Bob Bromley

Mr. Chair, thanks for the Minister’s response. It sounds like he is on top of the situation. It sounds pretty challenging and expensive.

The availability of avgas sounds like a big one. Do we have a sense of how much of our… These exceptional budgets – and I assume this happened last year too; I think I remember the Minister mentioning it – how much of these exceptional costs are due to the whole avgas issue versus more severe fire seasons? Thank you.

Thanks very much to the Minister for that commitment. I think he would probably agree that it’s a substantial number and not something we’d like to see. A report published in 2008 by the Parkland Institute pointed out that the GNWT does collect the payroll tax from all workers, including those who fly in and out, which I think is beneficial, but I don’t believe we have increased those payroll taxes in the last five years. Now, this could be done in a way that does not change things except increase the tax we collect from fly-in/fly-out workers.

Would the Minister be able to confirm that raising...

Thank you. So to put this in context, we’ve had a couple special warrants. I think we’re up to about $13 million added to the budget. What are we anticipating the budget will be for this year?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to recognize Weledeh resident and former Premier, Stephen Kakfwi, who received the Governor General’s Northern Medal on October 4, 2013, in Quebec City. The highly regarded award was established to honour Canadians whose actions and achievements contribute to the North. Originally from Fort Good Hope, Mr. Kakfwi spent 16 years as a Sahtu MLA and served as a Cabinet Minister and the first Premier of the NWT after Nunavut was created.

On behalf of Weledeh residents and the people of the Northwest Territories, I would like to congratulate Mr. Kakfwi and...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’d just like to be sure I understand this. I believe, if my memory serves, this is a sudden collapse of a part of the Inuvik runway. I’m wondering: Is this sort of related, sort of the climate change that we’re seeing, is it related to the loss or permafrost? What have we got and what do we expect the full cost of this correction to be?

This and more, despite public input, considerable public input that has called for economic focus and diversification towards smaller scale and renewable resources, development that provides real benefits and healthy communities. We heard this with the economic opportunities consultation, a comprehensive consultation. Perhaps it’s devolution on the brain, but whatever it is, it’s reason for concern and a re-examination of this government’s direction. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I was just wondering, this is carry-over funding, what was the total amount, if we have that handy, for climate change-related research and development projects that we were provided through the Building Canada Plan?

Thanks to the Minister. My last question on this, given the higher costs for these utilities, and particularly in the two problem areas mentioned by Mr. Lovely, can we expect the Minister will ensure, as we go forward, that will be brought into the full-cost accounting? In consideration of alternative sources it might be less costly and provide other benefits. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I believe these are primarily for the utility costs, heating and electricity, which we know are going up steadily. At the same time, I know the Housing Corporation are doing work to improve their efficiency of facilities both on the heating and electricity side of the equation. So I’m wondering if there’s an explanation… Are we still not saving enough to account for these additional costs or is there something else going on here? Thank you.

I thank the Minister for that information. Is this the first $8 million or have we expended additional funds to this and how are the projections looking relative to that absolute amount of $26-something million?