Robert Hawkins

Earlier in a response to Mr. Abernethy the Premier was touting the GDP growth because of this opportunity. To be honest, GDP growth in the Northwest Territories is all either theoretical or useless, because the piper being paid is Ottawa over the Northwest Territories. Yes, people are working, but those who are getting the money from the resources and those revenues go straight to Ottawa.

The Premier says this is all based on a business case. I’d like to hear the Premier explain to this House where the money will be coming from for this potential project as we all well know this is worth way...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like my colleagues, through Members’ statements and questions, I will continue the issue of the Taltson expansion and the Deze partnership.

We have to be very clear, the GNWT represents the social interests of all residents of the Territories. To be crystal clear, the Deze interest is a group of partners that are represented strictly on economic interests, not public and social interests.

The challenge I see here is who represents the public interest in this partnership. That’s the question to the Premier right now, is how will the public be plugged into this partnership...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like my colleagues today, I would like to chime into the Deze Taltson expansion issue. Mr. Speaker, I feel very strongly that any hydro expansion needs to be based on environmental and economic opportunities. I believe strongly, as well, that this shouldn’t continue to be a direct initiative pursued by our Legislature.

Mr. Speaker, the risk at this time is solely on the shoulders of the GNWT. As I understand it, the cash to date has only come from the GNWT pockets. This Legislature has found ways to waive the PUB review process and with our one-third partnership, I often...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have thought about this motion quite a bit actually. I think to myself, why couldn’t I support a motion that requests an audit? I have no issue with that on that principle, because many projects deserve a second look going over and whatnot. I think it deserves probably that respect and due, especially considering, respectfully, the number of questions that have come out of this whole process.

Mr. Speaker, I also question the value of this, considering that the Auditor General has already been requested once before and rejected doing the special audit. As the Premier...

The Premier raised the issue of power purchase agreements. Those are all well and good. But to date I have yet to see these power purchase agreements. As I said in my Member’s statement, if they are such a great deal for the diamond mines company, they would drag us to the table kicking and screaming and make us sign them with them. The point being, Avalon wants to sign a deal, Fortune mines is interested, the City of Yellowknife has a life of in perpetuity that we could be hooking up. Don’t forget about Dettah, Ndilo, Behchoko, Whati, and many other customers that we could create a grid with...

The Premier did not talk about how the public interest has a position in this. The public interest was not discussed in his answer about how the public interest gets represented. If we represent a one-third interest in a corporation outside of the territorial government, that’s way beyond arm’s length, then the public interest is lacking. What is stopping the Premier from evaluating fairly and strategically with all the proper information about the route that we’ve discussed in this House, which is either over the Simpson Islands or under the water? What is stopping this department of NWT...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First off, I do support the principle of the bridge project. I certainly believe strongly that this is the type of infrastructure that needs to be built in the Northwest Territories. I also believe strongly when I had asked last month about why haven’t we sought federal government support, why hasn’t the federal government come to the table to assist us with this project. I think that seems to be a significant gap in this process that has been happening.

Today I tabled an article from a magazine called Bridge Design and Engineering. It is a magazine from the UK. It...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am not suggesting that we create a medical travel policy because someone is flying down and they are getting a needle in their shoulder and we have to send the whole family to Edmonton to make sure that they feel comfortable. Mr. Speaker, I am talking about a situation whether it be this particular case or similar cases whereas these are truly life and death days. Every day is an important day. Every day is certainly a blessing. Mr. Speaker, when it comes to urgent situations as I am trying to describe in this situation, what is stopping the Minister from...

Mr. Speaker, it was probably very stingingly obvious in my Member’s statement, I believe, that a family should have access to their children throughout such a difficult time. I am asking the Minister what would stop her from developing a medical travel transplant policy that could reflect family values to ensure that there is family support ongoing through this type of process by allowing the extended family such as the other parent and possibly even the children from travelling down from time to time to provide much needed support through this medical process. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have two people in the gallery I’d like to recognize. First, I have Mr. Chris Bassi. He’ s the father of our very well-known assistant deputy minister, Sheila Bassi-Kellett. Mr. Bassi is a retired bridge engineer, of some note, and he finds the discussion today very interesting. The second person I’d like to introduce today is Mr. Neils Konge. He’s the father of young Jonas, the person I was talking about in my Member’s statement, and his son is waiting in Edmonton for a heart transplant. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.