Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Madam Chair. I’ll certainly be brief. As I understand it, this will be a future discussion on the upcoming Caucus agenda, where Members will discuss at length. So what I will say and leave, certainly in brevity, that is I’m very concerned about the lack of collaboration with Regular Members on the development of this. I view this as a blueprint on the mission of where government is going from a vision context.

So in absence of sort of a collaborative approach, which we often hear about how we work together, the assurance of the 20-minute speech turned into 45 minutes and I’m sure it...

I just want to make sure it’s clear on the record, I’m fully supportive of the money being spent today on the environmental assessment and I wouldn’t want anyone to think that that isn’t the case. I’ve even stood steadfast on any questions from the public when they say we should stop now before it goes out of control. This is absolutely critical information to get the right price. I don’t change that.

Is the Minister saying today that we have to get all the environmental assessment work done for us to be able to develop a price in order for us to have a formal discussion with the federal...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was listening to the questions very intently by the Member for Range Lake and I just wanted some clarity on this particular subject. It’s not coming from an angle of criticism but more as an official clarity on the issue of 75/25 split. That’s been bouncing out there quite a bit. I’m not speaking pro or against the project. I’m just more committed and curious, of course, around the firmness of that offer from the federal government, because this is going to be an important element of the dialogue on the future bridge. If the Minister of Transportation could get that...

My next question to the Minister of Finance is: Would he be willing to investigate the process and the potential cost of what it would be to, in this particular regard, what would it cost the GNWT to set up a potential film tax credit? That way we can have something for future discussion. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The issue of film tax credit comes up from time to time and it was broached to me recently. The question was, quite simply: Why doesn’t the GNWT have one and present one to industry? It really came on the heels as a reminder that Arctic Air is booking its second season. My question to the Minister of Finance is: What type of process is involved in establishing a tax credit, such as film tax credit, that would help encourage industry to invest and do work here in the Northwest Territories? The process, Mr. Speaker.

I appreciate the answer from the Minister but the Governance Council, as I pointed out earlier, had already felt the decision of the Appeals Tribunal was not improper and unreasonable as to how it applies to the policies. Due to a fair bit of research we have been doing, we have not been able to find a conflict policy for it to apply to. In other words, they didn’t breach the policy because there is no policy. Ultimately, that is the question. It’s not about the specific example of names when I say this case; it’s about the bigger picture of how we deal with them in the future. Therefore, I...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, wish to acknowledge the fine group we have in the gallery for the Coalition Against Family Violence and, more specifically, the group from the Status of Women. Mr. Speaker, one of our Pages, Heather Flannigan, I would like to recognize as well. Finally, I would like to recognize my favourite table officer and I have no doubt yours as well, Anthony W.J. Whitford. One of our favourite guys here. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today because I wanted to talk about a conflict. Whether it’s perceived or real shouldn’t be so much the issue. It’s the matter that it’s thought there might be a problem. A constituent has brought to me a complaint where they believe, quite strongly, that there is a perceived bias within the WSCC process. In this case my constituent has informed me that, when they were working through the process, they used to approach this person when they were the claims advisor. But in the way process changes here, this person has now become the adjudicator. When their file...

Oh, no. To that issue.

Would the Minister be able to provide some correspondence on that type of discussion they seem to be having with their federal counterparts? Everyone in this House knows that this is going to be a challenging and very emotional debate if that 75/25 breaks down. We don’t know where that number will end and that’s why it’s fundamentally important early on to know that we do support the intent of this project and we have the support of the federal government to get behind it before it starts. As we know – and I’m not trying to turn this into the Deh Cho Bridge example – but who knows where the...