Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister is correct; a number of people have talked about this situation, but nothing has been put forward to solve the problem. The problem is that this lady in the wheelchair cannot be left alone. Her doctor says she cannot be left alone. We can do all the fancy designs, schematics, and make some adjustments in their house, but it doesn’t change the fact that she requires full-time care. So does the Minister want to state today that we are going to give her 10 hours and that is it and we will let the family fall apart, or is he going to say today...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, would the Minister be able to commit today to make this a priority policy to work on so we can move forward, knowing that this can be established in the short term, as opposed to just sitting here waiting to find out which way we’re going with the wind? Because I’ll tell you, Nunavut wants the Bathurst Port; Nunavut wants the year-round road to go from north to south to the mines. So if we sit down and do not do anything, we’re going to miss this opportunity. Is he willing to move forward and make this a commitment on a policy to move on this initiative...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the diamond mines continue work in the North here, north of Yellowknife, the winter road continues to be of question. Some years it’s good; some years it’s bad. Mr. Speaker, before this Assembly, I brought up the issue of could we work towards a permanent year-round winter road to our mine. This would help them with their logistics every year as they get organized bringing in their fuel straight up there. They don’t have to worry about the winter road going out, and as we saw two years ago, they spent $100 million in logistic money trying to get fuel up to the...

Mr. Speaker, I believe that the Premier being selected throughout the Territories would have the strength, because they could select their Cabinet Members that they see with strength to move forward. This would give our Premier the ability to pick an A-team, our star team. Mr. Speaker, the Premier could also look at that time picking a Cabinet with regional balances…

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will be short. I would like to be consistent though. In cases where we have corporations, I would like to see in the future that we list the board of directors along with the name of the corporation. I have mentioned that a few times to the Minister over the years. I won’t say it fell on deaf ears; I am sure it didn’t. The board of directors, when we name a list of a certain company itself, we don’t know who ran it and sometimes we see names cross-pollinating. We lend them money under one group and a year or two later, they come back and get money from somewhere...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister was correct; when I said they, I meant the diamonds mines spent $100 million hiring the air transportation companies. So the Minister is right. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to know what the Minister is willing to do to step forward, because they’re presenting a plan, they tried to come to committee, but because committee was short on time this year and of course they’re vamping up for this next winter road season and trying to get organized, what is he willing to do today, because I think we need a conglomerate or organizations to come together to advocate to...

…balancing gender balances, Mr. Speaker, and also looking at other unique strengths and individual qualifications to make the continued Cabinet even better than they are.

The ability to hire and fire Ministers would also give the Premier the power to keep Ministers in line. We pay the Premier to act in the top job. Well, let’s give them the ultimate authority, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the responsibility of ministerial performances belongs in the Premier, not the Premier putting pressure on the Assembly. Mr. Speaker, it should not be up to Regular Members to spill blood in the Assembly for...

Mr. Speaker, before I begin, I would like to make special note of red Friday. I always like to wear red on Fridays to show my support for our troops and their families, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to participate as a Member of the Legislative Assembly in what is a unique consensus system of government. Although the consensus system has many advantages, I believe that for it to continue its relevance, it must change and evolve with the needs of the North. I strongly encourage the 16th Assembly to seriously look at changes they may be able to make to continue consensus vitality...

Well, Mr. Speaker, the land request that came in a couple of years ago was cut in half by this department and once they came up with an agreement with the local folks, the aboriginal folks, they could have just, therefore, transferred the rest of it. But, no, they shelved it and sent it back and said apply some other day. Mr. Speaker, at the City of Yellowknife, the land cupboard is bare. They do not have lots available for affordable housing, Mr. Speaker. It is a very bare cupboard, but it’s just not that long ago we gave MACA six more positions to deal with land transfers specifically....

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The NWT has an abundance of many things, one of which is land. What we don’t have is an abundance of affordable lots to build houses on, Mr. Speaker. I would like to discuss an issue with regard to the City of Yellowknife’s application for land and the process involved.

The City of Yellowknife applied for a transfer in February 2006, for six parcels of land, and all the land, with the exception of two properties, have been transferred. A year or more later, Mr. Speaker, in 2007, the city’s land application was returned, with MACA saying that they do not agree with...