Robert Hawkins

Mr. Speaker, the next comment is no reflection of the staff, but it seems like the staff are unable to keep up with the pace and the demand that's there, which is sometimes reality, Mr. Speaker. And the constituents -- last point I'll make -- is they show up there, unlike the DMV they can't take a ticket, some of them can't stand because they're elderly, they're waiting for 35 people for 32 spots. It's quite a depressing experience, Mr. Speaker. So in short, Mr. Speaker, if Stanton has an addiction to deficits, as we all know -- and I have a lot of experience around this -- why doesn't the...

Yeah, my concern, of course, is good management, stewardship of public dollars even at the school board level, which is certainly an important level. Encouraging good management to create surpluses for the rainy day seems almost like a why bother at this point if we know that they're just going to come take it and tell us to spend it otherwise. So it almost seems like a disenfranchised principle for those who'd managed well and those who've spend. So if you've spent, you get rewarded with more money. And if you saved and trimmed and nipped, well, we're just going to take it away from you...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's a great pleasure to ask the first question. I'll be asking the health Minister today some questions about the lab clinic that's downtown.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister explain why there's such lengthy line-up there in the walk-up portion of the clinic every single day wherein in the old days there wasn't that type of backlog. What has significantly changed that things either get deferred, delayed, or denied completely? Thank you.

Yeah, I'm not -- I'm hoping the Minister, because she's -- because most of these questions aren't really for her in a sense. I mean, these are application questions that go down the line. I just -- I'm just thinking of reasonable use and good management of resources. Certainly not taking away from the intent (audio) so.

So are we -- is the Minister familiar with how many educational assistants will be able to come back given the fact that this particular money has been somewhat reinstated? Thank you.

Thank you for that. Will it come with the same types of restrictions? Jordan Principal money was intended for Indigenous students. So if they were offering, say, PT or speech, language, etcetera, for students in the context of ensuring that no child is, say, being held back adversely, of course, they were informed that they couldn't use the programming for other kids in need. Does that type of same restrictions come forward if there's no negative ill effects of the time they'll be (audio). Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It just seems weird that the government would be responding to something that we're just creating a delay. So it just seems odd that we'd be asking the government to respond to a report in this manner. So anyway, I just want to point that out. If they want to respond, it's up to them. We've seen the responses. They're usually pretty canned anyway which is -- it is what it is. So I just find it unusual that this motion would be in order in this particular case. Thank you.

That's okay, sometimes you can't tell us apart, Mr. Speaker. We do it to ourselves.

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order regarding Bill 26 which received second reading in the House on May 29th, 2025, and was referred to the Standing Committee on Government Operations on that date.

Mr. Speaker, our rules lay out the procedures for the committee to review bills in chapter 8.3, and I do not believe they have been followed in this case. Rule 8.3(1) specifies that, quote, bills referred to a standing committee, special committee, shall not be proceeded until the Assembly receives the report of...

Yeah, no, no, I'll withdraw that last thing I insinuated. I'm not sure of the exact wording, but I think we all understand that I must have said something of some minor content, and I'm willing to -- I'm really just trying to say I don't know exactly the wording, but I do understand the intent the Member had raised and I respect that calling our -- and I'm not going to parry that with another point of order, just so we can move on. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'll begin with saying that I hear the Member or, in this case, the chair of the committee. The problem with using the Bill 3 example is it was done in error, and it -- but more importantly is even the extended examples as you provided which I can see it as a real example, but the problem is in both cases, they were treated with unanimity, so everyone was in agreement, and sometimes that's the best way to look at something. But there wasn't unanimity in this particular case.

Mr. Speaker, the other thing is that whether reciting one example or two examples...

Thank you, sir. And what important representation it is, may I point out.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to talk about how important this motion is to Avens but, in fairness, the motion is also important to all territorial partners that help ensure Northerners were well cared for during the 2023 evacuation. Let us not forget the important role that NGOs play in service to our northern people, our government, and any institution that they collaborate with. They are key partners to our northern success.

What an experience, Mr. Speaker. Like no others, you know very well yourself more than 50 percent of the...