Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, wish to acknowledge the fine group we have in the gallery for the Coalition Against Family Violence and, more specifically, the group from the Status of Women. Mr. Speaker, one of our Pages, Heather Flannigan, I would like to recognize as well. Finally, I would like to recognize my favourite table officer and I have no doubt yours as well, Anthony W.J. Whitford. One of our favourite guys here. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today because I wanted to talk about a conflict. Whether it’s perceived or real shouldn’t be so much the issue. It’s the matter that it’s thought there might be a problem. A constituent has brought to me a complaint where they believe, quite strongly, that there is a perceived bias within the WSCC process. In this case my constituent has informed me that, when they were working through the process, they used to approach this person when they were the claims advisor. But in the way process changes here, this person has now become the adjudicator. When their file...

Oh, no. To that issue.

Would the Minister be able to provide some correspondence on that type of discussion they seem to be having with their federal counterparts? Everyone in this House knows that this is going to be a challenging and very emotional debate if that 75/25 breaks down. We don’t know where that number will end and that’s why it’s fundamentally important early on to know that we do support the intent of this project and we have the support of the federal government to get behind it before it starts. As we know – and I’m not trying to turn this into the Deh Cho Bridge example – but who knows where the...

Thanks, Mr. Speaker. I hate to say it but, for clarity, it just sounded like he was going to have a discussion about the process and maybe even just muse about the idea. Really, what I’m asking for is for the Department of Finance to investigate the costs, procedures and policies required. It doesn’t mean go write them. It just means go investigate the mechanics of creating one and how much it would cost us. That’s the type of discussion I’m just trying to get on the record. That’s all I’m asking. Would he be willing to do that so then we can have a full discussion when it comes to budget time...

Wow. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I was referring to the fact that territorial laws often create statutory officers. They become decision-makers. These are individuals who are responsible for the administration of very important pieces of legislation, and they have far-reaching decision-making authorities such as employment standards, I pointed out, and in particular, we have other things such as the Legal Services Act creates the legal services board, and it goes on and on and on.

My question, though, is around ECE and, of course, the employment standards officer, so...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that we report progress.

---Carried

I want to thank the Minister for that very good answer on the particular last question. As I pointed out earlier about wanting some more information as to what type of training we’ve provided, and as I’ve highlighted, do we provide basic administrative law training, guidance on decision-making? Would the Minister be able to provide some type of reference package, sort of a broader overview, not everything, of course, but a broad overview as to what type of reference material, strengthening and ongoing training do we provide to these folks who have to make these statutory decisions that are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Quite often I only hear from people who are unhappy with a particular decision or, certainly, the guidance provided by this specific office, and I’ve heard about many offices, I just had to pick one because we don’t have all day. When decisions are appealed, taken to court, it’s quite expensive and it’s a very painful process. What type of monitoring does the Department of ECE do on both the decisions made, reaffirmed by the court, and the subjects why people have taken them to the process of appeal? Does the Department of ECE ever examine and consider some of the...

I appreciate the Minister providing a bit of an outline where they do their business, but it’s a matter of them being able to do their business is really what I’m after. Back to the training question, do we provide any training or mentoring for them as they make these very important decisions? Do we get behind them with special reference material to help them guide and make clear and honourable decisions in their process? Thank you.