Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize Mr. Ed Jeske, Rosann Parpyka and Vivian Squires in the gallery, as well as I did notice coming in: Phila Phyten, Don Cooper, deputy minister of Justice, Justice Vertes and Brad Enge, all constituents of mine. I would like to say welcome to everyone. Thank you.

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However, Mr. Speaker, it is important to point out the executive assistants, some past and present that I think have made an exceptional impact on some of the work that I have been able to succeed with. Mr. Speaker, I would like to make special mention to Katherine Robinson who worked for the honourable Mr. Dent for some time.

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Allen Stanzell, with his keen eye for detail in getting back to me.

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Mr. Doug Pon has worked for Minister McLeod for all the way through.

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They are fine, outstanding individuals. They made the work here so much more successful and rewarding...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the answer because I see the Minister recognizes how important this is. Mr. Speaker, he says case by case. The one thing I think will help everyone out there who are in the NGOs would be, for example, if the Department of Finance set out rules and guidelines and anyone could work with the individual department. So would the Minister of Finance take upon the work to design some type of framework that an NGO can go to, maybe a website, click download it and help the application process? Therefore, when it goes to the specific department, we’ve already...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the 14th Assembly there was a report that recommended multi-year funding and the importance that it would bring to NGO organizations to create stability and a sense of continuity for their funding source. Mr. Speaker, in the 15th Assembly I was able to work with the NWT Seniors’ Society to help get them a multi-year funding agreement, and special recognition goes to then-Minister Miltenberger of the Department of Health. Mr. Speaker, that was a milestone, I’d say, but one that, I think, passed without any thunder and excitement, because it was a big...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. Mr. Speaker, as I was trying to say, every smart man always makes special mention of his wife, because she is certainly the backbone of everything. To my two sons, McKinley and Hudson, although I won’t be seeing you much for the next six weeks, I will still be thinking of you every day.

To all the Members here, thank you for your support. To all the constituents of Yellowknife Centre, thank you for your support, and good luck to everyone. It has been an exciting roller coaster working with everyone. I am sure I will see everyone back except...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to close today’s 15th Assembly statement by the same way I came into the Assembly almost four years ago. I have some special thank yous and acknowledgements. Mr. Speaker, although we all mention several times we can never mention everyone, there are certain people that I think that I am going to take the risk and highlight their performance. Mr. Speaker, the Members’ secretary, Verna Currimbhoy, has been an incredible support. She has always been there to help every one of us; that is the Regular Members, Mr. Speaker. She works diligently and always...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, the Minister must have been answering with his Finance hat on in that situation because the fact is he’s quite correct that every year has to be approved. However, the fact is we can set out long-term agreements clearly in writing and, as I’ve said on numerous occasions, that if we have a bad year in the Assembly where we have to do cutbacks, that proviso could always be written into any agreement. I’ll tell you, the NGOs that I speak to welcome that because they recognize that we can’t predict every day for how many more years ahead of us. So the fact is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to make special mention of a family here in my riding of Yellowknife Centre who recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. A heartfelt congratulation goes out to Judith and Forrest Krause, who were surrounded by friends and family over the weekend to celebrate this golden occasion. Mr. and Mrs. Krause are long-time northerners, coming to the North for opportunity and excitement and proudly made Yellowknife their home. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Well, I guess I look around the room and it’s pretty obvious where the numbers are so I’m going to have to say, first and foremost, I’m going to have to respect the Assembly’s direction on this. There’s no point in debating it at endless length and pleading when the decision has already been made.

Mr. Chair, one of the calls to action when I was in my election campaign in 2003 was to find solutions for the drug and crack problem. A number of people told me face to face that we had to come up with solutions. They were looking for something. If anything, they were...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, four years have passed and I’m very proud of all of our time here. There have been certainly some good days and certainly some bad days, as we all know, but I’ve gained a lot of experience from every one of those challenges that have been put before us and I’d say it’s been an incredible time, an incredible ride, Mr. Speaker.

This exciting time could not have been done without the marriage of this new family we’ve created when we walked through the doors, all 19 Members of us. Some knew each other, some didn’t, but we found a way to make it work. Just...