Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Madam Chair. Where I’ll start today is maybe on the topic of bullying. It seems like a timely subject to bring up today and, of course, now that we have the Minister and the officials before us.

I would say, I, too, would like to give compliments to the Minister, and certainly the staff that brought forward the initiative of the corsages. It was kind of a neat little touch and that went well for us to help support the youth, so I want to thank the Minister and the department for that. I think that was a nice thing. And, you know, those little things go a long way, you know, oddly...

By way of example, if a school uses more than – I know they use more than 1,000 kilowatts, by the way, if a school used 1,000 kilowatts a month and all of a sudden they’re using 1,200 kilowatts a month, and we all know this is a ridiculous example in the sense of scale, but the point is, what is considered the stewardship and relationship built on consumption? If I said their power bill went up to $1,000 and it’s now $1,200, well, that could be because the power rate has changed, but the consumption may have stayed the same. It’s not fair to tackle the dollar amount but it’s consistent to...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In the application of these issuance of bonds or deposits, is there a difference between the percentage or value we would hold back in these circumstances, and maybe if they can provide some examples why you would use what percentage where or what low percentage or high percentage depending on the case. Thank you.

I do hear his point about agreeing to disagree. I would maybe leave this point with asking what type of analysis would be required to maybe revisit this subject, which is, in essence, just blobbing the money together. Public Works’ budget is further bolstered with an additional $20 million, and we treat it in a similar manner as the operations, as noted earlier.

I’m just trying to provide probably not the perfect example but say everyone decides that they want to start leaving the lights on at the Lahm Ridge Tower every night and that’s not a Public Works and Services building. They’re located somewhere else. I think it’s by and large a Transportation and Education type building. More of a directorate-level style as opposed to an operation. If people started leaving lights on late at night, not turning off computers, who becomes responsible? I’m trying to get the link between some responsibility for stewardship of the cost of the power versus those...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Of course, today is stop a bully day and all Members have received a copy of this little petition or, sorry, I should say contract. It says, Stop a Bully, Safe and Anonymous. It’s an anti-bullying contract. I would like to table mine, also with a pledge. I promise not to bully Cabinet for the rest of the day. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Is there a clear distinction as to why we would just not bother with the chargeback at all and just get FMB to fund, for example, Public Works an additional $20 million and avoid the additional, sort of, paperwork and the flow to each individual department and the accountability on that sense?

Because in some respects, I heard the Minister’s point. I realize it, which is it’s just a direct flow-through of payment schedule when it comes to, say, the power bill or the fuel bill. But in this one, what about maintenance? The department, say, maintains, I’ll say a school. That might not be the best...

Is there a chargeback in any way to the individual departments?

Mr. Speaker, I would appreciate if the Minister would stop saying they go to my committee. It’s the Assembly’s committee, first of all. Second of all, I think this is an issue that the Minister should be concerned about, not just some of the committee members.

What can the Minister do under the context of monitoring in the sense of do we have a definition of what a Northerner is? We don’t know if these people have health care cards, whether they have a post office box or even if they file their taxes here in the Northwest Territories, so we must have some rules to govern this by rather than...

I think my last question, assuming it’s a favourable answer obviously, is, can I get a copy of this detail?