David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Committee has been considering Committee Report 3-15(6), Report on Matters Related to Child and Family Services Act. I would like to report progress, with six motions being adopted and consideration of Committee Report 3-15(6) is concluded. Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of the Committee of the Whole be concurred with.

Oh yes, September. Sorry, Mr. Speaker, September. Again, I want to thank the Members that are supporting this motion and I am going to ask for a recorded vote, Mr. Speaker.

In closing this out, this does not say do not build a bridge. All it says is please, please, please give us the information before you…

Thank you, committee. What is the wish of committee? Mr. Lafferty.

You know what? Before we go blindly into a project, Mr. Speaker, before we jump there and we go there, prove to me and prove to this House, government, that the cost of living in my community and the other communities here will not go up. You have not done that. That has not happened. I can’t see how building a bridge and charging tolls and who knows what the tolls are going to be, Mr. Speaker. They are at $6; they are going to go up with inflation. Who knows? That cost is passed on to consumers, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The motion is in order. To the motion.

We have not had that discussion. Mr. Speaker, to me, that’s the fundamental argument here, absolutely. I knocked on doors during the last campaign, not one person when I knocked on their door said build a bridge. The main concern out there in Yellowknife and in our communities is the cost of living, the cost of living.

---Interjection

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. To the motion.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to mention to the amendment here, by adding the general public, to my knowledge there has not been a general public information session on the Deh Cho Bridge since 2003 in Yellowknife. Now I’m not sure exactly about other communities like in Behchoko or Lutselk’e or any of the other communities in the North Slave region, but that hasn’t happened. So I think it’s important that the public gets a chance to see the numbers as well and they have a chance to see if there’s going to be an impact on the cost of living. So I certainly am supportive of the...

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. This is an issue that has garnered much discussion amongst Members of this House over the past week and a half since we've been back in the House, Mr. Speaker, and I want to be clear, and state again for the record, that in no way am I opposed to a bridge across the Mackenzie River at Fort Providence. That's not the onus of this motion. The onus of this motion, Mr. Speaker, is the fact that the project has changed. It has changed tremendously. It has gone from a self-financing model five years ago to one that will now need an additional at...