David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to speak about the Government of the Northwest Territories’ efforts in securing federal investment in our Territory. For four years we heard former Premier Joe Handley tell us the Deh Cho Bridge project was contingent on the federal government coming forward to help us pay for that bridge. We waited and waited for that investment and, obviously, none came and the government decided we would pay for it ourselves. Mr. Speaker, we will be paying for that bridge upwards of $4 million a year every year indexed for the next 35 years.

Mr. Speaker, why didn’t the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to report to the Assembly that the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure has reviewed Bill 13, An Act to Amend the Commissioner’s Land Act. The committee wishes to report that Bill 13 is now ready for consideration in Committee of the Whole, as amended and reprinted. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Questions were raised by a number of presenters on the sections of the act relating to habitat conservation provisions and the designation of habitat on private lands (s.79 and s.81). These concerns were primarily focused on whether the Minister could act unilaterally to designate habitat and how the rights of landowners were protected.

Departmental representatives explained that section 79 gives the Minister the authority to put forward regulations to protect habitat that is important to the conservation of any listed or pre-listed...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over in the Yukon they’ve accessed $5 million of that Growing Forward Initiative money already and that was announced back in April. I guess what I’m trying to suggest to the government is we had better get on with this and put our proposals in, find the money, and try to leverage what dollars we have with the federal government’s dollars so that we can get some projects started here in the Northwest Territories. The question I have: Are we going to wait until the business plans in the fall before proposals such as Mr. McLeod might have are going to come forward in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m just wondering, I don’t think we’ve had a discussion on what we should spend the portion of our Green Infrastructure Fund on and we haven’t had a discussion on whether it should go to one project like the Taltson expansion or whether it should be scattered across the Territory in various projects. I guess it sounds like that decision has been made by the government and I’d like to ask the Premier if that isn’t the intent of the Government of the Northwest Territories, is to look at a bunch of different projects and maybe the Premier could comment, too, on what our...

I’d like to recognize Carol Beck, a constituent that’s with us today, as well as everybody else in the gallery.

I’m wondering if we can get a commitment from the Premier today to in fact inject some new life into the effort to deal with these jobs that are located in Ottawa and Gatineau and southern Canada, and working with our colleagues in Yukon and Nunavut, to make sure that we have a united front to the federal government to again ask them. I know we’ve asked them in the past, but if they’re looking at locating a Northern Development Agency in the Northwest Territories or in one of the other two northern territories, there’s talk of Arctic sovereignty, there’s talk of renewed effort on behalf of the...

I’d like to ask the Premier if the federal government has come any closer to announcing a location for the Northern Development Agency. I know it’s at the Prime Minister’s desk now, but when are we expecting a decision on where that office will be located?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Mr. Byrne Richards, a constituent, who is with us in the gallery today. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to speak today about the proposed Northern Development Agency and whether or not our government is making any progress in discussions with the federal government on bringing this agency’s headquarters to the Northwest Territories. I also would like to know what the federal government’s intentions are when it comes to the future of northern development.

This new agency supposedly would consolidate existing northern development activities into one which, Mr. Speaker, I am fully supportive of. The announcement was made late last year and we still do not know...