Alfred Moses

Thank you. There are a lot of benefits once this fibre optic link gets connected down the valley here.

I want to ask the Minister, talking with his Cabinet counterparts in terms of such benefits as telehealth, e-learning, has he been doing some type of inventory to make sure that we have those type of resources in the community so that we can increase the telehealth, the e-learning and with other departments as well? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m going to follow up on my Member’s statement earlier on the Mackenzie Valley Fibre Optic Link as well as the Inuvik Satellite Facility. I have questions for the Minister of Finance.

It’s been in the newspaper and on NWT Days we had a delegation going over to China and Japan. We had a delegation go to Sweden as well as Germany, I think last year.

I just want to know what kind of talks and, I guess, commitments are we getting from other countries to look at putting up antennas or satellites at the Inuvik Satellite Facility. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to report to the Assembly that the Standing Committee on Social Programs has reviewed Bill 38, An Act to Amend the Jury Act; and Bill 41, An Act to Amend the Partnership Act, and wish to report that Bills 38 and 41 are now ready for consideration in Committee of the Whole. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

During the discussions, GNWT asked residents of the Northwest Territories, how can we manage our expenditures? Our operational budget has increased over the years to the tune of about one point six. We’ll be seeing and hearing tomorrow.

Some suggestions, back from the 2012 report, were how can we manage government expenditures better? One was duplication of programs, duplication between departments, or duplication between departments and non-government organizations.

Has any work or action been taken in this area to see how we could be more efficient in spending our dollars and even support non...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To my Member’s statement earlier in terms of the Budget Dialogue, as Members know we do go through our business planning session in September and as soon as that’s done, we have a really strong debate and try to get into the budget in terms of programs and services for the residents of the Northwest Territories. In some cases, it’s been pretty challenging and tough at times. Earlier in my Member’s statement, I did talk about how the Minister of Finance took his Budget Dialogue out on the road starting October 8th after the business planning session.

At what avenue and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the operations budget as big as it is, questions out there are being asked whether or not this government can sustain such a high expenditure for operations. The Minister has been noted that we’re looking at trying to increase our debt ceiling.

If that doesn’t go through, can I ask the Minister, what is the plan of action should our debt ceiling not be increased? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

When I look at the document, as well as attending the meetings, there are very sound, practical recommendations that are made and they also come from this side of the House when we are looking at making investments into residents of the Northwest Territories and programs. I just want to know how after the business planning session that we had and getting reasons why we can’t get them in and the Minister stating that he’s hearing the same thing from the residents of the Northwest Territories.

I would like to ask him, I know he’s listening to our residents, but at what cost is it to the taxpayer...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too would like to welcome all Members and staff back into the House for our long operational budget session.

Today I’d like to talk about a commitment that this government has made since 2012, and that’s the tour that our Minister of Finance goes on every year and gets input from residents of the Northwest Territories, entitled the Budget Dialogue. In fact, there are three reports that are written and tabled in the House.

The most current Budget Dialogue was done on October 8, 2014. It lasted about two months. Some concern for me was that in a territory of about 42,000...

As I said, the challenge will be featured on a CBC Television program and it will be won by voting online.

This is a made-in-the-NWT event that can affect all Canadians from coast to coast to coast.

I would like to personally encourage all Northerners and friends of the NWTRPA to vote when voting starts. I would also like to thank Sheena Tremblay, Geoff Ray and all the staff and volunteers of the NWT Rec and Parks Association who have made this challenge a success. We should support this program and be the national leaders in addressing high obesity rates and mitigate the high chronic diseases...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all I would just like to acknowledge the work of the Government Operations committee in bringing this forward. It was a very long process and a lot of work into research. I would also like to thank the staff behind the scenes for doing the research and bringing forth a very good motion and some of the reports and discussion papers that we had to make our decision on. I would like to thank Mr. Nadli and Ms. Bisaro for taking that one step further and bringing the motion to the floor as we debate it in the House today.

I think Ms. Bisaro and our chair, Mr. Nadli...