Robert Hawkins

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 36)

I’m really happy to hear we are going to continue to support them, but we listen to the Minister of Education saying we support them by the amount of kids they have, so we give them money per kid. But if we’re taking the kids away, are we just going to support them because we want to support them?

It was the Minister’s staff who told the day home owners that you have to budget better and if you can’t do it, bring us your paperwork and we’ll budget for you. They also told them that they need to accept that there will be a loss and they need to accept it.

How does that work when he’s saying now...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 36)

Thank you. I’ll have to revisit Section 2(5). I’ll have to revisit that section.

Would that determination – back to names and addresses – be determined on polling day or whatever day throughout the election period? Thank you.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 36)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to recognize the grades 5 and 6 Mildred Hall class and their teacher, Ms. Deb Horen. Before I introduce them all, I want to thank them for being extremely patient and well-behaved. I know how tough it is sitting here listening to us. It’s hard for us some days too. I’d like to quickly run through all their names and I’ll do my very best to pronounce them properly. I’d like to thank them all for coming again today. I’d like to acknowledge Alexis Head, Anna Washie, Arayah Hudson, Ashton Moss, Azeen Murtaza, Brooklyn Bertram, Carter Yakeleya...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 36)

One could say if a person is incarcerated, all of their things are there at that moment and one would assume then, by that logic, that they’d all become Kam Lake voters, all 200 or whatnot added to the roll.

That said, following that logic, would a shelter be determined as the residency of any resident present?

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 36)

Perhaps we can get some enlightenment on how we can have access during the election process. How would a candidate have access to the names of members in shelters, and if it’s a men’s shelter I suspect they don’t allow women candidates in there, and if it’s a woman’s shelter I suspect that there’s challenges of men going there. So if we’re adding requirements to provide names and addresses, how do we assure that we have the fulsome voters list supplied to all candidates so everyone is on the same footing? Thank you.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 36)

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am fully in support of the context of providing statements from financial institutions. That’s not the issue here. The issue here is they don’t necessarily guarantee that they line up. First and foremost, if you are running from a small community that does not have a financial institution and there’s no guarantee that there will be an available one every time, every election, you are then forced with options. It’s easy to say there will be one in every Northern… Well, not every community has a Northern. So the issue is if someone makes a donation to a particular...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 36)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s interesting; they’re abstaining on this motion, maybe because they don’t have the numbers. It’s just to reference a point.

I worry, frankly, that the Minister has misunderstood the issue. He’s too quick to comment and point out and reference experts, experts none of us would deny. Frankly, I don’t care what the experts are saying about JK because that’s not the issue. It’s about the implementation. I believe the expert Shanker had said by age four it’s already too late anyway, so are we accomplishing the goals? Not one Member on this side of the House spoke against...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 36)

Mr. Chair, I would add the following at the end of the last word and it states, “where and when practicable.”

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 36)

WHEREAS the Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) plans to roll out a new Junior Kindergarten Program in 22 communities in the fall of 2014;

AND WHEREAS in some of these communities there are well-established Aboriginal Head Start programs with only four students per teacher, delivered at no cost to NWT residents or the Government of the NWT;

AND WHEREAS Aboriginal Head Start programs will be impacted by the new Junior Kindergarten Program;

AND WHEREAS funding from ECE is being reduced in some education districts and allocated to others in order to implement junior kindergarten;

AN...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 36)

Mr. Chairman, I move that the current limit of $100 remain for each anonymous donation, but that each candidate be limited to a total of $1,500 in their anonymous contributions to his or her campaign. Thank you, Mr. Chair.