Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to use this opportunity to ask some questions to the Minister of Health. Now, he may not be specifically aware of the typical issue, but I want to find out what his authorities are within his purview of being Minister.

Recently a constituent has approached me on the fact that they’re applying on this medevac contract that’s out right now for bids and tenders and the packages are just coming together. My understanding was their BIP was pulled with no discussion with that particular business. It was just a random hey, you no longer qualify for BIP. They had to step...

I’m not going to take the compliment back from the first one, but I can tell you the answer from the second question was not that clear. The simple question is we run a lot of unfunded positions in the government and often we hear about these could add up to several hundred positions in the government that are not specifically funded. I want to know how many positions are unfunded but operational, whereas we have a body in them doing something that’s meeting the goals and objectives of the government.

How many positions are we talking about and how do we pay for those? I want to know how much...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the opportunity to return to the theme of jobs and, certainly, access to opportunities. We heard rightly from my colleagues, like Member Yakeleya, that, quite frankly, the average person wants to know why isn’t there a nurse in Colville or why isn’t there a community maintainer in Paulatuk or why isn’t there these plumbers in Fort Simpson. Like, why? When they hear of 1,150 job vacancies on that last snapshot, it causes great concern.

My questions, obviously, are for the Minister of Human Resources, and I’m going to say this: We passed the budget and we know...

Thanks for noticing, Madam Speaker. As I said in my Member’s statement, and as I referred to in my oral questions, I will be tabling a letter sent to me by the board of governors, signed by Sydney O’Sullivan, who happens to be the chair of the board of governors of Aurora College. It was sent to me February 6, 2014, and the subject line item of the letter is Letter of Concern Received on January 30, 2014. Thank you.

Madam Speaker, do you want me to do it over again?

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The Minister said he’s not aware of any breaches. That said, can the Minister confidently say it also means that he may not be aware of any breaches? Thank you.

This is not the answer I’ve received on the two other occasions. Finally I’m getting a decent answer, I’ll give it that.

I want to know how this administrator of this particular program is informed, and what type of timely way are they informed to ensure there is some type of quality assurance and certainly some protection for those people whose files may be snooped upon.

What type of automatic process is involved? Will the Minister inform this house what type of process there is? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker, I don’t think it’s worth it.

The Minister is in possession of the same letter I am that they wrote to me on February 6th. They basically say they’re not going to meet with them. The only way they meet with them is when they bump into them at the store or on the street, if they run across them in another meeting. There is no formal commitment. If anything, there is a commitment saying we’re not interested.

So, the Minister is saying he is going to meet with them. What exactly is he going to tell the college that they’re going to do and how are they going to do it?

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Before I begin I want to make note that I am certainly sorry that my passion and frustration got ahead of me earlier. I acknowledge that and I never intended to use “vexatious” as a particular word. I didn’t plan that in any way.

What that does, though, is further stress my frustration about this whole problem. There’s an apparent wall between the board of governors at Aurora College and the students, if I may describe it as a protective barrier. The letter clearly states about process, process, process.

I guess I will say this to the Minister of Education, Culture and...