Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to take the time to recognize one of our Pages, Ms. Paige Elkin. She’s a constituent in Yellowknife Centre as well as my kids’ favourite babysitter. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I think the answer there is the willingness to look at this issue. I want to get assurance from this Minister, because my constituent has brought this issue forward to me and wants to continue to make investment in the North. You don’t have to go too far to see their investment; it’s quite significant. The investment by this company that I’m referring to, I’d be more than pleased to refresh the name to the Minister after this question period. The fact is, they don’t represent northern business anymore; their name, maybe. Would the Minister be willing to reinvestigate this business...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The BIP policy, as many of us well know, was established to help grow, foster, develop northern business and development. I think, in many cases, it has worked quite successfully to demonstrate that there is a real genuine interest in developing the northern economy and establishing southern businesses here in the North. Mr. Speaker, sometimes, though, when a company is listed under the BIP policy, they get sold and basically all that is left is the storefront and the actual business that does the work vacates the Northwest Territories but they keep their storefront...

Those are excellent answers from the Minister because I can really hear his desire to make sure that they’re successful. Is there any philosophy based in the funding principles of these agencies that some of this money will be lost or lapsed, or is the program designed from the philosophy to make sure that they get as much money as possible that we put on the books for them?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was listening very attentively to the questions raised by the Member for Weledeh. I certainly support the issue of trying to support our daycares in any way possible. The fact is the support that they need is certainly a very worthy effort that they do taking care of our youth as well as providing education. Mr. Speaker, when I was listening to this, it kind of made me think of the argument municipalities used or often the argument that the territorial government uses which is when they go to Ottawa and they talk about base plus. I am just wondering in the context of...

The Minister had said we need more consultation with the public and then he said a few other things I didn’t quite write down, but he also said works towards this with the standing committee. I just want to be clear, in my experience here, that almost sounded like a commitment that the Department of Justice will investigate this issue and create some type of public dialogue. Can I get that clearly on the record today, that the Minister of Justice will create some type of dialogue framework or discussion paper, get out, speak to committee as well as speak to the public?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The issue that I raised today in my Member’s statement will be the focus of my questions to the Minister of Justice. I keep raising the issue of fair rent for working families. My first question to the Minister of Justice is, what is stopping his department from looking into the issue of some type of rent control that provides protection for working families due to increased cost to the rent?

Is the Minister willing to, if I was to refresh the Minister with that name here later today…refresh his memory, that is; I said refresh the Minister...

---Laughter

…I’ll leave that up to his own discretion. Mr. Speaker, if I remind the Minister later of this name, would he be willing to send someone down tomorrow morning to make sure that this business that I would describe as a mock northern business, to make sure that they, sort of, get the treatment that they deserve when we have true northern businesses wanting to make further investment but they don’t believe that there’s a true level...

Mr. Speaker, to avoid naming the specific company, the Minister knows the one I am referring to, because I actually brought it to his attention a couple of months ago. The fact is that the storefront exists but it was in the context of a manufacturing business that could be described as...Once the business was sold, the business moved all of its manufacturing to Edmonton to the company that does it. So they just filtered through the Yellowknife office. Mr. Speaker, by the definition of this Minister for ITI, in his view, would this still qualify as a northern business although it is sold to a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I certainly hear the willingness of the Minister who wants to take charge of this issue and certainly solve some of the technical problems, which are stabilized funding. When can this side of the House, be it Social Programs or all Regular Members, see some work done on this issue that I’ve described as stabilizing the funding, perhaps through the method of a base-plus funding formula that would ensure that if an occasional student misses once in a while, it doesn’t fully disrupt the funding of that agency and put them into a tailspin of havoc and unable to pay their...