David Ramsay

Okay, well hey. Some Members are saying we need a bridge, but nobody in government has proven that if we build a bridge, the cost of living is going to go down. My main concern, Mr. Speaker, from my constituents, the city of Yellowknife, the Tlicho communities and the Akaitcho communities, is that the cost of living by building this bridge is going to go up. If you think otherwise, I think you are fooling yourselves, Mr. Speaker. That is the main thing.

---Interjection

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

---Carried

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank my colleagues for their support, those that are willing to support the motion. Mr. Speaker, in closing, I will try to keep this brief, but the project has changed and some Members in their arguments are jumping to the fact that this project was discussed. It was discussed four years ago in committee meetings. I attended these committee meetings as a city councillor. That was four years ago, Mr. Speaker. Information has changed. The project has gone from $70 million to $130 million plus.

The other thing that has changed, Mr. Speaker, if I...

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. McLeod.

It was odd and it left a lot of questions unanswered. Mr. Speaker, I can appreciate, I really do appreciate the fact that the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation is in negotiations. Those numbers, those details are secret right now. But what this motion does, Mr. Speaker, is it asks the government, before they enter into any agreement that's going to bind the next government and every government for 35 years after that to spending public funds, it should come back here, it should show us what the potential impact is on the cost of living in Yellowknife, the Tlicho communities and the Akaitcho...

Thank you, Ms. Lee. To the motion.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

WHEREAS the Deh Cho Bridge project is no longer expected to be self-financing and will require ongoing investment by the Government of the Northwest Territories;

AND WHEREAS the Government of Canada has not committed to infrastructure funding for the Deh Cho Bridge project;

AND WHEREAS the potential impacts of the Deh Cho Bridge on the cost of living for Yellowknife, the Tlicho communities and the Akaitcho communities are unclear;

AND WHEREAS the exact cost of financing the Deh Cho Bridge to the Government of the Northwest Territories has not been provided to Regular...

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

---Carried

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister brings up a good point and that is the departments are responsible for forwarding business plans with positions attached to these business plans. Mr. Speaker, therein lies the problem. There is no coordination. This leads to duplication and a lack of coordination. That’s why we scramble on big files like the pipeline, we scramble on other files. I would like to ask the Minister when are we going to have a comprehensive human resource plan for the Government of the Northwest Territories? When will that happen? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Lafferty. To the motion. Mr. Pokiak.