Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can see we’re slowly getting somewhere, like an iceberg here moving along the great divide. But, Mr. Speaker, let me put $72,000 into real dollars. Mr. Speaker, if I took home $72,000 in a pay cheque, that means I would have made over $105,000 that year. This is grantable money of $72,000. That’s a lot of money that’s tax free, straight across. As far as I’m concerned, we still haven’t heard the details and we have five more days of this session to go. I’m sure we’ll hear it by the end of it. Mr. Speaker, what were the exact details of this? What did they have for...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister has been here long enough to realize that he’s not supposed to ask Regular Members questions. I was kind of hoping maybe a point of order on that, but I’ll answer the question. I’m very proud that we’re putting people into housing and I’m proud to hear this government puts in housing, but you know what? The bottom line is I’m mad to find out that we’re putting $72,000 into one house. We could have done a lot better than that and it seems unreasonable. All I asked for was for you to explain the details of why one person received $72,000 when we could have...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was seeking clarity into the situation of why someone would receive $72,000. Is our goal as a Housing Corporation, is the government trying to make sure that they only pay a $200 a month mortgage? I don't know. Those are the kinds of questions that I was asking the Minister.

The program is based, if you read their web site, on a sliding scale. What is that sliding scale? A lot of the applicants that I have spoken to who have received money don't even know how much they are getting until the day the cheque is cut, at the end of the process. Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recognizing it has been a long day, I will just ask one question and quite quickly to the Minister of Health and Social Services with regard to TTC. That being said, it may be a little bit of a lengthy one, but it will be fast. Mr. Speaker, I’m trying to understand why this government preaches decentralization, about being fair and equitable and making sure everyone gets a fair shot, but the bottom line is I think the Minister just mentioned Fort Smith has a facility somewhat of a similar nature, and the bottom line is now if we remove the one out of Yellowknife and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am a little concerned that we have to wait until the end of this session; we should be waiting until tomorrow. Will the Deputy Premier be willing to commit to seeing if we could wield some of this high profile information, this high detailed information, because there must have been some business case put forward in order to decide to just move this out of Yellowknife. Would the Deputy Premier be able to bring forward this information tomorrow so we can deal with it in a timely manner, because we only have four days after tomorrow in this session to deal with this?...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise with further questions for our friends on the other side of this Assembly. The Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation is smiling because he knows I can’t ask him any more questions today because the last one was taken as notice.

I have questions for the Deputy Premier of this Assembly, Mr. Floyd Roland, with regard to the TTC that’s being taken out of Yellowknife. The Minister of Health and Social Services had mentioned that there was a facility in Fort Smith. So from the sounds of this, there will be two in the South Slave. Maybe if the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that didn’t explain anything, I’m sorry to say. It just said there’s a sliding scale that goes up to 40 percent. Mr. Speaker, we have a situation of $72,000. Explain the scenario. Tell me they came from low income housing and they were paying $200 a month and this government was darn well going to make sure that they paid a mortgage at $200 a month regardless of how expensive this house is. Explain the scenario. Show some transparency on this program. Would the Minister do that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister’s perspective on that, because it sounds very positive. On a further note, when I was in Japan, I noticed that, speaking to people and I heard from the Japanese people, a presence of Canada and the aurora as a concept has a very low to minimum or, even further, non-existence profile. That is really what I am concerned about. We have an opportunity for a major impact. With all of that being said, would the Minister look at creating maybe a joint working group between industry, Regular MLAs and himself to help maximize our aurora...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Being one of the last to recognize visitors in the gallery, I think everyone I had on my list has been recognized, so I will just go through quickly. I have a special recognition to Right Reverend Bishop Sperry, Karen Wright-Fraser, Katherine Youngblut, Ed Jeske, His Worship Gordon Van Tighem, Chief Supreme Court Justice Ted Richard, MP Ethel Blondin-Andrew, chief negotiator John B. Zoe and, of course, to everyone else who didn’t get recognized, and Sandy’s mom. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Before I begin my statement, I wish to make a special announcement. My second son was born just over a month ago, on NWT Day. His name is Hudson; and if pooping and crying is healthy, he certainly is very healthy. Everyone is fine and I wanted to take this first opportunity to announce that.

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Thank you. Mr. Speaker, earlier this month I was invited by a Yellowknife Centre business to go to Japan and attend some aurora meetings. It was at their suggestion that someone with a political point of view come to see how important the aurora is to the Japanese...