Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Your Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures is pleased to provide a report on On-line Petitions and commends it to the House.

A petition is a formal written request from one or more people to the sovereign, the government or to Parliament. The right of the subject to petition the Monarch for redress of personal grievances has probably been exercised since Saxon times. It was recognized in the Magna Carta. The Bill of Rights of 1688 restated that right in unambiguous terms: “...it is the right of the subjects to petition the King, and all commitments and prosecutions...

Mr. Speaker, this Premier spends a long time trying to get to the issue and the issue he says, you know, we don’t want to get into the prices or discussion about the other contractor, but that’s exactly what Beaufort-Delta Health and Social Services did. That’s exactly what they’re… They’re using the measuring stick of another company to say compare your prices by their order catalogue and order fairly, Mr. Speaker.

If it’s so important to do this fairly, why is Health and Social Services chasing this company now to say will you tender? My goodness, Mr. Speaker, all I’m asking for, simply, that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Listening to the Minister of Health and Social Services’ answers regarding that tender problem I talked about, she kept talking about the urgency to make sure this goes to the Beau-Del communities and I certainly wouldn’t want to see any significant delay. But, Mr. Speaker, last year we had a delay of a particular project in the community of Inuvik because, of course, we had a group, they wanted to come forward and express not being able to fully participate and yet we have a similar circumstance where we have a group, a business, that would like to fairly compete in an...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a few people that I would like to recognize. The first would be Chuck and Muriel Tolley. Mr. Tolley is being recognized for his accomplishments in education today. I should say, as well, that the Tolley name is a strong spirit in the North so if you mention the Tolley name to anyone here, the first thing they will think is volunteering in community spirit. That speaks well of their family. As well at this time I would like to continue to recognize Anne Enge and her family being here for this special day. Her accomplishments were spoken of very well by Ms. Lee. Mr...

Thank you. I appreciate the Minister for clearing that up on the record, especially because of the confusion both brought forward to me by the parent as well as the information I received from the department. Mr. Speaker, would the Minister commit to this House that he’ll make sure that all departments are clear on the hiring process to make sure that we follow the priority process he described here today to make sure we give our P1 and P2 summer students the best chance at getting a job? We want to make sure it’s clear to these departments. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we all know, summer students have been returning to the Northwest Territories and certainly the summer student hiring window is very short. Many of the summer students strive and work as hard as they can to get an opportunity so they can bank enough money so that when they go back to the school in the fall they’ll have enough funds to get them through the year without any hiccups. But, Mr. Speaker, a parent brought forward a concern to me the other day and they were concerned about how the hiring process goes for summer students. In short, they said that they have...

Mr. Speaker, as the Minister said, this government has a role in helping people. Would the government consider analyzing this situation to see if we could view it from what it could cost to help people change their tanks again to protect the environment and to save the bottom line where it is a very expensive process when they have to replace a tank after an oil spill? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about the issue of oil tanks and the way that we should come up with a rebate program to help people with that expensive cost to replace them and certainly making sure that a good upkeep is kept on those tanks before an environmental problem comes. As I said in my Member’s statement today, an environmental problem with a leaky oil tank could lead to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Mr. Speaker, my first question to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources is: does the Minister agree that helping people make responsible...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re all too familiar with the devastating effects of oil spills and millions of dollars that are needed to clean them up. An oil spill does not have to be as big as the Gulf of Mexico or, certainly, the Exxon Valdez to have serious financial and long-lasting environmental implications. Mr. Speaker, similar small scale catastrophes happen in our own backyard. Anyone who has experienced a fuel spill as a result of a leaky oil tank knows exactly what I’m talking about.

I’m aware of a recent resident who has paid over $200,000 to excavate contaminated soil in their very...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I didn’t hear the Minister would make sure that he sent out an e-mail or an information blast to departments who do manage this file. I mean, the point I’m trying to make is the information I got even from his department seems confusing and perhaps wrong, and he’s cleared it up for the record and I appreciate that. I just want to make sure that that information gets out to all the departments to make sure they’re hiring in the same manner the Minister has described today, because if that confusion is out there, people will be missing opportunities that they rightly...