Robert Hawkins

I’m going to use the opportunity of oral questions here to talk about the issue I raised in my Member’s statement, which is the regional economic plans and how will they be implemented throughout the Northwest Territories.

My question to the Minister of ITI is as such, as I’ve already stated. I want to know a little detail about these particular plans before we get into, sort of, the harder types of questions. I think we need to know how much money is being spent on each plan and which regions will be focused in on these plans in this budget cycle. Let’s start with that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to use this opportunity to maybe have our very sturdy Member over there provide some detail on what campaign advertising is. I want to get some detail on that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Maybe for the benefit of the public – I’ve heard this answer before, and I’ll explain it when I say it – maybe the Minister can help us understand what “fully qualified” means.

As we all know, things like housing maintainers are not Red Seal tradespersons, so I want to make sure we have the right people on the ground making the assessment. The only thing I would say, Mr. Speaker, is a housing maintainer – this is my last question, Mr. Speaker – cannot go in and identify an electrical problem. They can suspect there’s an issue there, but they’re not qualified to say it...

I think I got most of them. Just to drill down slightly deeper, how many people are actually qualified at his point? I think the Minister had said they are training some folks, so let’s get that on the record. How many people are specifically qualified to identify mould and send it out for testing? Nobody can just stand there and say it’s this type of mould. It has to be sent out.

That said, what regions do they typically work? The Minister said just a moment ago, every public housing unit is condition rated every year, so I just want to make sure we’re doing this regularly and in which regions...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That’s exactly why I’m asking about the implementation plan, how we get this into the input of those regions into this plan so we actually get developing business, because business is the right people to help create the economy. That’s the detail I’ve been trying to get here today and I look forward to what the Minister is now going to say. Besides the plan, besides the implementation plan, let’s hear the details of how we’re going to get there and get people working. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, it’s my understanding that we were going to work on about three Economic Strategy plans and it was my understanding that they would be at least in the range of about $50,000 each. I’m doing that off memory, so it may not be the exact number for each plan, but I’m sure it’s a close number bracket.

That said, I’m trying to source out which particular regions this government is going to help focus in on and what type of discussion are we going to have to ensure that we focus in on those regions that need a lot of help and see if we can get their economies bustling so they can work in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to talk today about a very important subject, and that subject is jobs. Jobs are critical no matter where you live. They help your family, they help you and they make sure that the economy runs. Economic opportunities are absolutely critical throughout our Northwest Territories because they do bring those jobs so we can have Northerners working. A Northerner working is certainly a much happier one than one living on the system.

With true employment rates as low as they truly are, we cannot wait for the federal government to step in or some other person such as a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too wish to recognize Karen Wright-Fraser. She’s certainly a well-known lady to all of us and I’ve known her for a long time. She deserves much credit for what she does as an artisan. She’s put many devoted hours into supporting her culture and demonstrating it through her beautiful designs. Now, I don’t know if she continues to practice the same amount – she used to have the store – but I know she’s busy on a personal level, and that is keeping the culture and history alive for the Gwich’in people. We’re lucky to have people like her, ensuring that it’s alive, it’s...

I believe in the Yellowknife region, I’m not sure about South Slave, but I know we have the SARA, so that’s the search and rescue group. I know, Mr. Speaker, in your region we have the Rangers and we have certain resources that we can tap into, but Northerners being Northerners – the wonderful type of people we are – we want to help.

What more can the Minister do from his particular position and what type of public communications can he send out from the Department of Justice to provide opportunity for people to lend a hand?

Mr. Speaker, I just want to say – and this will be my last question –...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to use my second opportunity to get some information from the Minister of Justice, as we all have been recently informed in a very troubling circumstance that’s happened. We’ve been informed lately about a Japanese tourist, what appears to be a single lady, who has gone missing for reasons unknown and, of course, it’s best that we don’t speculate, but certainly it’s hard not to fear the worst.

Residents such as myself and Northerners at large would like to know what the Department of Justice is doing. People have been asking me questions such as what is the RCMP...