David Ramsay

Page 12, Executive, capital investment expenditures, Human Resources, not previously authorized, employee relations, $523,000, total Human Resources, $523,000. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, committee. To the bill as a whole?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, all I have been critical of with the government is I just want to see the proof. Show me the proof and I can support the project. The government hasn’t been able, for whatever reason, to show me the proof that the cost of living in Yellowknife and in the North Slave region will not go up if this bridge is built.

I would like to ask the Premier if these numbers, that is $150 million, that is $7 a tonne or $6.75 a tonne, has been shopped around to stakeholders here in the North Slave region. I am talking about industry, transportation companies...

Thank you, Minister Roland. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Page 11, Environment and Natural Resources, operations expenditures, special warrants, forest management, $1.980 million.

Clause 7.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Premier. I want to say the Minister responsible for the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation, which would be the Minister of Transportation, but for my arguments today and my questions, I would like to ask the Premier. Getting back to my Member’s statement earlier, nowhere in the Deh Cho Bridge Act does it say that a bridge across the Mackenzie River should be built at any price. What the Deh Cho Bridge Act does is give the government the ability to negotiate, on behalf of the residents of the Northwest Territories, an agreement....

Thank you, Minister Roland. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will be quick on this. Like Mr. Hawkins says, in the absence of information, it’s so difficult to make a decision. I have constituents who are interested in the tourism and industry side of this. I really don’t know what I am turning down if I vote in favour or the motion and turn down $100,000 and the trade mission gets scuttled. I have no idea what I am turning down. It’s not fair to us, as decision-makers, to put us in a position where we have to turn something down not knowing all the details.

So, Mr. Chairman, I don’t know. This is an interesting one, but I am...

Clause 5.