David Ramsay

I agree the communities should be partners, but I really think, and my belief is, that the Government of the Northwest Territories, in some way, shape, or form, has to be there with dollars. I know the New Deal is there, but communities are being forced to decide on important community projects over dust suppression, and oftentimes the dust suppression doesn’t quite get to the top of the list, even though I spoke of the benefits of having dust suppression. We need to come up with a way to fund in partnership with communities if they want to have the GNWT partner with them. I’m talking about...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a couple of things. I guess, first of all, I wanted to ask the Minister if he could provide an update to the House on the situation at Northland Trailer Park here in Yellowknife and whether or not there’s been any plan formulated on how to deal with the infrastructure requirements of that trailer park here in Yellowknife.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the dates have nothing to do with or don’t coincide with when the construction of that project will finally be finished. My belief is it won’t be in November 2011, it will in fact be closer to April. That’s the point that I was trying to make there. I’d like to ask the Minister in closing, what exactly will the community be doing for this Opportunities and Involvement Fund? How are they going to be involved in this project?

Mr. Speaker, all along, this project was to be a partnership between the community and the Government of the Northwest Territories. It would seem to me, from what I have seen, the economics on this bridge aren’t good. If it is operating on a deficit basis year to year, I would suggest if the Minister is shopping for new paint, he could find some red paint to paint that bridge because it is going to be mired in red ink for the foreseeable future.

Here we are as a government negotiating a deal with a community to guarantee them $200,000 a year. How is that a fair partnership if the Government of...

I would like to see a university north of 60 as well, but, like the Minister said, there is going to be competition for the first university north of 60 with Nunavut and the Yukon. And even though we work closely with both of our friends to the east and to the west, this will be a competition, and the Department of Education, Culture and Employment and the Government of the Northwest Territories has to put their best foot forward if a decision is going to be made and some sizeable dollars to build a university north of 60. We need to, I’d say, get out in front of this and develop a sales pitch...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just wanted to talk a little bit about a dedicated campus for Aurora College here in Yellowknife. I’m starting to sound like a broken record. Year in and year out Members talk about getting out of the facility we are in here in Yellowknife and getting into a dedicated educational setting, a stand-alone facility here in Yellowknife. That’s something that has to be a goal of the department and the college. That needs to happen sooner rather than later. The lease is coming up in the next couple of years at the current location and I think we should be exploring all...

I understand that and I understand that there are rules in place for the utilization of federal dollars. If the rules were in place that allowed it to be spent on the respite program in one year, I’m just wondering how it could change to the next year.

The next question I’d have for the Minister -- and we all know concrete is very expensive; the department has entered down this road of a Foundation for Change -- is the money that was earmarked for the respite program going into the Foundation for Change and the cost to that.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to pick up where my colleagues Ms. Bisaro and Mr. Abernethy were asking questions on the respite program here in Yellowknife. We’re confused about where the funding has gone and how this has happened. If we’re confused, I can only imagine how the parents and families that utilize the respite service are feeling today.

I’d like to ask the Minister, we sat through the business plans. I’m not a member of the Social Programs committee, but I was there during the business plans. We also had a meeting with the authority shortly thereafter. Nobody said that the $250...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to speak today about devolution and resource revenue sharing. For the past 30 years governments in our Territory have been pursuing an agreement on devolving responsibilities from the federal government and getting a fair share of resource revenue. Mr. Speaker, the AIP that has been negotiated between the federal government and the Government of the Northwest Territories is historic and now more than ever we will need our partners, the aboriginal governments in this Territory, to get on board with us in building a better Territory for all of our residents.

Mr...

Just in closing, I want to again wish the Minister well with the discussion with the federal government. I think we are a central location, we have geography in our favour, obviously, being in the middle. We have a need, we have a lease expiring on a very expensive piece of real estate that we are currently occupying and the need is there. I think it is up to us to show that we have the need, that we need to get out of a costly situation that we are currently in. We are going to be looking at building a dedicated college campus, so it would only make sense that if we are going to do that, then...