Robert Hawkins

Mr. Speaker, since raising this issue some time ago, I have had a number of people express certain support for this type of issue. Again, they see two things, the land and gas station looks like an eyesore. The second issue was highlighted earlier today, is the fact that the potential for an environmental risk is certainly there.

Mr. Speaker, hopefully this will be the final question on this issue, because I think the Minister is certainly addressing it. Is the Minister open to public opinion on this? Is there a possibility of raising awareness, of looking for some ideas on how to fairly...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to use this occasion to do a quick follow-up to both a statement and some oral questions I had for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. Some time ago I was asking the Minister about an issue, which is abandoned gas stations here in Yellowknife and certainly throughout the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, the issue really comes down to this: that gas stations, for whatever reason they are closed, are left as public eyesores and certainly the potential for an environmental mess being there is quite high. So, Mr. Speaker, my...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about the issue of barrier-free schools as well as their playgrounds. The issue at hand is simply that we have one particular school, and I have no doubt in my mind that there are many others throughout the Territory, that could use some support to make sure that the school and the playgrounds are barrier-free. Mr. Speaker, my hope is that the Minister will see this as a broader and long-term solution, recognizing, I know, we can’t solve every problem at once but we can certainly work towards doing our best today. Mr. Speaker, my...

Mr. Speaker, for the record, it was when you miss your $32 payment it then springs into market rent so then you have to pay the full rent, just for clarification. But, Mr. Speaker, the Minister’s briefing note doesn’t talk about real life. The Minister’s briefing note talks about sort of pie in the sky about, well, don’t worry about it, we’ll take care of it and we’ll get them on track. Well, I’ll tell you, it was just a couple of weeks ago I had a family that was catching up to their arrears and yet they got this Supreme Court notice to get out. Lo and behold, MLAs like myself and other MLAs...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today in my Member’s statement I talked about some of the complexities of eviction notices where public housing tenants are evicted and I proposed sort of some of the problems in a sense of also presenting a solution whereas if we had someone working with them in an intervention program, we may be able to avoid some of these evictions that end up on the shoulders of some of our NGO organizations.

But, Mr. Speaker, incidentally, as I pointed out, the Department of Health, Department of Housing and certainly the Department of Education...Oddly enough I saw...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’m concerned about the increasing number of evictions from public housing and I’m equally concerned about the fact that the Ministers who are responsible for Housing, Education and Health and Social Services do not appear to be working together to reduce the number of evictions.

Last year, a report on homeless women and families in the NWT said that the number of homeless women is in the hundreds. Where do these Ministers think that these evicted families are to go? Who is to support them? What are their options in finding housing in their community or...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just further to Committee Report 8-16(3), I just have one motion and I will now read that into the record.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Your Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures is pleased to provide its Report on the Evaluation of the Use of Laptop Computers in the Legislative Assembly and commends it to the House.

The Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures tabled Committee Report 3-16(3), Report on the Use of Laptop Computers and Blackberry Devices in the Legislative Assembly, on February 11, 2009.

The report examined a number of issues pertaining to the use of portable electronic devices by both Members of the Assembly and our staff in the performance of our duties.

As a result of the review...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, rules of the House stopped me from saying what I really want to say, but the fact is, it’s not true. I can tell you right now, because I have a constituent who was trying to pay their arrears at the Yellowknife Housing Authority and they were catching up and it was certainly within reach and yet they were told that if they didn’t pay it all up by that Friday they were out. And guess what. They got a reprieve for a couple of weeks and then the Supreme Court folks showed up and it was only because there was a mix-up in processing the paper that gave them a couple...

Well, Mr. Speaker, let me paint a picture. You’re an at-risk family, you’re paying $32 a month, you miss one of the month’s rents and all of a sudden your rent now jumps from $32 to market rent and you start getting letters in the mail and you’re afraid of these letters and all of a sudden the letters keep coming and all of a sudden you’re now getting a knock on the door and you’re being told that you have 30 days to move out.

Mr. Speaker, our tenant officers do not have training in any sort of a social work aspect. So, Mr. Speaker, noting that, these staff are data entry folks, not social...