Bob Bromley

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?

Was that a yes?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We all know people who have suffered from pregnancy or infant loss. Through the dedication of some mothers, we have been learning a lot recently about the cost of this loss. I appreciate the work that those people are doing to bring that recognition forward. They are also pointing out the need to acknowledge this loss and provide support for those who suffer from it and especially the emotional trauma that goes along with it. So this is a real educational effort as well as an attempt to get some recognition on a much broader scale through this motion.

I would like to...

Mr. Chair, I can see we’re providing for that. To the extent we can beforehand would be a lot cheaper than doing it last minute when we understand we have to get some into some places. It’s going to be more expensive to get it there, likely. So I think it is a good investment there.

That’s really all the questions I had. I know this is a very challenging area. I think the Minister has taken my points, such as they are. I’m sure they are not new to him. There is a big challenge here and it is probably not going to get better in the foreseeable future. I’m assuming that the Minister will be...

Thanks to the Minister for those comments. I would be happy to provide him with a copy of the report, although this isn’t totally from the report. The Minister mentioned it has to have a benefit to it. There are some costs associated with this. Right now we have the federal government collecting income tax for us. That’s a bit of a deal, because it’s an expensive process. At some point, you hit an inflection point where it becomes worthwhile paying the administration and doing the collection yourself.

Has the Minister looked into that at all to decide when it would be… I appreciate his...

Mr. Chair, I realize these special warrants are partly catch-up and partly projection, so you can end up with a surplus despite the bigger budget, so $18 million and $21 million and these are well above the set amounts for the annual budget. I am just wondering: Is there a trend in what’s happening with our fire seasons? Are we aware of any trends with our neighbouring jurisdictions, Alaska, Yukon, or our northern provinces? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my questions are based on learning that in North Dakota, workers pay income taxes to the state of North Dakota regardless of where they reside. I’d like to direct my questions to the Minister of Finance exploring our situation. Early in the previous Assembly, we learned that we were losing about $300 million per year to high salary workers flying in to work in the NWT mines from other provinces.

Would the Minister have any update on how much this figure is currently for mine workers and what additional we are losing now for oil and gas workers?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Would the Minister happen to know what the last two or three years total cost expenditures were for fire suppression?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize all of the winners of the Culture and Heritage Awards today. Congratulations to them and, particularly in the House today, members of the Yellowknife Choral Society, some of the members, and I know Constantina Tsetsos is there, a resident of Weledeh, as well as Lorne Gushue and Ruth McLean, Margo Nightingale, I don’t know if Margaret Peterson made it or not. So congratulations, and I don’t know if Jennifer Young is there. I can’t see everybody behind me, but she is one of the co-founders of the Yellowknife group Face to Face. It’s a...