Robert Hawkins

Hope and pray cannot be the policy of this program at the Department of Health, that we hope nothing has happened to the information, we pray no one does anything to the information. So the fact is we don’t know where the information is going.

Does the Minister know what’s happening in this situation and what is he doing about it, because apparently he doesn’t seem to be taking it very seriously that all this personal information is being sent out there, no one knows where it’s going, no one knows where it’s landed, no one knows who has it and they don’t certainly know what they’re doing with...

Well, let’s get to the bottom of this then. The Minister cannot tell us where the information has gone, who has got it, what the problem is and what he is going to do about it. So how does he know it’s not a scandal if he doesn’t know what’s happening? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to recognize the flood of seniors we have here today, recognizing the day it is. From the NWT Seniors Society, we have Barb Hood, executive director; Carly Aasen, project intern officer; Yvonne Quick, who is a program coordinator as well as an Arctic ambassador. Maureen Hall, also known passionately as Squeak, of course, is president of the Yellowknife Seniors’ Society. Marg Green is a member of the Yellowknife Seniors’ Society. We all call her Nana Marg, by the way. June Van Dine Arden is a board member of the Yellowknife Seniors’ Society. Kim Doyle...

Well, certainly the fact that we had that Freudian slip on the record, I’m going to say that, quite frankly, I agree with Minister Miltenberger about this and the characterization of slush fund, because the reality is, it is a Cabinet slush fund. That’s the fact. I mean, the Cabinet doesn’t want to call it a slush fund because they have all the money at their fingertips.

The fact that when we had to ask for a $3 million adjustment to the budget just here a few months ago, they went kicking and screaming and complained, oh, woe is us. The Members try to have some influence on the budget and they...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. WHEREAS the Government of the Northwest Territories is considering signing a Final Agreement on Devolution of Lands and Resources in the imminent future;

AND WHEREAS the agreement, if signed, will result in new resource revenues accruing to the Government of the northwest Territories beginning in 2014-2015;

AND WHEREAS the Government of the Northwest Territories has committed 25 percent of ongoing future resource revenues to Aboriginal governments;

AND WHEREAS it is desirable that there be public transparency and accountability in where the remaining 75 percent of resource...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m proud that this discussion, in my view a decision, is before the House. As I said back in March of this year and as I’ve said many times over the years, home rule is finally coming home to where it belongs: to the people of the Northwest Territories. We’re in a position to chart our own destiny. We’re in the position, if not the driver’s seat, to make our own choices. And remember, sometimes when you’re in charge, you do make mistakes. So I don’t expect things to be perfect, but the exciting thing about being in charge is the people of the Northwest Territories are...

Mr. Speaker, that is certainly good news. The issue I think I didn’t hear the Minister speak to is protection for renters. Is there a chance to look at opportunities to create some type of rent protection measure?

As we all know, the act allows landlords to raise the rent once a year, only on that anniversary, but the problem with that is they could raise it to any amount. If your rent is $2,000 and they say, well, let’s raise it to $5,000, which is something legally we can’t stop them from doing, we need to put a check and safety valve on this process. That is what I’m asking for.

Would the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since 2008, that was the last time we saw any significant amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act. Five years later, so many more problems come forward, and we need, once again, to take a look at this serious issue.

I’ve stood on a few occasions to talk about my concerns about affordable rent protection and even enforcement from the rentals office and implement an order that they provide. As we all know, there are no rent controls in the Northwest Territories. To be clear, I’m not in favour of supporting the idea of rent controls per se, but I have spoken at length...

Mr. Speaker, maybe just one more on the issue of helping complainants bring forward their cause or concerns. When they go to the rental tenancy office, if they are fighting a landlord, quite often, not always, the landlord is well resourced and able to hire a lawyer to fight their perspective, but the little guy or gal who is fighting their cause, for various reasons is under-resourced, and we want a fair hearing.

Would the Minister be willing to look at that type of fairness and find some way to see how we can find our way through this problem? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today, I cited concerns with the Residential Tenancies Act, so I think we could probably dispose of my question very quickly if the Minister is agreeable to a review of the act.

Specifically, I highlighted concerns about fair rental protection measures for hardworking families, a rental officer office that has very little authority or teeth to be able to enforce. The Minister needs to call forward a discussion group between landlords and advocates, to ensure that processes work better when it comes to things like evictions or compromises.

The...