Robert Hawkins

Madam Chair, that sounds good. I’m not asking for veto when I describe it this way, but committee feels very strongly, and I stress committee and not necessarily anything broader than that, but there would be a possibility to maybe open or exercise those concerns and maybe build upon those concerns, if necessary.

One of the challenges we have is, once we approve the budget, it is from a Regular Member perspective, it’s see you later at that point. Sometimes I think some things do take a fair bit of work to get to know, like, expect and work through. Again, I’m not stressing veto power. I’m...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In 2012 Diavik provided over $300,000 to Northerners in various ways under the culture and community well-being. That’s something to be very proud of. But we shouldn’t have to worry about checking with the feelings of the mining industry when these reports are given back to the government for the people of the Northwest Territories to ensure the socio-economic agreements are being lived up to. I don’t care how the mines feel; I want the government to show that they’re with the people, not protecting the mines.

Would the Minister agree today to publicize these things in a...

Well, the Minister just told me I can do the math. Now he’s telling me it’s impossible to calculate and he can’t calculate that value, so I’m trying to understand. How much of this is in resource value, in the sense of dollars and, perhaps, what’s the average vacancy of the Department of Justice? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, they are a third-party source tenant situation here. We have Yellowknife Housing renting the units from a landlord. The tenant itself through Yellowknife Housing, by way of example, has no tenancy rights on this because they are directly responsible. It is the housing authority that has a direct contract with the landlord. That is where the responsibility lies.

So I ask again to the Housing Minister, if this isn’t the case, why isn’t this the case? Because I can tell you I have had habitual complaints all built around things like heating, access, safety and other responsibilities...

Can the department provide me the information on the summary of dollar value attributed specifically to those vacant positions and, obviously, what positions they are so we can stop calling them vacant positions? Thank you.

I keep asking the question for the benefit of the public. It’s been stressed, reaffirmed, continued… Ms. Bisaro’s phone is ringing there. They must be calling in with the number, I guess.

I keep asking the same question that is not before the public and I’m trying to get it on the public record. Is the Minister unwilling or unprepared to answer the question I keep asking about the value of these positions when it comes to the monetary portion? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, yet again the Minister tries to divide this as a big town against small town, against small communities, whatever the case may be. The fact is that there seems to be no plan whatsoever to cover this funding model, and it’s okay, Mr. Minister, you can say you just don’t know. When you do that and you feel better, we can all start working and building from there.

When the Minister says we’re going to enhance, let’s put the dollar on the table and tell me what type of dollar you’re going to have to come back to this Assembly and ask for, because we want to know because nobody out...

Then as far as the other two vacant positions, would Ms. Schofield be able to let me know how long they’ve been vacant as well? Thank you.

Thank you for that. Do we have an approximation of what those positions, in summary, would be valued at? Do we have an average assessment of how long those positions have been vacant, referring back to the 42? I’m glad to hear that 26 have been filled. Furthermore, have any opened up since the October 31st snapshot had been taken? Thank you.

I’m glad the Minister has started to touch on this whole broader problem, which is he says he’s mindful of day homes and certainly he’s going to look at providing support, but let’s talk turkey. What kind of support is he actually referring to, because we all know you can do two under two, as the Minister even highlighted, you can have three under three. So potentially he’s taken 50 percent of their funding model to exist away from these day homes that are trying to provide necessary daycare and certainly family support for these young people.

So, in essence, what is the Minister really doing...