Bill Braden

No further questions, Madam Chair. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, speak in favour of the motion. It is, indeed, high time that the premise and the thresholds that were established I think about 15 years ago now, in the original policy, that this government chose to do were set and have not been amended since then. As Members have said, yes, the cost of delivering that service across the NWT has escalated considerably, but also, Mr. Speaker, so have the demands of the modern household and the modern business. So while we’re all coping with growing energy bills, we’re also all coping with increased consumption. It is to...

Yes, Mr. Speaker, thank you. My question is would the department continue with its strategy to fund the development, the capital cost, and then seek a suitable operator or owner? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the concerns about the -- the folk festival aside -- one of the concerns, a business case concern was that at 36 sites and the lack of opportunity for expansion, this would really not be an adequate one for us. What are the projections and what would an ideal size be for a RV park here in Yellowknife, Mr. Speaker?

...for her second album Sedze. It was only the latest in a string of awards for this talented young woman, Mr. Speaker. She had previously been recognized by the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards as the best female artist and songwriter for her first CD Spirit World, Solid Wood. That CD is also recognized as the best folk album.

Leela Gilday is a First Nations singer born and raised in Yellowknife. Of course, the achievements of her father, Bill, are known far and wide. He has a long history in Yellowknife and the NWT. He’s the founder and the mainstay of the Gumboots, which have several CDs...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The financial and community, territorial and federal governments, and certainly the developers of the Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline project, are, I think, still trying to get used to the stunning news of a couple of months ago about the revision, cost and the timing of the pipeline. The cost is more than doubled to something like $16 billion Canadian with a completion date for the project now in 2014. One global energy advisor, a company called Tristone Capital, in a report just last week, said that the very high-risk project, in order to earn the high returns that...

Madam Chair, I certainly understand that we run a number of complex projects and some of them can’t be guaranteed or predicted with absolute certainty that they can be done, so it’s fully understandable that there can and will be some carry-overs. But I guess an aspect that I wanted to ask about is that, you know, as the implementation of some of these goes ahead and indeed, you know, the Minister or the department finds that, for instance, there is very limited uptake on a call for bidders or the cost of something comes in extraordinarily high, well above anticipated costs, do we have a way...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The bill is quite large, as supps go in this Assembly, and it may be a little, deceiving is the wrong word, of course, but in its inclusion is a very large number of carry-overs, both in cash value and in quantity, from the previous year, Madam Chair. Some $75 million of this is, in effect, for projects that this Assembly has already approved from the previous year or, potentially, even years. These projects are, of course, uncompleted and what the Assembly is doing here is simply reaffirming the money that was unspent from last year can continue to be spent this year...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister is quite correct; the service will hopefully be restored much earlier than usual. But the reality is, it's too late for the fuel suppliers here in the Yellowknife region. Mr. Speaker, the Minister has acknowledged there are indeed maintenance issues, and it's starting to think the Merv Hardie has been out of the water for more than four months now, but here we are at the cusp of the season and we're still fixing it. Mr. Speaker, what is the nature of the mechanical and maintenance issues with the Merv Hardie and how long is it going to take them to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I certainly hope we can all count on the optimism that the Minister is projecting about a Monday service date. Mr. Speaker, in some other discussions with folks on this issue, I was told that the Mackenzie River was indeed clear of ice yesterday and could have accepted the…The boat could have been in service very plainly, but we ran into apparently some issues regarding maintenance or inspection of the boat. Could the Minister advise why the Merv Hardie ferry was not in the water yesterday?