Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a couple of constituents in the gallery. First off, I’d like to acknowledge and recognize Dawn Lacey who’s up there, I just saw her a few minutes ago. I’d also like to recognize Brian Heppelle who’s here to follow our proceedings today. Of course, special to my heart and to the Premier’s obviously, Melody McLeod, who has been a wonderful lady to me for so many years. Thank you very much.

Publicly, I’ve spoken about numbers of value of prize. It’s not for me to say per se what is the right prize amount, but I think the federal government needs to be a partner in this solution, because as I pointed out, and it’s even been cited by the federal government that it costs $1.9 million to run that Giant Mine site in perpetuity to protect that arsenic trioxide so it doesn’t spill into the environment.

My question now to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources is: Does he see an opportunity here to engage in this broader discussion about a possible solution on innovation with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The public expects leadership from this government and many times they just don’t see it. They get frustrated when they see the marionettes in the bureaucracy pulling the strings of the political puppets. Many Assemblies have spoken about passion and forcefulness about how they can do things better. Those Assemblies, through them have risen Ministers who try to claim they are the leaders, don’t worry, we are the decision-makers, not fence sitters, Mr. Speaker.

The public demand something and when there’s a clear choice, some of these Ministers would rather sit by and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to present a petition dealing with the matter of lifeguard services at Fred Henne Park beach.

The petition contains 412 handwritten signatures and 312 electronic signatures of Northwest Territories, Canadian and American residents. The petitioners request that the Government of the Northwest Territories act responsibly by providing lifeguard services at Fred Henne Park beach in Yellowknife. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In 1990 the founder of Gold Corp – his name is Rob McEwen – knew he was sitting on a fortune of gold but just didn’t know how to get at it. So he changed the world in an extraordinary way by putting the question about how could he get help from the world to find his gold in the ground. It drew out, I think, 110 quality submissions, but it drew out over 1,000 submissions at large. In essence, Mr. McEwen of Gold Corp was saying, I have a problem; can the world help me to find my solution? It was all based on innovation and how he was inspired by a product called Linux...

Thank you. We could only assume that the department would inform the Minister as to what they’re doing. So, that said, when would the Minister have been informed that the department is responding to the Auditor General and, as such, as they prepared the Minister’s statement that was read into the House February 25th, in other words, the pre-work in advance of the Minister’s statement before the Minister read it? I assume, as he said earlier, clearly, that he’s on top of his job and he’s a smart guy, he said that he would have understood the statement he was going to read. Thank you.

I’ve read that report. I don’t need to be schooled by the Minister. The facts lay simply before themselves. The Minister’s statement on February 25th, the language is practically identical to chapters 39, 41, 19, 42 and 80, as oh, things are wonderful, but yet if you read the Auditor General’s report pointing to those sections, it’s similar. It only draws one conclusion of the everyday person: the department doesn’t want to be responsible for these things so they’re downplaying them upfront and then they’re going to use the angle, oh, but don’t worry we’re on the file, so let’s not get too...

I won’t call a point of order on the Minister’s opinion of himself, but I will leave it at that.

The arm’s length of this report must be pretty short because they’re using such similar language as it is in the report tabled by you, delivered by the Auditor General, Mr. Speaker. The Minister’s statement on February 25th stands on the record of saying why is this information very, very similar in your statement as the department’s response. It says the department was trying to get ahead of this by saying, here are the answers and when it shows up a week later just pretend, oh, we’re tweaking...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As many Members know, I’m pretty familiar with many of the rules around the House and I can easily say that many of the rules are black and white. But there is area that I often refer to as grey areas and, of course, they’re not tied to a specific rule or a breach, but sometimes more of an error of opinion or insight. Sometimes we can refer to them as someone has gingerly strolled away from the spirit and the intent of consensus government.

I’m having trouble personally putting a specific finger around what rule may have been breached, but I can tell you once I’ve...

The last question I’d like to ask, maybe in this particular area: Is this contiguous across Canada or do we find this happens in some regions versus others, and perhaps if they know off the top of their head or they’re familiar with any region, be it province or other territory, that requires a similar type of process where medical exams are required after a certain age. Again, this is an issue, actually, that had arisen during our discussion of this bill, inquired by some of the seniors and the public, although some who were there, I think, understood or appreciated the answer, but I would...