Robert Hawkins

Mr. Speaker, what analysis really is broken out of this low-income factor? The Premier is right; it’s more than one jurisdiction. As a matter of fact, there is the A-base and there is the B-base, and the A-base, for sake of illustration, is the three territories. The B-base, which is a lesser tax deduction, affects places like northern Alberta, northern Saskatchewan and works its way across Canada. But with that illustration, we should be really asking ourselves, how do we encourage people to live here in the Northwest Territories, and by waving off those folks for whom this could make a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I rise with the opportunity to talk about the cost of living as well. What’s important to say is I remember the days when people talked about families with one paycheque. I can’t remember how long ago that was. Any family with one paycheque must be an amazing money manager to this day. Because I will tell you, nowadays two paycheque families are having a tough go at it just getting through their day to day.

As always, I want to give thanks to my favorite champions out there in the government, that’s called the Bureau of Stats, because they have provided me these...

When the Minister keeps saying how he keeps listening to all of these people, I’m certainly glad that’s the case. I’m sure the Minister listened very carefully when we went from one end of the Assembly on this side of the House to the other and all 11 Regular Members loudly, clearly and very passionately spoke that we didn’t want Junior Kindergarten implemented in the manner as described by the Minister because it would affect Aboriginal Head Start, it would hurt day homes and it would have all these types of problems all related to funding and perspective.

So when the Minister says he listens...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was going to ask questions about the morel issue, as my colleague Mr. Nadli brought up, but there is so much to talk about with the Junior Kindergarten issue. I can’t miss an opportunity to highlight the importance of this.

While I was in the communities on the weekend, Mr. Speaker, someone had told me they didn’t want the Junior Kindergarten program, but the Minister over-wrote that community and so he used his authority to tell a community you’re getting what you’re getting. So, at the end of the day, what’s the point of having community input and the community...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Whether it’s the DEA or DEC or MLA, I would be hopeful that the Minister would take our opinions into account. I trust the community people that have made a good decision.

The Minister keeps talking about having to examine what we’ve learned. It’s been three months, next month it will be four and we’ve all reached the point where we say it’s been too far, we might as well continue or we’ve done these communities, wait until we get to the next set. The bottom line is we have a DEA that passed a motion that says this is not right for them.

Would the Minister be willing to...

This is the same Minister when I asked him to direct Aurora College to make them have e-mail so they are accessible to the students is now overriding a decision by the DEA in Fort Providence. They passed a duly qualified elected board motion that doesn’t want this particular case.

Maybe the Minister can explain why he has ministerial authority and he wants to execute it and direct it at his own will, yet ignores the will of community people trying to take care of their own community in a fashion that’s best for them. Can you explain that to the House?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Opportunities are everywhere, but unfortunately, when opportunity knocks, it doesn’t always wait for Northerners to get up and grab it. That’s why we must look very closely at what has happened over the last summer.

As Northerners have passed this recent tragic situation of many, many forest fires, and as we will be paying for them for years to come, we must look towards the opportunities that will be bountiful across our territory. As my colleague for the Deh Cho had said, the mushroom opportunities will be there.

We all know that the opportunities of accessibility and...

Thank you for the opportunity to speak to this important motion, Mr. Speaker. Often I find myself at Avens talking to people who don’t necessarily live there but they see one day that they may be there. But quite often what I hear from them is they just don’t see the room available for them to retire in a particular place like Avens. This story or narrative could be applied anywhere really, I mean whether you live in Inuvik or Hay River or Fort Simpson, and even in places like Fort Providence or McPherson. I agree with the MLA for Mackenzie Delta that people in his communities probably want to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I use the opportunity to recognize Mrs. Cindy Dolynny in our gallery here today. She’s sitting next to a particularly friendly person we all know very well today. I’m not allowed recognize them in particular, but that said, I’d like to recognize Mrs. Dolynny in the House.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll concede I probably could have put that a little nicer, but that’s the truth and the public wants to hear the truth. Sometimes they want to hear it exactly for what it means.

The last question is: When you’ve got deputy ministers telling these day home operators that even though you’ll lose one-third of your income, it’s up to you to start budgeting better, it’s time for you to accept the fact that the loss is yours and you need to start accepting this, these are quotes from family people who went to your meeting organized by you.

Does the Minister stand by that...