David Ramsay

WHEREAS the Elections and Plebiscite Act provides for the appointment of a Chief Electoral Officer who has the responsibility to exercise general direction and supervision over the administrative conduct of an election and enforce, on the part of all election officers, fairness, impartiality and compliance with the Elections and Plebiscite Act;

AND WHEREAS Mr. David Brock was appointed by the Commissioner on September 7, 2010, as Acting Chief Electoral Officer until October 21, 2010;

NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, that this Legislative Assembly, by virtue...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Monday, October 18, 2010, I will move the following motion: Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, that this Legislative Assembly, by virtue of Section 5 of the Elections and Plebiscite Act, recommends to the Commissioner the appointment of Mr. David Brock of Yellowknife as Chief Electoral Officer for the Northwest Territories for a term of four years commencing October 18, 2010.

Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time, I will be seeking unanimous consent to deal with this motion today. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’ve got questions today for the Minister of Transportation getting back to my Member’s statement and also in reference to the Minister’s statement that he made earlier today.

I’d like to ask, given the fact that the Deh Cho Bridge Project was a partnership originally with the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation, much of the information for the public and for Members of the House was shrouded in a great deal of secrecy. That’s not the case anymore, Mr. Speaker, as the government has taken on full control of that project. I’d like to ask the Minister how the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is a great honour and a privilege to stand up in the House today and extol what it means to be a friend of Tony Whitford.

I first met Tony when I grew up with his sons, Blair, Ian and Warren. I played hockey with Blair for a number of years and went to school with Blair. I first knew Tony as a dedicated hockey dad. He was there watching many of our games at the time. It goes back a number of years now. It is hard to believe that time has gone by so fast.

I guess I owe a great deal to Mr. Whitford. If it wasn’t for his retirement in 2003 which provided me the...

Mr. Speaker, my fear is the investment that should come as a result of the new policy, the jobs that should be here, my belief is we might be losing these cut and polish folks who have moved to Yellowknife if we don’t bring in the new policy sooner rather than later.

I’d like to ask the Minister if there’s anything the department can do to try to evaluate if we may lose people, and I’m talking about the cut and polishers that have shown up here in Yellowknife and live and work, or they’re not working now, but live in Yellowknife. Has the department done any kind of study to see if these folks...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister if he has an estimate on what it is going to cost the Government of the Northwest Territories and the taxpayers here to get out of that concession agreement. Thank you.

In the Minister’s statement he says the intent is to highlight all the positive accomplishments associated with the bridge. I’m wondering will those positive accomplishments include updated status of the construction audit, updated revenue forecasts, updated financial information on that bridge project? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I had thought I would make it through this sitting in the House without having to speak about the Deh Cho Bridge Project, but, Mr. Speaker, after listening to the Minister of Transportation’s Minister’s statement I am left with little choice but to address that statement.

Mr. Speaker, I agree with the Minister that we have to extol the benefits that this bridge will bring our residents. However, I also believe that we have an obligation to our residents to give them the straight goods on how we are going to pay for it, what our relationship will be with the community of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Nahendeh, that Bill 7, An Act to Amend the Elections and Plebiscites Act, be read for the third time. Thank you.

Thank you and I know the Minister is committed to seeing this industry survive and committed to seeing it flourish. It is, I believe, a bit of a shame that we’re taking as long as we are. In the real world, in the business world, things move a lot more quickly than they do at a government pace and that’s unfortunate. I’d like to ask the Minister if, and I know he said two or three months, but the only time that I think Members are going to be back here, there’s a bit of a timeslot mid-June and also at the end of June. Can we get maybe a commitment from the Minister to try to get that finalized...