Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Many Northerners and Canadians generally have been raising concerns for years about the restrictive and confusing terms of their cell phone contracts. They complain about being locked into three-year contracts with unreasonably high penalties to get out of them, changes to fees and services without their consent, automatic renewals and the lack of clear information about their contracts.

This is more than a boondoggle opportunity to create changes, this is a real opportunity for real protection. As we see the cell phone services are finally rolling out and expanding...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that committee reports progress.

---Carried

Are they all out of the Hay River area? What type of public relationship do they have in the sense of letting people know what they do, who they are, who will they meet? Are we really talking about a board that governs production just in Hay River and would they qualify as a territorial board in that regard, or are they just a Hay River board looking after a niche market?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to pick up where Mr. Dolynny left off on a particular issue, the egg marketing levy. It actually draws a different type of question for me but on the same kind of idea.

There are a few people who raise chickens in the Yellowknife area and some of them actually sell eggs. What type of requirements are the cut-off where you can be in that business? What does the department know? Are you able to sell a hundred dozen eggs? Any more than a hundred dozen means you have to get in a business? Are there different types of health standard requirements around that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister is sitting here saying, “I’m telling people in the House.” Well, I hate to say it, not everybody follows the House as closely as we do. My last question is: Would the Minister be willing to take an active campaign in the public trying to draw attention to consumer affairs issues, and how can the public get engaged on issues, especially such as this as I highlighted, cell phone usage and cost? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The cell phone rates are clearly a problem to three large provinces. I’m surprised to think the Minister thinks it’s premature that they took action by stating that the NWT will wait until CRTC responds.

Would the Minister be willing to seek some consultation from the consumers in the Northwest Territories to get some input from their point of view as to how they feel about cell phone rates and how it impacts them? As I pointed out, cancellation fees are high, contracts are troublesome and there are ways to solve these things. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I wish I had the former AG’s official comments here last week from which she talked about some of the senators’ expenses, such as accept but verify. How do we verify a yes or no? Quite frankly, a yes or no does not prove to the public that they actually complied with the requirements that everybody else was following. Yes, I’m happy that the lowest bid may be getting it, but the fact is I am happy maybe for the wrong reasons.

Will the Minister prove publicly that they complied with all the requirements as set out to the bid? All we are asking for is a fair playing...

I want to thank the Minister for putting Can-Traffic on the record. This isn’t an issue about cost. This gets down to the bread and butter of ethics of how contracts are won and awarded and, certainly, issued.

Did Can-Traffic fill out Appendix B as required in the contract? When I e-mailed the department, they refused to show me that they even complied, so nobody even really knows. Thank you.

I would disagree with one area: that we may never be back to full harvesting status. I’m not sure what that would look like, nor am I in the business to understand fully what that looks like. It could look like a combination of things and that’s why I’m asking about what support the Minister can offer in looking at this perspective from the outfitter point of view of keeping their lodges open.

I’m not going to ask him, and I know he won’t answer by saying how many tags are you prepared to offer today. We have to look at science; I agree with that point. We have to reinstate Aboriginal First...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I would like to start with this: The Access to Information and Protection Policy that governs the Northwest Territories has a particular section, called Section 5, that a person who makes a request for information pursuant to the act has a right to access any record in custody under the control of a public body.

There are some provisos, and of course, the proviso is that we cannot reveal trade secrets to third parties without prejudice of their competitive position of the third party. However, I would like to further say there is Section 5(2) of the act that states...