Bill Braden

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The high cost of northern living, Mr. Speaker, is an issue that affects each and every one of us every day. It is an issue that is often debated directly and indirectly in this Assembly. We have taken some steps to address this, Mr. Speaker. Last October, we passed motions in this Assembly on energy costs and the overall cost of living. We, through our committee system, requested the government to bring forward information and proposed actions on the high cost of energy and the high cost of living. They did so. I think they did so in a very useful and a progressive...

Madam Chair, I’ll give the floor over to my colleagues. I’m sure they’re probably going to ask some of the questions I have on my plate.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Mr. Minister, for the information. The bill says that this is a three-year strategy. Are we anticipating then that all of these positions will sunset after three years, Madam Chair?

Madam Chair, thank you. I guess I would just reiterate my curiosity about the background on this and hope that in the course of this debate or discussion, the Minister could provide some information on the extent, potential extent, of our liability here and how it is that we arrived at seemingly taking responsibility. My information, Madam Chair, for instance, is that this particular property was something that was established by perhaps the American military or the Canadian military years and years ago and contains a lot of materials of the time; lead paint, asbestos, probably hydrocarbon...

That’s all. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Two to four years, thank you. Two to four years’ life out of this building and even then we are looking at shutting it down. Mr. Chairman, this pushes the notion of value for money way out there into the stratosphere. It’s almost extraordinary that the department would bring such a scenario to the floor of the Assembly and ask for approval of it. If we do the math on this, as the Minister has already advised us on some previous projects, we are looking at an annual increase in the capital construction costs in the Northwest Territories of at least 10 percent per year. So we take something we...

Thank you, Madam Chair. With the information provided in the bill, it is suggested here that $297,000 be allocated to provide funding for the continuation of land development projects funded by infrastructure contributions. An offsetting amount was lapsed from last year for $47,000. The area I wanted to ask about, Madam Chair, was providing funding to complete the remediation plan for the common areas of the Con and Rycon trailer courts. The detail provided says, "The remediation costs will be recovered from the revenues received from the land leases entered into with the residents of the...

You know, Mr. Chairman, I think the town of Fort Simpson really deserves better, much, much better from this government in terms of assessing what we know is a vital piece of infrastructure for this community as well as for our government. The Minister has told us some of the history of trying to get a solution and get resolve on a plan that would suit everybody, and he hasn’t been able to do so. The issue for me is the amount of time that the future and the issues regarding this building have been in play. I guess that’s the question I would like to ask, Mr. Chairman, or start asking, is...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Similar to Mr. Ramsay’s concerns, I was looking at the quantity both in terms of the number of projects and the dollar value that seems to be kind of accumulating from one year to the next and there is a trend, Madam Chair, based on a kind of a preliminary analysis that proves to me that we are, if you will, losing ground in this area and at least for the last three years the trend is that most projects are lapsing and more money is accumulating on the carryovers. While on one hand certainly there’s a number of circumstances that we need to look at and accept, and I’m...

Mr. Chairman, thank you. I will not be supporting the motion until I receive the information. I was very much prepared to see this money deleted from the bill. I guess related to the experience that we have already suffered as a consequence of CATSA’s approach to this kind of thing and the department’s ability to pass these costs on to consumers through more fees, Mr. Chairman, I am more prepared to say that the general revenue of the Government of the Northwest Territories should take this hit rather than it being passed on yet again to consumers. That is my reason for not supporting the...