Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Health Minister will tell you he does not have early access to the Auditor General’s report. Of course, he’ll probably tell you it’s all arm’s length, and of course, he doesn’t know anything about it until it’s tabled by yourself, Mr. Speaker. This is a paradox that now sits before this House.

Can the Minister of Health explain why the wording in the Minister’s statement given on February 25th of this year mimics much of the wording in the report tabled by yourself, Mr. Speaker, yesterday, and the report I’m referring to is the Auditor General’s report. Is this a...

That is fine, Mr. Chairman, I just thought it was important because it was an issue that came up, and as I mentioned, it’s surprising how many seniors watch our proceedings and certainly read our Hansard. I guess they just love watching us and following us, so maybe that’s…(inaudible)… But that said, on a serious note, that was a real question brought forward and I thought it would be nice to hear it from the department and officials. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’m not going to spend a lot of time asking a bunch of questions, but a particular issue that has arisen, and I thought it was well dealt with both in committee and certainly by the department, which was one of the questions posed by our seniors community, of course, is the issue of having to do medical examination. Although I’m familiar with the answer, and I’ve taken the answer and accepted it, I do think that there are some people who are curious on the public record. Those who watch at home and, believe it or not, actually a lot of seniors do watch our proceedings...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The probability is unreachable in any realm to put a bet on this, but let’s put it this way. With the likelihood of the statement as highlighted by the Minister that it’s written by the unit of the childhood family services area, they are, as we can only assume, the same unit that would have responded to the Auditor General of Canada in their written response represented by the department. Is it not probable that those are the same people writing the Minister’s statement and the response to the Auditor General? Thank you.

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...

What the Minister failed to say was how many new job openings were created while these 156 jobs are in the process of being filled. At the same time, the Minister says he can’t advertise the jobs because it would be impossible. Why? Well, I don’t know because, my goodness, how do you fill the jobs if you don’t advertise? So can the Minister answer that interesting quagmire he has now found himself in?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A few days ago I went back to my office and on my desk there was a Snickers bar sitting there, and all of us here know what that represents. Well, I certainly don’t care who dropped that off, and as a matter of fact, they could drop a truckload of those Snicker bars off and it still won’t change my resolve to the concern about job opportunities unfairly being denied to Northerners.

It’s simply this: This McLeod government continues to fail its people by not providing those job opportunities Northerners need. Over this past month, many Members were shocked to know that...