Bob McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We know the Members opposite read every piece of paper that we present and it was prominently identified in the Mineral Development Strategy. Thank you.

I would be very interested in seeing what kind of mathematics he used to come up to that conclusion. As a policy, we decided to go with the existing until such time as we decided to do otherwise. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have a distribution system that’s been in place for some time. We have the Public Utilities Board that has been operating very effectively and we will continue to follow the policies of this government. From time to time we will review it to see if those policies should continue to be in place. Thank you.

I’m glad for the opportunity to clarify statements attributed to me. We have not threatened to walk away. All we raise is the fact that despite all these best offers to the Dehcho First Nations, they’re all rejected out of hand, and so we should take that into consideration going forward.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we are. We have identified $21 million over the next three years, and we’ll be, as well, investing in the housing market in the communities, so our expectation is we will have approximately 178 new houses in the small communities that are predominantly identified for decentralized positions. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Glen Abernethy will be absent from the House today to attend the Canada Northwest FASD Partnership Ministers’ meetings in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, over the last few days, the future of energy and the approach of the Government of the Northwest Territories to energy in the Northwest Territories has been explored, deliberated and discussed at length.

The 2014 Northwest Territories Energy Charrette has generated a great deal of interest throughout our territory and beyond. Over 120 people participated in the entire charrette and there were many more who attended the public discussion held on Monday, November 3rd.

We had representatives from communities and Aboriginal governments from every region of the territory and attracted...

As I indicated, the business plans for 2015-16 will be rolled out early in the new year. It’s very difficult for us to be prescriptive to the next government, and certainly as part of the transitional planning, we will continue to identify decentralization as a priority and we will lay out our thinking on decentralization, but it will be up to the 18th Assembly to make those decisions subsequent to 2015-16. Thank you.

The Member will be very pleased to hear that we have just started phase three and we have decentralized 141 positions in this 17th Assembly. This is the most positions that have ever been decentralized in the history of this government and we are just starting phase three. So the plan will be, when we roll out the business plans for 2015-16, they will be very clear and I am sure that the Member will be very appreciative. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am very pleased to recognize two Pages from Yellowknife South: Bryanna Steele and Emma du Plessis. They are from Yellowknife South. I also recognize all the Pages who are here. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.