Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wouldn't call that esoteric but there was some interesting -- I didn't follow any of that language other than there's a timeline, we're meeting the timeline, and the timeline's on time. I mean, you know, what public information can be delivered in this House today as to where or what we can expect? In other words, have they met all their qualifications to now transition formally into a polytech? Are they doing a public announcement in the next six months or three months that they will be talking about the next phase such as how do they fully transition...

Mr. Speaker, I'm referring to something outside government, and how I'll frame it this way very quickly is a person in the industry said they're not doing this, and they're a well-known person in the industry. They talk about the disconnect between the NWT geological society -- or survey, sorry, and industry on hand. They used to have regular meetings, Mr. Speaker. It's that kind of relationship outside of government.

So, Mr. Speaker, would the Minister be willing to sit down and talk about that and find a way to bring back an independent panel to be able to make recommendations because our...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, joining the semi-mini theme day, Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about the economy and more particular, I want to speak about the mining issue.

Mr. Speaker, my Member's statement I pointed out that the benefit of an independent sort of mining committee to review, we could convene a three-person or four-person blue chip panel and bring back Bob, you know, our guy who knows his stuff, who called the red alert, Mr. Speaker. Would the Minister be willing to do that, create a panel of people who have specialized expertise, could say what are the issues they foresee in our...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm going to join my colleagues on this mini-theme day regarding the economy. But first I'm going to set the table.

Mr. Speaker, some of us, Mr. Testart and I in particular, have asked the government to prorogue. And the reason we do proroguing is to reset the government's refocus and align its mandates. Mr. Speaker, it's true the economy is listed as one of the four mandate pillars, but it doesn't feel like that. Mr. Speaker, the opportunity being missed here is, frankly, that the federal government has changed, maybe our focus has changed, or maybe our...

Original? Oh, yeah, yeah; it's getting confusing. Okay, now we're on the same page.

I think I'm within my realm that if we talked about the importance of unanimity on doing things collectively, I will stay focused on Bill 3 and the previous examples. And I think that that's important foundation sometimes if you change things. But, again, what's critical, and absolutely codified, is our traditions and practices matter. And whether you provide one example, you know, we can't use the word precedent because it has to be a normal sense that it's structured around. I don't believe at any time that...

I wouldn't mind debating for a second if it's possible, Mr. Speaker. I'm trying to figure out exactly what I revealed in the context of responding to the Member who just spoke. So in other words, I felt I was responding to his saying internal committee report was coming. That's only an internal process. He had just stated that on the record, and I was, hence, responding. So I can withdraw the points just to move on, but I was responding to him. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I won't be long. I will just quickly say first off thank you to all my colleagues who spoke. Every one of them said something of value that I thought was very interesting. I will take on that note specifically the comments made by my good colleague from Monfwi and Deh Cho. I think what I look forward to is working with them to create a motion to say exactly what they want to say, and that way we get that conversation out specifically to target those folks who need that type of help. And I just said to my colleague from Deh Cho and Monfwi that I'd help them work that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, before I begin, I want to recognize the team from Avens that is in the gallery today. I named them all to the best I could earlier, but.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd qualify that as the third best answer I've heard today. So that was pretty good.

So, Mr. Speaker, the next question is simply this: Is the government, is the Minister, is the department, still committed to this project? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment if she could give this House an update where the polytech is on the work plan of the department and the college and when can we see some type of movement forward on this particular initiative that's important to the growth of training and education in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.