Bob Bromley

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Seeing no further questions on pages 2-52 and 2-53, we’ll move to our first votable item. Sorry. Mr. McLeod.

Any comments? General comments? Okay. No general comments at this time. Does the committee agree? Mrs. Groenewegen.

Information item. Any questions on the next two pages, Active Positions under Directorate?

Moving on, we’re on page 2-59, Human Resource Strategy and Policy, Operations Expenditure Summary, $4,855,000. Mr. Ramsay.

Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Your committee has been considering Tabled Document 37-16(2), Main Estimates 2008–2009, Volumes 1 and 2, and Committee Report 5-16(2), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the 2008–2009 Draft Main Estimates, and would like to report progress.

Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of the Committee of the Whole be concurred with.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you for those remarks, Minister. Of course, this is a real situation. Inuvik failed to get their fuel supply last year, and the surrounding communities suffered accordingly. Residents paid more and so on. But it wasn't a real shortage, and that's obviously a real possibility.

For the Minister's information, catastrophic events are going up by about an order of magnitude around the world, both in costs and frequency, so we can expect this to be a real situation.

I understand that we're losing our emergency preparedness coordinator. I'm asking that the Minister...

Ms. Woodward.

Other questions? Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Minister McLeod. Again, we're running out of time for the day. Does the committee wish to rise and report progress?

Mr. Speaker, I'll take that as a no, in effect.

The Minister has not ensured that there are emergency plans. Every community in the Northwest Territories faces this potential. I'm talking about the declining ability of global production to meet global demand, and of course, we're totally dependent on demand. As per my Member's statement there's solid evidence that that concern is increasing.

I'm looking for a commitment from the Minister. Will the Minister commit to do more than just discussing it and actually put in place emergency plans if communities are faced with a complete lack of fuel...