Robert Hawkins

Mr. Speaker, as I’ve highlighted, we have a really simple situation here. First of all, we have a money problem and a machine that could be making us a lot of money every year. We have a revenue problem; we’ve heard the Finance Minister speak to it many times. Why do you think we’re in the situation we are? It’s time to go back to start doing business properly and efficiently. I think if the Minister listens very carefully, we could probably solve this problem without trying to embarrass the government by getting on and doing business right.

Mr. Speaker, I won’t be long, but I do want to emphasize a particular point. A lot of homes were broken up and challenged by this policy of the government. But the fact that they actually decided to make payment as compensation to recognize the mistake demonstrates the courage we need to have to take the next step to do the right thing, which is to formalize that through an apology. With that note, I hope our Premier will deliver that message. That one little step further may mean not just a little but a lot to a lot of people who have suffered through this.

Mr. Speaker, as the Minister of Transportation knows, runways are an extremely vital piece of infrastructure to any area, region or territory.

I'd like to know what the Minister is doing to pursue funding for this potential project. And if I may underscore, I think we just received a promissory note of $245.8 million. I'd like to hear what he’s doing to make sure the Yellowknife Airport runway extension is being considered in that potential pot of money.

Mr. Speaker, it’s no surprise to this Assembly and certainly not to the Transportation Minister that I’ve been in support of the extension of the Yellowknife runway. I feel it will open up a new tourism corridor, whether it’s for tourism or even business through flights over the top as they bring flights from Asia to North America.

I believe that expanding the runway in Yellowknife to accept larger planes will help not just Yellowknife. I think it will bring an economic boom throughout the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, as I understand it, there’s new information coming out that the...

I again reaffirm my belief that this will open up international tourism as well as international business.

One thing the Minister neglected to mention was: when can I expect this study to be open for public consumption? When does the Minister expect that this study will be made available for everyone to take a good look at?

I’d like to know if the Minister of Transportation has been working with the Minister of ITI — the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Investment — to discuss and further find out more information as to the economic boom that would be provided to the Northwest Territories.

Is the study looking at those types of considerations? Is his department working with ITI to make sure this relevant information is being brought forward to make the business case to expand the Yellowknife Airport?

Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to clearly state for the residents of Fort Smith that it was not my intention to portray all residents of the community of Fort Smith in a negative light. As we all know very well, it is usually the actions of a few individuals and not the community that causes this type of issue to rise to the surface. Those are the people to blame for this problem. Those who have chosen to make the lives of others miserable need to be brought to task.

Since I have made the concerns of my constituents public, I have been approached by even more people with similar...

Mr. Speaker, these are financially tight times, as everyone is extremely well aware. I just want to be clear for the record, here. The Abbotsford company doing these water treatment plant projects: were they the cheaper, bottom-line dollar company, or was the Northern firm working out of Inuvik with the Yellowknife group the cheaper one?

Mr. Speaker, I wish I could say I was done with MACA on this matter. Unfortunately, the answers are still very disappointing. There’s just continual doublespeak on the result and on where this project is going.

Mr. Speaker, I have a list here of contracts, and the Abbotsford company, the B.C. company I keep referring to — I’m not using their name; I know how that makes people edgy here, so I’m avoiding their actual specific name — did give a proposal for $22,500, and it was a contract to develop a proposal for a water facility.

So could the MACA Minister explain to this House — in good...

I guess if the Minister can give hypothetical answers, you know…. And it kind of puts me in an unfair position, because I can’t ask hypothetical questions to get the facts.

If we’re going to live in this sort of hypothetical world, are they in negotiations with this Northern company, or are they in negotiations with this Abbotsford, B.C., company for these water treatment plants?