Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I won't go at length. My whole statement talked about the shot in the arm of adrenalin we need. So when can that initiative see the light of day where we'll get funding or our proposal will be reviewed for funding on this type of initiative? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are directed to the Minister of strategic infrastructure, and I believe I'd like to focus in on specifically what I raised in terms of my Member's statement.

Mr. Speaker, when I raised the issue that the West Kitikmeot region is pushing a project, that it's on the second-tier list of the major projects list, industry -- local industry, even NWT industry doesn't see themselves as part of this sort of important venture that the territory needs, that adrenalin shot in the arm basically to our economy. Mr. Speaker, what can the Minister do to assure that our...

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. And the problem is people show up there wanting to get their samples processed and there aren't enough staff to actually, as I said earlier, take the samples and analyze the samples. What happens to the samples that can't be analyzed locally? Thank you.

All right, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that. I want to return to the topic of walk-in clinics and, of course, this is not an extensive list of the people that work there, but there are people who take the samples and there are people who review the samples, and that's pretty much it. But, Mr. Speaker, when people arrive at 7:30 in the morning, there's long lines, you can't make phone calls because no one answers the phone, there's no chairs so people with mobility issues are standing there and struggling, and there's way more people there than the slots available for doing that. What...

Can the department provide the breakdown of where those EA positions were lost or prescribed to in the context of where the $14 million is supporting the 172 hopefully to return?

And lastly, is there any accounting for that -- when you do that exercise, can you also inform us on the accounting of how many have actually returned?

And I'll wrap this up, Madam Chair, because time's running out, and I guess my questions are too, but the point being is in this money, you know, we wish it could have been -- we wish the conversation could have started in June, and even if it -- in this particular case...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If the staff are unable to meet the demand, what's the solution? Is it to hire more staff, or is it to send samples of the lab techs, what they take, to Edmonton? Can the Minister reveal the solution to this particular problem; because I've got them. I want to hear what the Minister's doing about it. Thank you.

Thank you for that. All surpluses aren't created equal. So have you targeted or defined what type of surplus? You could have, like, a capital surplus, an operational surplus, a surplus for this program, a surplus for that program. I mean, is the expectation that they raid the coffee surplus fund? Like, I mean -- like, is it every single surplus, or has it been defined? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Similar to my colleague, I want to speak about the economy. The Arctic economic security corridor is a red alert, and it needs to be heard loud and clear. I doubt it would have even made the second-tier list of major projects if it wasn't for the West Kitikmeot Resources Group, Mr. Speaker. And I'm very thankful for their work. Currently, it's on the maybe list, but that's pretty good, Mr. Speaker; better than the not list. But if you look closely, it's being sold as a north-to-south list by the West Kitikmeot group.

The Arctic security corridor is sold as an all-weather...

Yeah, thank you. I apologize, I maybe have heard half the answer there. What I'd like to say is maybe -- if I restated the question differently, maybe I'll get the same answer, and that'll be fine too, which is the -- essentially, are they able to bleed coverage? In other words, take more kids on that are non-Indigenous in this regard? So in other words, if a PT specialist through the Jordan's Principal money that we're covering to the extent of what you can find has openings, are they allowed to offer it? Because previously they weren't allowed to extend the services, and that was a --...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think most of my questions largely have been answered by my colleagues here, but I'll just clarify just one point because it sounded like it was folding into the question and folding out of the question, which is even though this is educational assistant money, is some of it intended for Jordan's Principal money in that? Thank you.