Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In scouring the Hansard over the last five years, I found over 30 instances where the Minister keeps saying I’m doing discussion, plans, and it goes on and on and on. The Minister’s defence is we have other priorities. There seemed to be money when they wanted to build an office building downtown immediately. They put an office building over education. This is not a new issue.

I call, once again, for the Minister to answer the question. What is he going to lay before the House to prove that they’ve actually done something on the issue of trying to build a stand-alone...

As the Education Minister says, of a critical need, I would have thought the first thing out of his mouth would have been education is a critical need for Northerners, not excuses why we won’t move forward on this particular project.

What options, really, have been developed in advancing the Aurora College project, and what is he willing to put on the table today that shows us we’re moving forward, as opposed to backwards, under his leadership?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to offer special recognition to the Minister of Education today. We completed yet another capital with nary a dollar to plan for a stand-alone campus in Yellowknife for Aurora College.

Not only is there no money for this project, there is no timeline. The Minister seems content with the perpetual rental of the college at its current location. I can remember when this was a short-term solution because we were going to build a real campus. There was some real excitement and energy behind that prospects of where we were going next with northern education at the post...

Well, the results seem to prove otherwise, that education isn’t a priority of this particular Minister. When I asked him back on May 31, 2012, about actually laying a plan before the House, giving us some clear definitions of the partners, et cetera, on timelines, he wrote me a letter back, which I tabled in the House almost two weeks ago, and it shows nothing other than says they’re continuing the lease.

What can this Minister do by demonstrating real progress has been made on this particular file? What can he tell Northerners? What can he table before the House? What can he actually do to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier this year the Minister of Education said that his department was in the preliminary stages of finding partners and funds for the stand-alone Aurora College campus here in Yellowknife. Often we get inaction confused with incompetence, so the fact is we want to know what is actually happening.

Is anything being done? What progress, to date, could be placed before this House as results to getting a stand-alone college in Yellowknife?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I recently wrote a request to all departments regarding a WSCC matter. In short, it was an information request based on monthly incidents and accident reports. I’m grateful that Human Resources was to coordinate the paperwork for the various departments, because without their assistance – that is the people in Human Resources – the various departments may have actually sent me the unedited information.

Now, the reason I say unedited is based on the concerns that some of the summary documents – the 195 pages I’ve poured over that were supplied to both me and Mr. Dolynny –...

There are endless examples and I won’t go through them here, but the point is that the average consumer doesn’t believe it’s going to be a wash. I appreciate the Minister feeling very confident in his belief that many of these trucking companies and businesses will eat these costs. I haven’t heard anybody who actually believes that.

What type of public consultation can the Minister of Transportation do to show people where there will be savings and where there will be potential costs on the individual consumer? That’s ultimately the issue.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wanted to follow up on some of the questions raised by Mr. Bouchard. I was thinking about this recently, and I think the timing couldn’t have been better. He brought up the concern about the Deh Cho Bridge and, certainly, the tolls. As far as the tolls are concerned, a number of people in the Yellowknife and surrounding area are concerned about how the tolls are transferred to the general public. In essence, they’re afraid that there could be an opportunity for a cash grab.

In the context that a toll may run anywhere from $250 to even $300, what type of public...

Again, one of the clear results that are being demonstrated by the trends, now I emphasize if you look at one department by itself, it may not stand out, but when you put them all together, it shows significant frequency of behaviour.

What is the Minister of Human Resources going to do on our leadership perspective to sew the departments together to ensure we are complying with, a) the filing requirements, and b) we’re working for a safer work environment, because that fight needs to be relentless? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I was trying to highlight some concerns regarding some of the penalties and the reporting under our WSCC requirements. It’s my belief that the GNWT should be considered a gold standard when we consider reporting on this particular legislation, regulations and guidelines which are, in essence, the ones we drafted up. So being late is certainly no excuse. Late fees should be filed without being late. In other words, late fees shouldn’t be the disturbing trend as they are. We have dozens and dozens of incidences and, as I have highlighted...