Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was going to wave off a second question until the Premier had said the last piece. I was going to concede on maybe his contrition in the sense of he'll communicate better or work better. For the record, Mr. Speaker, we work here too, not just Cabinet, and in theory the Premier's principal secretary should be working with Members and, you know, whatnot. That said, how much is this office going to cost now that he's made this unilateral decision? Because we know how much they're paid because on the -- what's online, the GNWT website. They're paid the highest employee we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have two sets of visitors in the gallery today. I'll start with the shorter list but not anywhere less worthy. The NWT Literacy Council is represented by one of my constituents today, Ms. Katie Johnson. She's also an advocate for many other causes which I certainly endorse.

The other group I'd like to recognize is a bevy of ladies, very smart, charming, and hardworking volunteers, and they are as follows: Ms. Martha McLellan, Ms. Sandra Hockes, Ms. Mika Cameron; and, a special thanks goes to Ms. Linda Koe who helped me with my statement today. And I wish to thank each...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I heard an opening with potentially a couple Members who are trying to decide which way to go, and I think I can help clarify or aid in their final-final decision. So maybe if someone's leaning towards a yes but sitting on the no side, hopefully this will do it, or someone looking for the reason why it was sort of filtered or created this way, I'm hoping I can do that.

I just want to respond to a couple things. You know, Cabinet's surprised by this motion. I assure you everybody on this House was surprised by this initiative in general, how it was cut. So I...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to return back to the Premier with the earlier question. I did ask how much this establishment of the special envoy office would cost the territorial government in Ottawa. If he could explain that in detail? Because we also know given the reference on the finance website, on the GNWT that is, that principal secretary's position is -- as a deputy head is one of the most expensive paid GNWT employees as noted in the public service. So I'm curious on how much this office is going to pay, how big is it going to get, etcetera. Thank you.

I didn't have it this time.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is where I get to be the long tooth of the Assembly. I remember that same message back in 2003. So what is the blockage from some of these initiatives that's stopping this transfer moving forward? Thank you.

Was the lottery concept part of the redesign by the department? Thank you.

Let's see, can't change the Minister. Has to stay on the question line. I'm old school. I forgot that the land -- Mr. Speaker, with respect to community -- I'm going to waive the question. Thank you.

Was the program relaunching itself, or did it take some intervention by the department and the Minister? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, I don't mind the Premier being a Premier, but this is a significant departure from regular business, especially when Members on this side of the House are asking for action, but he does it unilaterally without any type of consultation. Has he spoken to Indigenous governments that he's appointed his principal secretary to be the Ottawa face of our politics, has he spoken to MLAs? Like, who has he spoken to outside of his own principal secretary and himself? Thank you.