Robert Hawkins

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...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise in defence along the lines of Mr. Dolynny’s request. As we all know, two truths or two perspectives can lie before the House and both can be equally correct. They may not necessarily share the same view.

In order for Mr. Dolynny to discharge the duties and functions of his job, as highlighted under privilege under Beauchesne’s on page 11, this is part of the essence of getting to the facts and the details necessary for dialogue and discussion.

No documentation of this nature should be hidden from Members without confidential reasons. That alone should stand on its...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We can talk about federal programs and we can talk about other programs that aren’t income support, so let’s get down to the facts, let’s get down to the brass tacks. Let’s say this right now. Is the Minister willing to, is he prepared to go back to his officials and instruct them to find a way to create a program that extends income support benefits that provides these opportunities that enrich children’s lives that they well deserve? We could do it today and we could help a lot of families that deserve these opportunities. Will the Minister be willing to do that, yes...

Although I am keenly interested in what those changes may have been, once again into the breach, I ask the question, what changes specifically have you made in income support that has helped families who are on income support, to help them support their children? Thank you.

Clearly, the Minister doesn’t get it. When we start talking about the communities, the fact is this: income support provides food and shelter, yes, that is a given, we all know that. But why do the children in those situations… They don’t ask to be on income support. The families are there because of various reasons. We are not here to debate that.

The question I am asking is this: We need to be opening up doors. The Minister has the power that is in this directive; let’s start doing something today. Even if it starts with $500 per head, per child, to get them into music, sports, arts, let’s...

One good thing, the Minister clearly can count because he said there were a couple of questions in there, maybe three, but since 2007 he has proven he can’t answer one of those three or number of questions highlighting those changes.

There have been no changes. I pulled out the regs. There are zero changes providing these opportunities for kids for poverty.

What does the Minister really recognize and what is he willing to do about this situation that children who are part of families on income support cannot participate in music, extracurricular arts or even extracurricular sports? There is a...

Mr. Speaker, maybe for sake of brevity, I will recognize the whole opportunities panel as one group. Thank you very much for your hard work. I’d like to recognize a constituent, Kevin Campbell, and if I had seen him earlier, I would have gotten the names of his visiting friends, so I will only assume it is family from the South. That said, welcome to everyone in the gallery today. Thank you.