Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s a great pleasure that I table the Compendium of Stories from the J.H. Sissons Grade 4 Class by their teacher Catherine Siegbahn.

Lastly I’ll say I’ll encourage all Members to take the opportunity and such to encourage their students in their communities to try something similar. The kids are quite proud of the opportunity.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to use my Member’s statement to talk about the Grade 4 J.H. Sissons class who have been invited here today, and as Members will note, they are in the gallery right now.

I was invited some time ago to be a listener for their Authentic Audience Project as they wrote stories. Mr. Speaker, I’ll use my Member’s statement today to acknowledge each student and as I read their name and the name of their story, of course, I’d like them to rise so Members can see who they are.

Their teacher is Ms. Catherine Siegbahn, followed by the students: Cameron Bond, Fred the...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move we report progress.

---Carried

Thank you, Madam Chair. I’m sure I must have missed the Minister’s response to my question about hotel tax. I’m just wondering if we can get that on the record what I asked during opening comments. What’s interesting is it’s the only subject I talked about. I’d hate to think that 100 percent of my comments were ignored.

The next question of course is: What have they produced to date? I appreciate the Minister has just pointed out that they have not met, but this Aboriginal strategy must have produced something since its inception.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Today I’d like to raise the issue of the Aboriginal Employment Strategy. That framework was worked on and certainly developed in the last government about three years ago. Like the analogy of fireworks, it came out with a big bang, there was a bit of a fizzle and some oohs and ahs and it sort of disappeared. The question really is: What has happened to the Aboriginal Employment Strategy that was once heralded as a new opportunity to tap into a human resource such as the Aboriginal people that has not been promoted often enough? Thank you.

There is no page for hotel tax.

Thank you, Madam Chair. There is just one of the items that haven't been mentioned as I listened to my colleagues. I won’t spend a lot of time repeating the other items already mentioned, but there were some pretty good ones.

The issue that I noticed had been missed – and if it had been spoken on, I apologize for that description – is hotel tax. We all know it goes through this department. The Hotel Association has been working quite diligently to bring this initiative to the forefront. The fact is the hotel tax, if implemented properly through our Municipal and Community Affairs in partnership...

Thank you. That was a good segue into my next question, which is I’m under the understanding that the advisory committee hasn’t met for almost a year. So if it’s finally back on track or the wheels of this machinery are moving along, what have they actually produced in the last, I’ll call it the term or the inception of the Aboriginal strategy and how much money has been invested to develop what we’re about to hear from the Minister?

Has the Minister or anyone from the department been talking to the City of Yellowknife as a potential partner in this particular initiative? They may not be a cash partner, but they may be able to work in partnership such as the library I mentioned the other day. It’s a project in the not-too-distant future. The City of Yellowknife has always wished to advance that particular one. I can’t speak for them specifically, but that’s the type of partnership I’m talking about. Now, there may be private corporations, but how much investment has the department done on advancing other types of...