Bob Bromley

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I enjoy the consistency across the years.

So, $20 million, $20.037 million, we have had some discussion on this, I think, but I just want to note that this sort of expenditure and this specific one is totally consistent with the impacts of climate change. It’s a consequence of the extreme weather events that are happening globally with increasing frequency and severity. The NWT doesn’t have any special dispensation, so these sorts of things we can expect again with increasing frequency and severity and we need to be able to plan for them.

Scientists have warned about this...

Thanks to the Minister. Just driving out to Behchoko, I estimate perhaps 100 cases of land occupancy en route. I have no idea how many are legal or not, but the last time I looked there were two leases between Yellowknife and Behchoko.

The Department of Lands has no inventory of illegal structures on Territorial land, of which we know there are at least dozens, possibly hundreds, despite their mandate, and a list of the legal structures in place through leases. It would seem easy enough to develop such an inventory, identifying all the structures and subtracting the ones which we know – the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for Minister R.C. McLeod. I was pleased to hear, earlier in the session, that the Department of Lands has instituted a moratorium on new recreational leases until a new made-in-the-NWT lands framework is developed. However, this does not address the unauthorized structures and land occupancy that has sprung up in the intervening vacuum.

What plans does the Minister have to address the proliferation of illegal structures we see already built and continuing to be built on public Territorial land? Mahsi.

Government’s failure to listen to the public has slowed the process tremendously and caused expensive and repeated re-workings of policy that never got implemented. The people on the land suffer the consequences, and we know it is expensive as well. There is an opportunity to do better, and I know this Minister has good intentions. It will require full participation of my colleagues and the public to achieve that.

Mr. Speaker, I will have questions. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is the second of several very costly events. We’ve still to deal with the third one, the Mackenzie River water levels and what that’s costing us. But this is the third event that is completely consistent and in line with the impacts and consequences of climate change. In the space of a few minutes here we’ve been discussing now $67,411 million. Sorry, it’s a little bit more than that. Twenty million, it’s actually more than $20 million. These are very serious numbers that we’ll be looking at today and in the future.

When we talk about a reduced cushion of $92 million...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. There is a new type 4 wildland fire engine that is noted in the budget here under our list of capital projects under forest management. I am just not familiar with what that is, so I wanted to try and understand what that is before I approve its purchase. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will not be supporting this motion. I think retaining this fleet would be, unfortunately, equivalent to deciding to keep an albatross around our necks. This is currently an investment liability with increasingly low returns on that investment.

We know what maintenance costs are and they’re increasing. We know we have to maintain a huge parts inventory, and these are the sorts of commitments we’d need to retain this as a potentially useful tool. I mean, this is just for standby we’re talking here and the years such as this when we would take any help we can get. Of course...

Just to return to the Beaufort-Delta, I believe the last we spoke there was something that was going to happen in December or January of 2015, December this year, January, in terms of negotiations were supposed to be starting.

Perhaps I could just get some more specifics from the Minister on exactly where we’re at with the Beau-Del, given that Hay River is fully up and running and, I guess, this year it should be the Beau-Del. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services, and I’m really just seeking an update on where we’re at with the implementation of midwifery. Perhaps I could get where we’re at with Fort Smith and Hay River to start with.

Are those positions filled and are those programs fully up and running? Mahsi.

Indeed we have, Mr. Speaker. We in this House all swore an oath to uphold the 10 principles of consensus government. Principle number five states, “Except under extraordinary circumstances, Members of the Legislative Assembly should be made aware of and have an opportunity to discuss significant announcements, changes, consultations or initiatives before they are released to the public or introduced in the Legislative Assembly. Use of the element of surprise is inconsistent with consensus government.”

Is Cabinet aware of this guiding principle? Mahsi.