Robert Hawkins

I’d like to know what the Minister of Health and Social Services has negotiated on the public’s behalf and I think the public deserves to know what the Minister has negotiated on their behalf. Furthermore, I think the public likes to see the proof of that, what they’ve done and created as a plan that will ensure that the health care for northern residents across the Territory will be protected and treated as a priority.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like a number of my colleagues here, I’ll continue with the municipal airport closure issue. Assuming that does become the eventuality, this is going to cause significant concern.

When I met with the mayor of Edmonton, Mayor Stephen Mandel, he mentioned that Senator Patterson, the senator for Nunavut, had written a letter expressing his concern about this particular issue. However, he did sort of only sprinkle light interest that the territorial government has played a significant role in this, other than the fact that he’s basically mentioned that he knows of their...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To be frank, the Minister shouldn’t be worried about a little whining on this side of the House. The fact is the Minister should be more worried about the fact that they have $23 million outstanding and, he’s got it right, the declining funds should be motivation enough. The fact is if you start implementing a credit bureau process, you start implementing a collection process, what better motivation will it be to go and pay your past due arrears? Mr. Speaker, that’s the issue. Would the Minister immediately enact a policy and stop talking about we’ll think about, we’ll...

Mr. Speaker, I certainly want to stress I hope the Minister doesn’t take this personally, but that is quite a travesty to hear that we are not motivating our tenants by those types of things. I can tell you for a fact, that recently someone had an overpayment and the GNWT, well, the FMB sends the leg breakers. They start phoning them regularly over a simple error. They threatened credit bureau. They threatened everything but the kitchen sink to be thrown at them. But housing arrears accumulate to $23 million. Someone should be given a head shake over there to say, how long are we going to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve heard plan, plan, and plan. The fact is we can plan until we’re blue in the face. The fact is we want to know, I want to know, the public wants to know what the GNWT is supporting. Are they supporting the closure of the municipal airport? At what cost are they supporting the closure of the municipal airport? Are they supporting it in the context that there will be a triage built? What does that actually mean to me? What does it mean to the Assembly? What does it mean to the general public? What is the GNWT supporting in this possible eventuality? That’s the type of...

We’ve come to one of the main issues that seem to be the problem. It’s no different than this draft AIP problem and certainly with the health one, which is the fact of who is communicating our message to the government. It’s no different than when I had asked for plain language on the other issue. We need plain language on this particular issue to make sure that people know what’s happening.

What is the Minister doing to communicate to the public exactly the territorial government’s plan? What is the message by this government to ensure that the health care of all Northerners will be enshrined...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to talk about the potential closure of the Edmonton Municipal Airport. This is a direction provided by the City of Edmonton that they have been taking and studying for some time.

I’ve met and talked with the Edmonton mayor, Stephen Mandel, and have expressed the concern of many Northerners. He says they have a plan, which begs the question: What is the plan that our Territory has and how does it work for our residents when it comes to health care? Is our government ahead of this problem or even trying to get ahead of this issue? Or is it on the heels waiting...

The Minister highlights a perfect example that I’m well aware of the fact that good tenants sometimes have to drive less nice vehicles, where tenants who aren’t paying -- and the fact is we have people who aren’t paying -- can afford, because their credit rating is good, so they can run out and afford to buy a fancy truck.

Mr. Speaker, when I hear the word “if” and when I hear “looking at the option,” that tells me we’re going to do nothing. Mr. Speaker, we can get a ministerial directive today in this House by saying we’re going to do this, we’re not going to sit on our hands and sit on our...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was listening to MLA Beaulieu’s questions to the Minister of Housing, and the Minister of Housing had said that the Housing Corporation is $23 million in arrears. It is my understanding that the NWT Housing Corporation doesn’t push their arrears to a collections agency. If they do, it seems to be selective. One more step that I am also aware that they don’t do consistently, if at all, is it puts these arrears on people’s credit rating. That is known as a significant problem out there. Would the Minister of Housing tell me exactly how they pursue legally, in a lawful...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The point I am trying to get at, and I am sure the Minister understands this, is the fact that public safety is at risk out there. There is a leap of faith people are taking when they go to these places, that they are insured at one level or not that they are protected as well as they are regulated. What I am asking the Minister is: Is there perhaps, maybe a discussion paper that could come forward that we could work on and develop to see what type of priority fits with the ambition of this government and this term as well as the ambition of the next government going...