Robert Hawkins

I appreciate the history lesson for the Premier about how Alberta and Saskatchewan came about, although I happen to already know that, just so you know, but I appreciate that all the same. But that said, energy is a very big topic, as we all know, and that’s kind of what some of us are talking about here today.

I’d like to maybe drill down just a little bit as to what type of energy cooperation relationship is the Premier talking about developing with the province of Alberta with the Northwest Territories. I think this is an important topic and we need to be talking about it, how in some ways...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First I’d like to recognize Deneze Nakehk'o. I’ve known him a long time and it’s always great to see him. I certainly know his family very well and have great respect for them.

Mr. Speaker, I want to use the occasion to acknowledge our esteemed guest there, Dr. David Suzuki. In a funny way, many Canadians feel like we know him personally. As a small child growing up in Fort Simpson, I remember being sent to bed. But on Wednesday nights when I didn’t go to bed, I would turn my little black and white TV on and I’d have my little string earpiece so my parents didn’t know I...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. A few minutes ago we had heard the concerns about reporting lines and the Minister keeps saying that they will be reporting pretty much the same as they are, but the fact is, we really have no guarantee at the end of the day. The superintendent is instructed to pursue and follow, to the best of his abilities, obviously, the Education Act. One would have no doubt that that would be the case.

But we do have a very vivid, vibrant and certainly a functional example where the department had stifled superintendents for speaking their mind and telling the truth to the school...

Well, it’s well known to most Northerners that Alberta has been looking north to ship their bitumen to the world, and when I say north, I mean through the Northwest Territories. I’ve always believed the old saying, if you’re not part of the solution, you’re certainly part of the problem.

So I want to know what type of role our government and certainly our territory, be it its people, its Aboriginal governments, everybody, will be playing in the development of any potential pipeline that’s being pitched behind the scenes. So, maybe that’s really the question.

What type of work has been done on...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I had the opportunity just recently to read a press release put out by Premier Jim Prentice, and of course, that is the Premier of Alberta. He had met our Premier Bob McLeod, it looks like, over the weekend. This has drawn my attention to the statement which is where I am going to focus my question. It says the Premier, and it talks about the long history between Alberta and the Northwest Territories, to set a path forward to strengthen our economies. I’m going to focus my area directly to that, as I mentioned.

I would like to know the nature of the discussion that they...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Truly the sky is falling on this particular issue if we do not make a positive change. Everyone knows renewables are the future. Those people who continue to deny this fact, deny the future that they hold for their children.

We all know we must get behind renewables and continue to make strides in that particular area. It’s well known that Canada does not meet its targets on climate change initiatives and greenhouse gas problems, but yet it’s leading the future into an unknown peril that we may never be able to get off of the track that’s driving us to the end.

In...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Minister knows that this department has controlled the superintendents to stay silent on particular issues. This just reaffirms the reporting line by now being known that the person from whom they receive their paycheque, they have to further take direction from the department. This is a major issue; it has been recently a major issue; and frankly, I don’t see this getting any easier.

I say that we can confuse the issue by dangling the carrot of money in front of people and saying, well geez, it’s a money issue. But it’s not necessarily a money issue. It’s a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was certainly, and still have been, a supporter of the Mackenzie Gas Project, but that’s actually gas. It’s not the heavy bitumen provided by the Alberta economy that they want to get, which is stranded. I recognize what the Premier says, they have stranded resources, we have resources. I fully understand that point, but gas is not the same as the heavy bitumen that’s out of Alberta. Other regions are refusing it and it causes the question, do we want to take on this environmental burden in some process? We should be putting this question upfront before too much...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will be supporting the motion. I can appreciate the perspective the folks on Cabinet have to be able to do this. I did go to the Government Operations meetings to hear this out. I understand about the continuity of a position. I would just think, deep down, there must be a better way to do this. I’m not actually against direct appointments; I just want transparency on them personally. I think what this does is we don’t know what’s actually… There’s a lot of vagueness to this.

This is our opportunity by being clear, honest and fair to all around. If we say vacant...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The last comment was nothing more than just a shot at me, which I’m fine with, and a promo ad by the Minister. Mr. Speaker, we can’t continue to blame others. In this fiscal cycle we are only going to build less than one unit per community. He has not said one thing about trying to get new units in above the rate we are providing when we’re provided money by CMHC. He’s not telling us how he’s fought with Cabinet to get more money. He has not told us how he’s engaged private sector investment in communities that have no market. I’m not hearing anything innovative. I’m...