, because I think it’s important.

Would ATCO have had to sign their franchise agreement recognizing in some form or fashion this arbitration process?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A 400 percent increase in seniors in the Northwest Territories in the Yellowknife-specific region only is a serious initiative.

When is the last time this Minister of Housing has put in a request for a capital investment to have a serious impact in the housing situation directly intended to invest in seniors to ensure that they have quality housing to keep them out of poverty? When was the last time we’ve had an investment, and furthermore, what’s stopping him from putting that request in to invest in seniors, invest in population growth that would make a huge difference...

I’d like to ask the Minister of Housing why they’re not investing into more housing for seniors in Yellowknife. In my Member’s statement I pointed out that in the age category between 65 and 74 we’re going to see almost a 400 percent increase in growth, and further, at the age category of 75-plus we’re seeing over 400 percent growth in the next 11 years in seniors. So, clearly, seniors need housing. They need housing options, and these housing options will keep them out of poverty. Avens is an able and certainly a willing partner.

Would the Minister be willing to find some money to help invest...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are so many people out there to recognize, I just want to say welcome to the majority of them, and I’ll focus my specific recognition to our seniors. For seniors from the Yellowknife Centre riding, I would first like to recognize Ms. Margaret Marshall, Mr. Bill Reid and Mr. Bill Adkins as well as I believe I see Ms. Wendy Carlos up there as well. If I happened to miss any of the seniors who are up there, I’m sure they can understand. I can’t quite see that far anymore. My eyes are starting to give up on me as the days go on. Welcome to everyone and thank you very...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On Monday evening I happened to catch on the CBC website late that night, I noticed that there was a story, and the story headline said, “NWT Highway No. 3 at Risk of Closing Due to Forest Fire.”

That story was issued at 5:37 that evening. What caused me some individual concern is after last year’s fire experience, there was no e-mail in my inbox saying that there was going to be a closure of the highway. Not only that, to my surprise, I had been talking to people in the industry, the grocery industry saying that they had no notice in any way.

The following morning it was...

There’s very little I can disagree with in the last statement made by the Minister, but the fact is he’s missing a point about vital communications. There’s the general information, which I think the Minister gets and he just spoke very well on it, but there’s also the vital information that needs to be carried forward, and I’m not talking about emergency.

As I said in my Member’s statement, if we gave about four days’ notice, the grocery stores can fully stock up for the long haul. If we gave them two days’ notice, they could get the bread, the eggs, whatever the case may be, milk, here in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about how necessary good and vital communications are. Rather than stressing and saying this is sort of a bad situation of how communication didn’t work, I actually would rather look at it as here we have a fantastic opportunity to do things well and to certainly build on the lessons we learned from last summer.

We have many vital industries out there such as the folks who carry and stock groceries on our shelves day to day. That’s not just all of them, that’s just one area. There are many other areas.

I would like to ask the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that. I appreciate the Minister’s answer and certainly the willingness to develop and work on something, and I’ll certainly get to work on it right away.

I’ve already been working on it, so frankly, I’m glad to hear the words “will be used.”

The last question is about priority. The Minister had talked about keeping traffic flowing. Actually, that’s interesting he said that, because I’ve got reports from industry that they’ve allowed non-perishable goods, things like lumber and whatnot, to travel through the highway system when convoys were allowed to travel...