Statements in Debates
We don't perceive any more additional costs because now we're on track. Of course, there was additional costs with the engineering work that had to be done to make sure that the piles were safe. As a Minister, my priority is to make sure that anything that we're building is done structurally sound and safe, so I have no problem paying for the engineering costs that it did take to make sure that we're ready to go.
I believe the question is what caused the delays? Again, as I had spoken before, there were some issues regarding the water, and so we had to make sure that the piles were engineered safely. We just completed that work. Now that is in place, we're ready to roll.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize three members of the Status of Women Council, Lorraine Phaneuf, Annemieke Mulders, and Samantha Thomas. Thank you for being here. We appreciate it. Lyda Fuller from the YWCA was here. I am not sure if she is here any longer; Amanda Mallon who was a huge help within my campaign; Faith Woodruff who used to be our prenatal worker and went to the government, so glad to have you on this side because she was a great prenatal worker; and David Wasylciw, who is within the Range Lake constituency. Thank you.
Public Works and Services is really aware of the needs of thermal communities, and so one of our priorities is really to work within those communities to try to supplement their usage of diesel. All of the small communities and the thermal communities, as well as market communities, will be considered within the Energy Plan that we're developing.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As Members may be aware, the Energy Plan just expired at the end of March 2016, so we're just taking part in this process. I'm presuming that we'll begin this process within this fiscal year and hoping to be finished by the end of the fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The piling is done, like I had just stated. The structural material was just shipped to the community two weeks ago, so that's in there. The remainder of the material for the facility will be sent in once the ferry is in operation. We're expecting in the first week of June or so, when the ferry is operating. We're still on schedule for the completion date of November 2016 and we're really monitoring it to make sure that it does get finished by that date.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A couple of the issues that were brought by the community actually in Fort McPherson with the seniors facility, one was the location. We've done many, many consultations within the community and talked to them about the facility, the location, the site, and the community seemed to be in adherence to the proposed plan; then just a couple months ago we got some complaints saying they weren't. We went back actually on April 6th. We had another meeting in the community and again, we talked about the location. Within that meeting Chief William Koe confirmed that consultation...
To give you a timeline is, at this moment, I can't give you that, because it depends upon the budget with the federal government and the negotiations that we do with them. How I will disburse the information will be probably through the Standing Committee on Social Development, and then committee can decide how to disburse that to the Members.
At this moment, I won't be able to provide that information. We're just going down to negotiate and to talk about the need that we have within the territories, and to advocate that it not be based on just base funding, that it actually be base plus, so that they take into account the low population that we have and the vast area, and the lack of infrastructural needs. Once we have done that and we find out what the budget is when it’s released, then we will be advocating and specifying where the monies would be going.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Julie, for recognizing the visitors that you mentioned, because that was appreciated. Thanks for being here. I also want to recognize the Rotary Exchange Group that's coming out of Edmonton in the gallery today. This group includes four chaperones and 27 students from all over the world. We're really excited to have you here. Welcome.