Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the Minister for taking the issues as serious as I do and being willing to address it by looking at it and see if there is something we can do.

Mr. Speaker, a lot of homes fail even after a good inspection. That is ultimately the concern. Mr. Speaker, if the NWT had a policy to ensure that that would be the case, does the Minister see a need for this to become a government policy for government housing? What type of inspection do we have from a MACA point of view on this type of industry that would any of our new houses built through Housing Program, we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like Member Menicoche, we certainly heard and learned a lot of interesting information from Mike Holmes when he discussed it. I was really glad that Mike Holmes shares my concerns about the lack of consumer protection for residents. The funny thing is, when we told my son the other day he was coming to town, he asked, “Is he coming to fix my house?” Mike Holmes brought to light a lot of important issues.

Again, to hearken back to my Member’s statement, the consumer protection issue is a very significant one. He highlighted in Ontario it is important for new home...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’m pleased to provide a few general comments to the opening address. First and foremost I will say that I am pleased, as a number of my constituents are certainly pleased, that there are no new taxes in this proposed budget. People are finding it difficult through the cost of living that we’re working through in Yellowknife. I can only imagine that is amplified in the communities, undoubtedly. That’s certainly well-taken news, if I may define it that way.

People are concerned about taxes the government may be flirting with. The expression is mixed, of course. A hotel...

Mr. Speaker, to some degree I think that the Finance Minister gets it, but he is spending my question period answering the previous Member’s questions, which isn’t very efficient for my issues.

Mr. Speaker, part of the other issue I raised during my Member’s statement, which still is in line with the same issue about efficiency of government, is about setting the appropriate targets. In the Finance Minister’s budget, he did talk about capping expenditures at 3 percent. Mr. Speaker, what was the resistance setting it at either a reduction of 1 percent or a reduction of 2 percent and allowing our...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like my other colleagues here today, I too am concerned about the efficiency and costs of government and what it is doing to deal with that cost. As I highlighted in my Member’s statement, it is clearly mentioned in the Finance Minister’s budget today under Fiscal Strategy. He is willing to seek out creative new ideas. Mr. Speaker, to the Finance Minister, I would like to pose the question. What would be stopping the Minister of Finance from hiring an efficiency expert to review our programs that we are doing? Because I am not convinced at this time that the Program...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In reading the Finance Minister’s budget speech I think he has a lot to be proud of, but I fear, like several other of my colleagues, there are many issues that have been miss-highlighted or completely skipped over.

The concern I want to highlight in a similar manner is the fiscal management; quite simply, the cost of government. Under the Minister of Finance’s Fiscal Strategy section, the Minister was very fiscally prudent when coming to his words when talking about the cost of government and how to bring the cost of government down. Perhaps he was too little on the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would argue with the Minister by saying that the direction starts here and although the rattling of the swords should not be happening in the department of opposition, they should be following the direction of the Finance Minister. So when he says that it would be difficult, the dye needs to be cast at the FMB table, not within the department telling the Finance Minister where their cap is. I’m convinced that the cart is leading the horse.

What, really, at the end of the day can the Minister speak to this budget where we’ve had a significant notice in the reduction of...

Mr. Speaker, I suspect that answer wasn’t for me. It was for someone else. By and large, that answer was very inefficient in its quality because it didn’t actually have an answer to it. The reality is, Mr. Speaker, I would like to know what would stop the Finance Minister from hiring an efficiency expert just like large industry does, whether it is BHP or any type of large conglomerate that spends a lot of time examining every dollar that they spend. Would the Finance Minister be willing to do that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. Thank you, Finance Minister. I was expecting at least a heckle over there.

As I was trying to say, the biomass heating energy retrofit will save $775,000 on our $1.3 billion budget, but in all fairness, we have to keep in mind that’s 0.0005 percent of savings. I think it’s the right track and the right type of thinking, but we need to see more of those types of initiatives.

The legendary military man General Patton always believed in providing the direction and allowing the right people, the skilled people to find a way to get us through.

In...

Mr. Speaker, what is stopping the government today for reaching out to the local radio stations, whether it is CKLB, CBC or CJCD, in getting out there to get our message out there? Of course, like any campaign and any situation, it is about who gets their messages out first. Unfortunately, I have seen the naysayers campaigning out there loud and strong aggressively. I often wonder if these leaders are just spinning their points of view without giving people a chance to hear what the AIP is from the point of the view of the government. What is stopping the government from doing this in the...