Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The issue really comes down to this: just because they do it, why does it mean we have to do it? I believe this is a capital cost within our system that rightly belongs on the Department of Transportation’s normal capital budget. Why didn’t the Minister take it from that point of view? Thank you.

Thank you. New Brunswick updated their plates and gave people the option if you wanted a new style plate you could pay the fee and take the new plate.

Mr. Speaker, a couple of years ago the government wisely listened to the ideas that came from this side of the House about upgrading drivers’ licences and they didn’t pass on an additional fee when they modernized the territorial driver’s licence. Mr. Speaker, this can’t be viewed as any more than nickeling and diming the average northern resident when the cost of living continues to be an issue.

Finally, if they needed the money and felt that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to return to item 7, oral questions, on our orders of the day. Thank you.

---Unanimous consent granted

Mr. Speaker, just working in this direction, I am not necessarily sure bricks and mortar needs to be our first stop on this future goal to bring in a university to the Northwest Territories working in a pan-territorial way with Nunavut and the Yukon. I think when you have excellent examples like Athabasca University, I think that shows that you can create courses and a system that works well for everyone. It is really about the designation and the quality of education that we can provide people to the next step. As the Minister is quite correct, we are aiding people in their pursuit through a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions will be to the Minister of Education today and it will be a follow-up to my Member’s statement regarding the potential of a pan-territorial university, perhaps an aurora university, that could be either based out of the Northwest Territories or in certainly some partnership with our two other sister territories. Mr. Speaker, my question is: has the Minister of Education given any consideration to the creation of a northern university? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The last question about the licence plate issue is quite an obvious one, although I would not necessarily encourage significant and prolonged public input when it’s on an unnecessary cause, but in this particular case it’s quite evident that they only asked NWT Tourism and the Legion, outside of a few other professionals. Why didn’t the Minister of Transportation, in some form, even via newspaper ad, radio ad or information on their website, explain to people what their plan is and seek any type of public engagement or input on this particular issue? Does the Minister...

Thank you. Very respectfully, but yesterday we heard the Health Minister talk about Ontario and Alberta and whatnot. Today we hear about the Transportation Minister leaning on what New Brunswick and B.C. do. It’s odd how we seem to want to govern by other provinces and what they do, because, I mean, if Quebec decided to drive over the cliff, would our government start lining up behind them?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues, for allowing this to continue. Mr. Speaker, I would like to weigh in on this driver’s licence plate issue quickly, especially because it is such an important topic and it has been raised today in various perspectives.

Mr. Speaker, a number of my constituents are concerned about the $10 fee. To the Minister that may not be a big deal, but as I understand it, there are 18,000 passenger vehicles on the road today and that is just the passenger vehicles, mind you. Of course, people are now forced to pay the $10 fee. It shouldn’t be described as...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister started to ask my last question, which is simply and ultimately the obvious question, which is when can we see something? I think that is an important factor for the public trying to follow this issue, because there are a lot of people in the public who would like to see this go forward. I think the timing couldn’t be better, especially on the sad news that another university is no longer in existence. We could fill that gap.

Mr. Speaker, does the Minister of Education have anything he can offer and share to Members, be its vision, be it timelines and...

Mr. Speaker, if I understand it, our college presently offers university courses, but it is not necessarily university based. It works in partnership with other universities. I will let the Minister correct in the record if that is not quite accurate. Mr. Speaker, I would like to hear what the progress milestones are that we could achieve. Are there any types of roadblocks stopping the potential of an Arctic university emerging here in the Northwest Territories? As I said in my Member’s statement, education is the best gift we can offer any future generation. Certainly, I would like to see us...