Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to our Premier, Floyd Roland, who is the Minister responsible for the NWT Power Corp. I’d like to ask our Premier today: have the power rates in the Northwest Territories ever gone down?

Mr. Speaker, would the Finance Minister agree a good place to start, when he considers his tax initiatives and the cost of living, would be maybe to start collecting on some of the IOUs — that money owed to us by the federal government, that $100 million of health money for NIHB? Wouldn’t that be a good start to this rather than firing people or adding new taxes?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This government is flirting with a trend to encourage business as well as people to leave. We’ve all heard about the silo of government, and I am just curious. I’m just trying to get a sense. Does the Finance Minister, Minister Miltenberger, understand that there is a cost of living committee out there?

My question to the Minister of Finance is: how do his potential tax initiatives dovetail with the cost of living committee, which is intended to lower the cost of living of the average citizen up here? How does it dovetail? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, let me give this Finance Minister a lesson. If we encouraged 2,000 people to our territory, that would cover our shortfall. By the way, that means 60 people per community. We can encourage a grow with the North policy, as opposed to taxing them to death. Let’s start on some of those migrant workers, as has been articulated clearly here.

In closing, the financial gaps are big; imagination is low. As one person told me yesterday, it’s time that we start showing some backbone with some mineral tax instead of milk tax. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not going to spend a lot of time on it. I think the motion really speaks loud and clear to the issue. The fact is that northern businesses work and struggle here in the North to provide a good living, and they need opportunities presented for them. The BIP offers this opportunity and sometimes that competitive edge so they can compete successfully against southern contractors who fly in and take sort of the ripe or the prime best contracts being offered.

It’s been my experience that the BIP was developed because at one time, over 20-some years ago, more than 50 per...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a written question for the Minister of Health and Social Services regarding contract information with the Government of Nunavut. Please provide the following information in detail for the past three years:

How many people work in the speech-language pathology and occupational therapy unit; and further, what are the staffing levels historically, noting duration of any vacancies?

How long has this unit been providing speech and occupational therapy services to the Government of Nunavut?

Please provide the details of the contract with the Government of Nunavut, such as...

I’m finally really glad to say that I can agree with the Minister in the sense of this being a federal responsibility. I’m glad the day has come that we both see eye to eye on this issue.

The program provided through the Ministry through Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority goes down to the NWT Council for Persons with Disabilities. Right now, as I understand it, there are 14 people on that list providing services only a couple of hours a week. Furthermore, there are 14 on the waiting list.

The issue really is, where is the framework and policy to develop this concept, to make sure...

Mr. Speaker, I want to continue with the autism questioning. I just want to be clear, to make sure that everything gets on the record so parents can get access for their children for services.

As I highlighted earlier in my questions about the limited ability to receive speech and OT therapy, I wasn’t 100 per cent clear on the fact that…. Can parents access funding through the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority to obtain speech and OT therapy in the community, if it’s available and in the community to access?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to be clear: are the professionals employed by the Northwest Territories government putting our citizens first or the private contract that they’re providing to Nunavut?

Case by case is pretty thin, to be honest. A parent who has a child with autism can only receive a few hours a week for OT therapy as well as speech therapy. The problem is that the amount of time a week they receive for therapy here in the Northwest Territories is what is provided in Alberta for one single day.

My question once again is: would the Minister be able to look into the situation and develop a framework so these parents accessing money through Yellowknife Health and Social Services can use some of that money to access more — and private — speech and OT therapy that’s available?