Robert Hawkins

I think the Minister cited the $15 million extra, and if I heard him correctly -- and I ask him to correct me if I’m wrong -- he said that would be charged back to the project under the regulations under Section 10. It talks about the ability to have money deducted from the cost incurred by the government from the amounts payable to the concession area. I’m wondering, that $15 million that was additional because of the change in the project and the project scope that affected the project’s financial bottom line. Is it that type of section that we’ll be drawing back that $15 million? So...

In reading the Deh Cho Bridge Act I noticed that under the regulation section when they’re drawn up, of course, it looks like Members of the Assembly need to be included in this process even for being kept up to date. That’s under one of the sections. It’s under 10, it’s not important to go to, but it’s under 10-2(b)(1) and I’m just wondering have regulations to this date been brought up or drawn up and have they been developed in any form or fashion. Thank you.

By and large can the Minister describe our payments as, again, by and large, self-liquidating to a large extent? Can it still remain to be seen as this is a project that’s paying for itself? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement today I talked about programs and services and the need to make sure that they’re fairly distributed throughout the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, it does bother me when I hear about a community, whether it’s in Wrigley or it’s Tsiigehtchic, that they don’t have fair services, because the first thing they do is look to Yellowknife and assume that we have everything, and I don’t think that’s necessarily the truth. But I also feel for the communities and want to support them when they need their services. That’s why my Member’s...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As Members we are often busy lobbying for more programs and services and certainly more facilities for our constituents and ridings. As we all have become well aware that our job, number one, is to make sure that our constituents’ issues are brought forward, and our roles as MLAs make this very important as we try to demonstrate the needs in our ridings.

Every community, I believe, needs to be treated fairly. Therefore, I want to use my Member’s statement today to talk about the importance of community and regional standards. By that I mean standards that provide...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve recently been informed that the radiologist contract has ended in some type of dispute. I’m not precisely sure if it was about money or technical expertise but, if I understood it correctly, people were brought up to provide that service. I’m certainly concerned that this may be putting Northerners at risk. It does cause quite a bit of worry, because anybody who goes to a radiologist, this is not an elective type of treatment, this is obviously for very serious concerns.

I’m wondering what the Minister of Health and Social Services can do to update this House as to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m trying to understand the Premier’s apprehension to coming up with a guiding principle and working with this side of the House to help formulate it into a long-term policy and a strategy. Mr. Speaker, would the Premier be willing to draft a policy that helps to develop this type of framework I’m raising here today and bring it to all Members to have some type of discussion to ensure that there’s a fair, equal distribution of resources and services, as well as programs throughout the Northwest Territories that help serve all our people? Not just here in Yellowknife...

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the answer from the Premier, but I’m not hearing a guiding principle or a Cabinet policy that guides this. I hear factors, but the issue, really, I’m talking about is building a framework so then it’s transparent. It’s transparent amongst Members so then we can help advocate, so if you are a community and needed a particular issue or one Member’s particular riding needed a particular focus and we were able to hold it up against the planning process that’s fair, transparent and equally understood.

Now, I know the Premier is going to respond only to this next point, but...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize and thank one of our Pages, Paige Elkin. She’s been a stalwart Page of this Assembly on many occasions. For the information of all Members of this Assembly, she’s also on our NWT curling team, and she’s also my son’s favourite babysitter. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move we report progress.

---Carried