Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On the heels of my Member’s statement today, I wish to seek clarification from the Minister as to what is the holdup of the money that is rightly deserved to the City of Yellowknife for the transit system. So I ask the Minister, Mr. Speaker, why has the Minister delayed in inking a deal for the federal money to come to the Northwest Territories, the infrastructure money that is much needed by the City of Yellowknife? What has held the Minister up from doing that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my Member’s statement is about the federal transit funding for the City of Yellowknife; the transit money, Mr. Speaker. In addition to the funding available under the New Deal for cities and communities, the federal government is making over a million dollars available for existing NWT public transit systems. I’ve been given to understand that this money is available and is just being held up by MACA’s inability to come up with a definition of what they can’t decide is existing transit, Mr. Speaker. This money’s been available since its initial announcement of...

That will be all for now. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that this committee recommends that the GNWT work with Aurora College to deliver a basic interpreter/translator training program for aboriginal languages, as well as specialized training in medical terminology. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it’s my opinion that buildings are far more than bricks and mortar. They can breathe life into our community and certainly a policy like this will breathe life into the institutions we know as government.

Mr. Speaker, a public art scale of this mass will change the culture and the way we do business and although it looks like a little piece of paper, I think it goes far beyond that. It will define us for generations to come.

From my time being a Member here for the last three years, the Leg is truly an example of doing things right and doing them upfront as...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, the Minister is dithering over these explanations because there is no intelligent transit system in the Northwest Territories. Again, there is no bike lane system in the Northwest Territories. Is he suggesting now that we are going to start funding bike paths on this transit money? Maybe we should get some clarification from the Minister on his context of what transit system means. I think that is the issue. Mr. Speaker, would the Minister be clear on what transit system means, because we seem to mean everything under the sun? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister has been well aware, since the initial announcement in June of last year, that this transit money was coming. The Minister is also aware, because he just pointed out, that in November, seven months ago, that the deal was being processed. So now we are talking about March of this year and who knows what else is going to be the next stumbling block. So obviously the Minister is probably glad to see him here to help straighten him up. We have three problems. The first one is Yellowknife has the only transit system; the second is the federal money was...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Although mentioned a couple times already, I’d also like to recognize Daryl Dolynny, a well-known community supporter in the city of Yellowknife and he goes a long way to helping a lot of good causes. So thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will be quick. A few years ago I started advocating this problem that constituents of mine had unruly behaviour next to them in the parks and whatnot. There were fires and people cutting down trees, creating trash. While they were out in a lawful way enjoying the use of their property, people were shooting guns at them. It was noted the difficulty of having the RCMP bolt out of the city of Yellowknife to an area about 45 minutes outside of the city and getting there in a timely way. The difficulty, as I saw it, was they weren’t being protected by some type of...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The committee noted, with concern, that the Commissioner received only one complaint in 2004-2005 and believes this is likely the result of a lack of awareness about the Official Languages Act and the Commissioner, especially in smaller communities. We, therefore, encourage the Commissioner to step up her efforts to publicize her office. In particular, we encourage her to undertake community visits to meet with stakeholders and to raise public awareness about her office and to also ensure that printed information about the complaints process is made available in...