Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am handing out thank yous here, but I will thank the Minister for providing the Concession Agreement to committee some time ago. It was an embargoed copy, that Concession Agreement, that we could have a look at in the committee room. We couldn’t make copies of it and hand it out, but we at least got a copy of it. If the department would let us have a look at the contract so that we can have a lawyer have a look at it and make our own judgments on what eligible cost overruns and delays in this project will mean to the overall cost of this project. Thank you, Mr...

Mr. Speaker, last year, as well, given what happened with ATCON, I had asked some questions about Ruskin and the Minister had confirmed that Ruskin had a 50 percent performance bond in place for the remainder of the work. I’d like to ask the Minister who holds that 50 percent performance bond that Ruskin has. Thank you.

I want some assurances what cost overruns will fall on the taxpayer here in the NWT, and I also want to understand why Regular Members haven’t seen a copy of the contract between Ruskin and whoever it’s with -- the Government of the Northwest Territories or maybe the former Deh Cho Bridge Corporation -- how that works, what our liabilities are in that contract, what are eligible cost overruns. I’ll be asking the Minister for that later today.

Mr. Speaker, it just so happens the government is $35 million short of its current, I believe it is a little bit more than that, but if we had to book the one loan we have in the Opportunities Fund, I believe that was $35 million. What would that do to the Territory’s finance if the federal government came back to us and said that we have to book that as a debt, and what would that do to our ability to borrow any more money for the other things that the Minister had mentioned in his budget address today? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a few more questions for the Minister of Finance. In the budget address today there was no mention of the disposition of the Opportunities Fund. I would like to ask the Minister what is the current disposition of the Opportunities Fund as it relates to our financial situation. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again, the office space requirement, that is the one that I’m talking about. Was it Cabinet’s assertion that they weren’t politically palatable, and if so, how come Regular Members weren’t given the opportunity to have any input on directions that those decisions may have taken? Thank you.

I guess I’m just having trouble understanding how a Program Review Office that’s been in existence for two and a half years, how the Regular Members of this House could only be given one decision point, and that was the office space requirement here in Yellowknife, to actually make a decision on. Now it sounds like the government is going to put the tough decisions on the 17th Assembly when they’re elected in the fall.

Mr. Speaker, I think the obvious question I have is: have decision points come to this Cabinet that haven’t got through to the Regular Members so we could make a decision...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to speak today about the 2011-2012 budget. What is clear is that this government does not have a problem when it comes to spending money. I must say that some of the spending was necessary. The $865 million on infrastructure projects around the Territory has helped our economy through turbulent economic times. However, we have not begun to address what streamlining government operations and improving effectiveness and efficiencies within the government actually means.

The Program Review Office, which was started two and a half years ago, was supposed to deliver...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My apologies, I should have phrased that a little bit differently. If we are going to expect to borrow $64 million and then another $155 million, I guess the way I could phrase it is, if we’re faced with a decision by the federal government, does that impact our ability to borrow any more money? Would it throw a wrench into our plans to borrow any more money for these amounts that the Minister has suggested in his budget address today?

Mr. Speaker, the Finance Minister is saying today that the federal government hasn’t made a determination on whether or not the Opportunities Fund would be booked as a liability for this government. In fact, we will have to wait until April to hear that. Is that what I am hearing the Minister say today? Thank you.