Robert Hawkins

Mr. Speaker, all the Minister would have to say is that she'll issue an email or instructions or whatever language she wants to use -- I don't care, it's fine, I'm fine with that -- that she'll issue some awareness that they need to ensure before they officially award the contract that these numbers are reviewed because it's taken four months, in January to now, for them to find out the details of why they weren't successful, would she be willing to issue that direction to ensure it's issued in the most fair and reasonable way? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker; I appreciate it very much. Mr. Speaker, my question will be directed to the Minister of Finance regarding most recent bid on the liquor operations here in Yellowknife.

Mr. Speaker, a local bidder had bid on this project, and they -- their scoring seems to be quite subjective. I wrote an email because of the significant urgency on this. By the time they closed this contract, we don't want it to turn into a legal problem.

Mr. Speaker, by way of example, under northern experience, they got 50 out of 50, Mr. Speaker. But under local BIP, they got 1.8 out of 50. And under NWT...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I talked about the envoy yesterday, and I wanted to continue where I left off.

Mr. Speaker, as a reminder, just to set the table as they say, Ontario's budget is $232 billion. The GNWT hides in its shadow being 1 percent of that. But the Ottawa envoy is $140,000 a year. Mr. Speaker, the Quebec budget annually is approximately $166 billion. In round numbers, that's about 1.3 of our budget, in comparison to them, Mr. Speaker. So in other words, they pay their envoy $140,000. How are we seeing in comparison, in any straight line, why is our envoy worth $440,000...

Mr. Speaker, let's start with not typical. Massive fire evacuation. Not typical? Find a way to remove everyone on your own. And furthermore and lastly, Mr. Speaker, the direction of oh, sorry, the plane you've arranged on your own without a plan, without support from us, we're commandeering it. You're right, none of it was typical. And in some ways, Mr. Speaker, not fault, but we have to figure out these things.

So, Mr. Speaker, knowing the situation, would the Minister go back and review the situation to see if they can assess on why this outstanding amount is still there and, furthermore...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the 2023 evacuation, Avens was forced -- not of their own volition, but they were forced by the government to evacuate 57 vulnerable residents with little to no assistance. Mr. Speaker, they were even in carriage of people from Hay River and Fort Smith who needed that specialized care, and they were all too happy to do so, to support them. Avens was forced to cover a cost of $1.3 million that they had to take a mortgage out.

Now, after some long discussion, the government agreed to carry -- sorry, cover $900,000. They left 30 percent shortfall. That's...

Mr. Speaker, we all know that -- we all know who this envoy is, but we don't know where the envoy is. He has no office, not on the GNWT website. Nobody knows anything about how to track him down but he's worth $440,000, the top paid -- top paid --

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are to the Premier in follow-up to my Member's statement, Mr. Speaker, and for the record, we all know that the full costs of the -- his envoy, his friend there, is $440,000. So my question specifically is how many political appointments does the -- sorry, how many politically-appointed GNWT staff are paid more than the Prime Minister of Canada? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Although I may not have been around as long as you have per se, but I've been around a while in this process and to me, this motion is rolling out the welcome mat for censorship. I'm not going to overstate -- and I insist this is not an overstatement when I say, you know, what's next? You know, do we have the 1984 George Orwell thought police on, you know, we didn't like the Members' or the Ministers' decisions so I'm thinking bad thoughts? Like, out of frustration, obviously, and I certainly wouldn't do them, but I'm just saying where do we stop next? Is this a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've never seen consensus government as frustrating as I've seen it today in my four terms. Mr. Speaker, I repeatedly ask and point out to this Premier to involve Members as part of the team. Let them feel part of the solution as we work on these problems together. Members needs wins. You know what his response to me was? Write a letter.

Mr. Speaker, I've seen this letter writing exercise, or even questioned exercise, which is they're just waiting for our comments to officially trigger their official disagreement why we're wrong. But don't worry, it's...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

WHEREAS Section 2.(1) of the Electoral Boundaries Commission Act prescribes that an Electoral Boundaries Commission be established within two years after the day fixed for the return of the writs of the 2023 General Election;

AND WHEREAS section 2.(2) of the Act requires that the Commission shall be composed of a chairperson and four other members appointed by the Commissioner on recommendation of the Legislative Assembly;

AND WHEREAS the Legislative Assembly is prepared to make such a recommendation;

NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the Member for Kam Lake, that the...