Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will read them into the official record at this time. Bill 5, An Act to Amend the Motor Vehicles Act, includes amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act to increase options and flexibility regarding drivers’ licences and sanctions, reinstatement conditions, duration of suspension and cancellation to support the NWT High Risk Drivers Program, to clarify the registrar’s authority and responsibilities of medical professionals respecting driver medical examinations and requirements, and to address offence provisions related to driving in school zones and construction zones...

Thank you. Well, the Minister can keep repeating I have an opinion and that’s fine. I mean, the public sees it for what it is.

My next question for the Minister is: Who writes his Minister’s statements when they specifically target areas to talk about, which is child and family services matters? In other words, who would have written that? If he doesn’t want to name the name, name the section or the position. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to return to the Minister of Health’s answers here and I wanted to continue to ask questions. So let’s break down some of the departmental response in the Auditor General’s report. For the record, we all know in this building that the policies and procedures manual has been worked on for at least eight years. So, in other words, it makes it clear and relevant that everyone knows what’s going on, but I’ll save the questions of why didn’t they act sooner for the appropriate committee that will be reviewing the report line by line, and I’m speaking broadly, not...

The answers provided by the departments are very, I don’t know how to describe it, are exceptionally similar to the answers provided in the Auditor General’s report. So I would say this: Why are they identical? Only the Minister can answer this and if he wants to continue to dodge and try to play games about, oh well, it’s this or it’s this, and now the Member hasn’t read the report, he can play games, but the public can see this. The fact is there’s zero accountability on this and they’re getting ahead of the Auditor General, which breaks the spirit and the intent of consensus government and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Health Minister will tell you he does not have early access to the Auditor General’s report. Of course, he’ll probably tell you it’s all arm’s length, and of course, he doesn’t know anything about it until it’s tabled by yourself, Mr. Speaker. This is a paradox that now sits before this House.

Can the Minister of Health explain why the wording in the Minister’s statement given on February 25th of this year mimics much of the wording in the report tabled by yourself, Mr. Speaker, yesterday, and the report I’m referring to is the Auditor General’s report. Is this a...

That is fine, Mr. Chairman, I just thought it was important because it was an issue that came up, and as I mentioned, it’s surprising how many seniors watch our proceedings and certainly read our Hansard. I guess they just love watching us and following us, so maybe that’s…(inaudible)… But that said, on a serious note, that was a real question brought forward and I thought it would be nice to hear it from the department and officials. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’m not going to spend a lot of time asking a bunch of questions, but a particular issue that has arisen, and I thought it was well dealt with both in committee and certainly by the department, which was one of the questions posed by our seniors community, of course, is the issue of having to do medical examination. Although I’m familiar with the answer, and I’ve taken the answer and accepted it, I do think that there are some people who are curious on the public record. Those who watch at home and, believe it or not, actually a lot of seniors do watch our proceedings...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The probability is unreachable in any realm to put a bet on this, but let’s put it this way. With the likelihood of the statement as highlighted by the Minister that it’s written by the unit of the childhood family services area, they are, as we can only assume, the same unit that would have responded to the Auditor General of Canada in their written response represented by the department. Is it not probable that those are the same people writing the Minister’s statement and the response to the Auditor General? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. After that detailed and thorough review of the department, I will now move a motion.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If anyone doesn’t know, apparently we use PeopleSoft, because I think it has been said at least seven times if not more. Maybe we should have the PeopleSoft program sitting in one of those seats answering all these questions because if we only have information from October and we don’t get new information until April, that has to be at least six months. This is such an important issue.

What is the Minister going to do to ensure Northerners have current information before them so they can apply for these jobs? Because I can tell you, up and down this Valley, all four...