Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to continue along my line of questioning I had earlier today about my constituents who are being pulled down into poverty because our government doesn’t seem to want to help them.

Mr. Speaker, it is obvious the Minister of Education wishes to protect the bureaucratic approach when there is a special circumstance here that is required. So I am going to hopefully look towards the Minister of Health to maybe see some sensitivity in addressing this serious issue. Mr. Speaker, extra home care will help this family get on their feet. Would the Minister of Health and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If the Minister would take time to look at this scenario and this specific case he would realize that this family is going to lose their home by these fair rules designed by the system. Mr. Speaker, because we do not exempt the mortgage that a family member is paying and this government doesn’t pay the mortgage and fact that a doctor tells them that they need full-time care at home, that leaves no one left to go to work to pay the mortgage, Mr. Speaker. So when the father helps, they get it all clawed back so they lose any net gain they would have gotten from income...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are to the Minister of Health and Social Services on the heels of my statement today, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister to agree to look into my constituent’s case to see if anything can be done to ensure this family receives the assistance they need without requiring them to move into a hospital for the rest of their life or requiring their partner to remain unemployed by making some discussions and headway on the income support policy we have. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to draw attention to the plight of a constituent who is falling through the cracks of our system. This woman is suffering from a debilitating illness and, in her doctor’s opinion, requires round-the-clock care. However, she is entitled to home care services for up to 10 hours a week. The only alternative beyond that is she has been offered to be hospitalized. In order for her to be able to stay at home, her partner had to quit work to provide the care she needs. As a result, the couple now relies on income support. This couple owns their own home...

Thank you. There is just one other area I wouldn’t mind highlighting while I have the floor here, which is there was some mention made earlier about some training and wanting to make sure our employees are up to speed on the return to the original program, and if the Minister has some highlights he can point out in this particular area I think that will just sort of end the areas of questioning I have at this time. I just want to make sure that our employees have the proper training to the new PeopleSoft if that’s the case or if we’re going back to the old version, the new old version...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to put on record I raised the PeopleSoft issue last week and it’s easy to sort of get all wound up and excited about a process and a problem, but when the Minister replied, it was Minister Dent at the time, that they were going back to the original platform sometimes referred to as vanilla, well I wish we would just clearly state for the record the original platform rather than mixing it up with all these odds and sod names.

I got some feedback from a constituent who actually is a government employee who was listening in and I want to say for the record…

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister is correct; a number of people have talked about this situation, but nothing has been put forward to solve the problem. The problem is that this lady in the wheelchair cannot be left alone. Her doctor says she cannot be left alone. We can do all the fancy designs, schematics, and make some adjustments in their house, but it doesn’t change the fact that she requires full-time care. So does the Minister want to state today that we are going to give her 10 hours and that is it and we will let the family fall apart, or is he going to say today...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will make it simple for the Minister because that sort of preamble didn’t work. Will he send a message to his department to increase the home care services provided to this family so we can allow them to go to work, save their home so they don’t lose their shirt and we end up having to take care of them through the income support process and this other person who is disabled in the hospital, so it is going to cost us a lot more? Will he increase the home care support? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, the Minister keeps pointing at September 1st that everything is going to be okay, but the fact is this family is in jeopardy of losing their house. I will tell you for a fact today, Mr. Speaker, that if they sold this house to a brother, sister or close relative for $1, we could rent it from income support and pay the full cost of the mortgage through a rental program. But yet we can’t seem to find a balance between getting help and solving this problem. So, Mr. Speaker, I want to hear a commitment today. Will the Minister go look at this whole situation and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, fortunately I was prepared in case the Health Minister didn’t want to answer the questions. I was ready for the income support Minister. Mr. Speaker, my next question will be for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Will he look at addressing the shortfall that is created by this Income Support Program? The Income Support Program only allows the person up to $1,200 a year as little extra money that they can declare without it being clawed back. Mr. Speaker, my constituent’s mortgage is way more than that and has to be paid 12 times a year. So...