Robert Hawkins

The cell phone rates are clearly a problem to three large provinces. I’m surprised to think the Minister thinks it’s premature that they took action by stating that the NWT will wait until CRTC responds.

Would the Minister be willing to seek some consultation from the consumers in the Northwest Territories to get some input from their point of view as to how they feel about cell phone rates and how it impacts them? As I pointed out, cancellation fees are high, contracts are troublesome and there are ways to solve these things. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I use the opportunity to ask questions to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. In my Member’s statement I talked about consumer protection. My questions really come down to the moves that Manitoba and Nova Scotia have taken to cap cancellation fees, stop auto renewals and, certainly, build a communication line between cell phone service and their customers.

What is the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, who is also the Minister of consumer protection, aware of and what can he enlighten the House about? Thank you.

They could have complied with the award by leaving those pages blank, as well, by submitting them. That could have been an essence of how they complied with the greater contract.

The issue is simply I cannot take good faith on this. I am looking for information that proves they complied with the requirements and my e-mail dated February 13th asks for that information. I am not sure I need to resend it. Thank you. That’s my question. Will the Minister reconsider my e-mail sent February 13th? Thank you

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I had an exchange earlier with the Minister of Transportation that the only one element that I think was left out of this particular issue was timeliness of his response to complying with my request. The issue is that this bridge contract has been tendered. If you read the details, it looks like it’s been awarded, but has the...

People in Yellowknife would like to pay the price the expert down in…(inaudible)…had suggested, which was about $1.14 or so, in that range in Yellowknife. A couple of weeks ago when I raised this particular issue – and this is not a point of criticism, but I’m going to ask what the Minister has done since then. This is the area of consumer protection. This issue was a new area for him and he wasn’t familiar with it. He has been Minister for some time in this particular department. In the last two weeks, what has he done to educate himself in these particular areas as to his authority about...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. It’s almost been two weeks since I raised the issue of gas prices here in Yellowknife and the requirement possibly of legislation, or I should say regulation on this particular issue, the only way to get to the bottom of it. The day after I raised the issue, I had a couple of Ministers – they must have been lost – on our end of the hallway for some reason or another, but a couple of Ministers had asked, did my comments in the House change the price of gas and I’ll have to tell you no, it did not, because I filled up my vehicle the other day and I noticed it’s still...

Madam Speaker, I had asked for information, even to be blacked out, to prove that they had actually complied with the contract bidding process. As I said and I continue to say, part of the Appendix B had to be filled out that demonstrated they had a northern component. This is just an awarding of a sub to a southern company to yet again come do northern work.

Will the Minister comply with my request, which is by e-mail, asking for them to prove that they filled out Appendix B? The way it stands now, they did not and nothing says they complied fairly. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. My questions will quite obviously be for the Minister of Transportation, if anyone was listening to my Member’s statement. I am sure they were listening very carefully, of course, as to how important it was. Everyone was.

That said, I had asked the Minister’s office for detail on schedule B, or I should say Appendix B, to prove that the contractor had won the electrical bridge contract fairly and squarely. Maybe the Minister could, for the education of the House, say who officially won it and did they have northern content as required in the tender process. Thank you.

Thank you for that. I appreciate the Minister’s response. The issue of what’s possible, is this a concept that the department could get behind and evaluate, investigate and perhaps provide some consideration for the board? I’m not going to split hairs, 90 tags, 110 tags. Let the experts help drive that answer that makes sense. Caribou tags at 100 tags per outfitter, which I think we’re only talking about five outfitters here that are probably active that could be saved. Is that something that your department could investigate and see whether they could support and perhaps provide some...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’d like to pick up with the same subject Ms. Bisaro has raised. Specifically two areas I’d like to discuss.

In my Member’s statement and questions back in October, I talked about identifying what’s considered a number that will trigger our system to be re-engaged on an outfitter participation level. That would be question one. Recently in some discussions with some outfitters, as few as a hundred tags could make that much of a difference and we would no longer have to subsidize their lodges. It could get them back into business. Two questions there.

Would the Minister...