Robert Hawkins

I give notice that on Thursday, June 19, 2008, I will move the following motion.

I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River South, that this Legislative Assembly strongly recommend that the government cease considering the elimination of the Business Incentive Policy, and further, that this Legislative Assembly strongly recommend that the government consider and undertake public discussion on options to revise the policy to better direct it to the benefit of businesses who file their taxes in the North.

Would the Premier take steps to work toward enacting a home-rule law? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We don’t need to recognize any differences, because this territory should have equal standing with every other province, and anyone who’s negotiating down from that would be selling us out. The fact is that the best solution would be an act to describe our position in Canada which is full partnership. When John A. Macdonald went out with his crew to negotiate with Britain about Canada having its own autonomy, it didn’t take 30 or 40 years like this devolution agreement. Even those folks who signed the Constitution and were branded as traitors in the United States were later regaled as heroes...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. During my Member’s statement I talked about home rule as an initiative that could be launched by this territory to demonstrate that our rightful place deserves to be taken within Canada.

My questions go to the Premier of this House. Would the Premier move forward on an initiative that demonstrates that the territorial government is in charge of its own affairs by moving forward on home rule legislation?

Thank you. I look forward to any future discussion on that. I hope the Speaker would keep me informed. This is an issue I brought to the Speaker’s Office. Since I’ve been here as a Member, it’s been an issue raised to me on a number of occasions by constituents who’ve come here and there’s no parking because the parking lot is full. I don’t think creating a new parking lot specific to parking would be the right way to go. I think we could meet a couple of these problems head-on by widening the road. I look forward to seeing some details and also further encourage the Speaker to keep my office...

Will that be Health Minister to Health Minister? Will that be Finance Minister to Finance Minister, Premier to Premier? What are the expectations of this? Is this a meeting to introduce each other and sides or points of view, or is this a meeting to bring closure to this matter?

Mr. Chairman, has the Speaker’s Office, vis-à-vis through the board, ever considered winding the loop on the roadway? You could be seen as updating the road to somewhat better conditions. Furthermore, we could widen it for safety reasons, and that could help facilitate parking around the loop on one side when we do have these occasional big bursts of capacity being overtaken during special events here. Has that ever been considered or seriously examined? We could help avoid maybe blasting more rocks or carving into some other area, which seems a little unfeasible at this time.

What policy would be driving this, to allow this to continue? Also, what policy would finally have to come into play for us to implement some process for collection?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I like to consistently bring this up each year: it’s the matter of the parking in the Legislative Assembly and the grounds for persons in the public and the accessibility that creates.

I know it’s been looked at and considered in previous years. There even was money budgeted in past years. I was wondering if I could have an update on that situation.

I guess, for my clarity, what would be considered a normal and fair interest rate charge on something like this? Furthermore, do we owe money to the Nunavut government in any way?