Bill Braden

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The Minister is right; we have to pursue an incentive and an attractive environment to work and live in, but I will go back to what I started with. The North has had such a history of fly-in/fly-out resource development and we have worked so hard to counter that. The agreements that we put in place under considerable pressure, Madam Speaker, to get the diamond companies to comply with our desire to leave some of the product here so we could work on it is one example of how we have worked so hard to make this happen. The concerns I raise about workers now...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Those are all very good and very valid explanations, part of the foundation of our understanding. Certainly the mines collectively deserve congratulations and compliments for the investment they have made in doing that. It is truly a partnership. It continues to be a source of concern that we are seeing this trend, unfortunately, come into a reality. Madam Speaker, the cost of living and separation from friends and relatives is one of the main reasons that southern workers say they cannot move to the Northwest Territories. Now we can’t do much about the distance...

Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. So to conclude, I want to make a point that there is consideration, there is a situation happening here that is going very much against some of the hopes and the dreams and the expectations that we have about developing this industry, and seeing it grow our communities and our economy. I hope that we can look at this very vigorously in the near future to assist those companies in satisfying their demands, but also for them to look at ways in which they will continue to be the corporate citizens that I think we had all expected they will be, and indeed I...

Thank you, Madam Speaker, for allowing that rather far-ranging question and for the Minister’s answer. I will come back to the theme of workers choosing not to live in the Northwest Territories. There is a concern in the city, Madam Speaker, that workers who are now residents of the Northwest Territories may look at this and say if I can get my way paid from Edmonton, I am going to move to Edmonton. I get the big salary, I enjoy the lower cost of living, I am closer to friends and relatives and other kinds of amenities. What kind of protections are there in the socioeconomic agreements, Madam...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. My questions this morning are for the Honourable Brendan Bell in his capacity as Minister of Investment, Tourism and Industry. It might be the other way around, but I hope that’s clear enough. Madam Speaker, I want to follow up on the statement I made earlier on the diamond mining industry and its impact or potential lack of impact on our long-term sustainable economy here. Madam Speaker, we have long complained about resource industries being fly-in/fly-out industries. Here, unfortunately, we have another manifestation of this with Diavik’s decision and it’s quite...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. More than a decade ago when diamonds were discovered in the Barren Lands hundreds of kilometres to the north and east of Yellowknife, we were anticipating a great new chapter in the development, the stability and the prosperity of the North Slave region in the Northwest Territories. Indeed, a lot of that has been manifested with the opening of the BHP and the Diavik mines, and we celebrate De Beers’ decision to move ahead on Snap Lake. There are a number of other prospects that could also become part of this new chapter in the North and indeed in Canada.

Madam...

Mr. Speaker, I have a written question for the Minister of Finance regarding the federal contributions to the NWT.

A number of potential new federal initiatives have been proposed for the NWT, such as gas tax revenue, Northern Strategy, infrastructure investment, for this fiscal year. Most if not all of these measures are contingent on the federal budget passing.

Could the Minister provide a detailed list of potential sources of new federal investments for the NWT this fiscal year?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker and colleagues, for indulging my request. There is something that was brought to our attention earlier today that really demands a review and it should start today. My question is for the Minister of Finance, Mr. Speaker. It regards the message that we received this afternoon in his statement of a $36 million clawback from Ottawa as a result of a corporate tax change some five years ago. I am wondering on this one, Mr. Speaker, do we call 911? Do we call a forensic accountant? What is going on here? This is a considerable turnaround in our financial fortunes here...

Mr. Speaker, one of the aspects that have been brought to light about this potential move -- and this is not a slight at all against the good people of Hay River -- are certain levels of support and treatment and professional care that are not established in Hay River. Is this business plan going to address the needs that these children have for as full a spectrum as possible of care, and how is that going to be established? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Then if something has been learned, how, Mr. Speaker, has that been manifested in this lightning-quick decision to move the treatment centre without bringing, as my colleague yesterday, the Member for Kam Lake, Dave Ramsay, said, where is the business plan? How are we to know what is going to be the effect on workers and on staff and on families? If the government has learned something, we’re not seeing it here, Mr. Speaker.