Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Certainly a pleasure to get an opportunity to comment on page 7 under the directorate here, assuming we're still on the $12 million being proposed here.

I'm wondering if the Minister can provide a breakdown as to how that $12 million came to be as the number. Can they be specific as to where that subsidy will be applied? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To be clear, not to get ahead of the budget discussion of health, so I'm not going to be specific because that's a debatable item soon, but the contribution is defined already. So I'm worried that direction has been given or direction hasn't been given, and even worse, Mr. Speaker, the health budget, including the territorial budget, will have been approved and cuts come later when the Assembly dims the lights. So, Mr. Speaker, what direction or what is being protected to ensure we're not getting cuts that aren't fully communicated to Members and the public so we can...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to follow up on questions asked by my earlier colleague from Yellowknife North which is to the Minister of health.

So if we're not cutting frontline workers which, of course, I'm not in favour of cutting frontline workers, how do we get more with less? In other words, where are the cuts going to come from? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, given the comments of the Minister therefore I move that committee reports progress. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would say I'm not sure I should say thank you or maybe should start over and say what did that answer actually mean. So what does informal conversations mean? I'm simply asking for can the Premier put it on the agenda for something for folks to consume and consider and maybe get some feedback on it? I'm not looking for a special task force where we line up hundreds of processes and administration. Because if there's no appetite at the Council of Leaders for this kind of conversation, maybe now is not the right now. That said, it may be something for the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Officially, I am not asking the Minister to be in any of my hands. In truth, I'm saying we have at least 16 days on the clock, so over three weeks, if not four weeks, something to that effect, of this Assembly sitting for the current budget, and I was just asking, basically, given the fact that we still have so many days and so many weeks in advance of this, if this specific line item was delayed, are we concerned about impacts or issues? And this way we can get back to this particular specific line item to close it off. Thank you -- later. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm always -- it's always a pleasure to go first, and I'm always ready when you call upon me to give my Member's statement because I've got lots to say.

Mr. Speaker, a few days ago, or I should say a few weeks ago, a former colleague of mine, Michael Miltenberger, wrote in the Northern News Services, and he talked about a very interesting thing. We did chat about, before his special article went out, guest article that is, and we chatted about is it time to have a good conversation about naming the Northwest Territories or renaming it a name that should mean...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just before I get into my question, I want to clearly state I like, respect, admire the important role NWT Power Corp does and delivers. So the next question isn't specific criticism against them, but it's how did they come up with the $12 million rather than just going to the magic 8-ball and saying how much do we need, how do you know; you know, those types of things? Like, where is that information on the basis of that dollar amount? Again, that's not about disrespecting them. I mean, to me, it could have been $18 million. It could be $6 million. It's the same. We...

Has the PUB or someone else articulated that deadline? Thank you.

Thank you for that. I will certainly accept it. Did NTPC suggest with respect to how urgent this particular need is and what documentation have they broken down to say if we don't have this by X date, we will have to consider Y solution? Thank you.