David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Again, I think the department should be looking at, you know, whether it’s two, three or four year old equipment, if it’s almost identical to what the new equipment would be at a fraction of the price, I think they should be doing that just as a matter of business. You know, you should be looking at trying to get the most for the dollars that you do have.

The other question that I have — and I ask this every year; I’ve been here for five years, and I ask the same question every year — is: where exactly is the dedicated Aurora College campus in Yellowknife? Where does...

I thank both Ministers for that. You know, when we’re talking about training folks for jobs in the mining industry here in the Northwest Territories, I wonder if any thought was given to approaching industry to try to get them to help with the capital purchase of this equipment so our people could get trained. Did any discussion take place with industry to help offset some of these costs for these three new pieces of equipment?

I can understand, and I appreciate my colleague Mr. Yakeleya when he talks about the $400,000 that the community of Tulita put into their school. Tulita is not alone. There are other examples across the territory. Here in Yellowknife, for example, is the Weledeh/St. Patrick’s gym. I was a city councillor when the City of Yellowknife put $1 million into that project to enhance a community asset. Is the Town of Inuvik putting any money into the new school, or have they had that discussion? I think when we’re talking fairness here, if there are enhancements at that school and there are things the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I want to ask the Minister…. As I understand it, the bigger issue here is that Capital Health in Alberta is going to a one board approach, which is going to mean a reduction in services to NWT residents. What strategy has the Minister got to deal with situations like this that are going to arise?

Whether it’s the department’s responsibility or the doctor’s responsibility, I think we have to do our utmost to ensure that when patients from the Northwest Territories are sent south, they actually have a room and will be looked after the way they should be. I agree with Mr. Hawkins; I don’t think 34 hours in an emergency room with a daughter and a three month old baby is appropriate.

I’d like to ask the Minister…. I know that yesterday she had mentioned that other centres like Grande Prairie or perhaps even Calgary were looked at as a possible location to send this constituent of mine. Was...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister: was the Government of the Northwest Territories there as observers, or were we actually there presenting our case so that a diamond bourse, an exchange, could be located here in the Northwest Territories, where we have four operating diamond mines in our territory?

Like I have mentioned previously in this House and earlier today, time is of the essence here. I don’t think we can afford, as a government, to drag our heels much longer on finding out exactly where it is that we want to take the diamond industry here in the Northwest Territories.

Earlier today I spoke of a feasibility study that’s looking at the possibility of opening a diamond exchange, or bourse, here in Canada. There were meetings held in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. Where was the Government of the Northwest Territories in this feasibility study? Were they anywhere to be found?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to discuss the issue of diamonds and diamond policy today. The Northwest Territories produces almost 15 per cent of the global production of diamonds. We are the third largest producer of gem diamonds in the world today.

The city of Yellowknife is known as the Diamond Capital of North America, and rightly so, as we’ve been mining diamonds just north of the city for over ten years. We have four operating diamond mines in our territory. Yet as a government I believe we have been failing to ensure that our territory can benefit as much as possible from our diamond...

I’ve got one second left to come back and ask the Minister. He didn’t answer the question. I’m not sure if he heard the question, but where exactly is a dedicated stand-alone college campus for Yellowknife, the capital city of the Northwest Territories? Where is that in the government’s plans today? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You know, I’m not an expert in heavy equipment by any stretch of imagination. It’s not like when you look at trucks and vehicles that you drive on the street. Every model year those can change quite a bit as time progresses, but with loaders and graders and dump trucks, I think the mechanical aspects of those vehicles don’t change very much. Again, I stand to be corrected, but if we’ve got a dump truck or grader or loader that’s three or four years old and we paid 30 per cent of the cost that shows up here and it serves the exact same purpose as a new one would, why...