David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Minister.

Good afternoon and welcome back, Committee of the Whole. We had general comments and I will open the floor now to general comments. Is committee ready for detail? As we agreed, the Department of Finance is the first up, with Mr. Roland. I would like to ask the Minister to provide his opening comments on the departmental estimates for the Department of Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Minister.

I would like to call the Committee of the Whole to order. Under consideration in Committee of the Whole today we have Bill 15, Tlicho Community Services Agency Act; Bill 16, Northwest Territories Business Development Investment Corporation Act; Bill 18, An Act to Amend the Territorial Court Act; Bill 19, Appropriation Act, 2005-2006; Committee Report 9-15(3), Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight Report on the Review of the Draft 2005-2006 Main Estimates; Committee Report 10-15(3), Standing Committee on Governance and Economic Development Report on the Review of the Draft 2005...

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

WHEREAS the Constitution Act provides that every citizen of Canada has the right to vote in an election of Members of the House of Commons or a Legislative Assembly;

AND WHEREAS eligible residents of the Northwest Territories have the right to exercise their democratic right of franchise;

AND WHEREAS the Legislative Assembly has ensured that all residents have the ability to exercise their constitutional right of franchise by enacting the Elections Act;

AND WHEREAS the Elections Act provides for the appointment of a Chief Electoral Officer who has the responsibility to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the comments the Finance Minister has and I do look forward to working with him going forward. However, the government knew there were no negotiations going on. We had a potential purchaser. I would like to question why even have a tender process if, at the end of the day, the diamond mining companies here in the Northwest Territories are going to dictate who they are going to do business with? Why would we even go through a process like that? We should have saved ourselves the subsequent embarrassment and not even go through that process if, at the end of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Finance. I will pick up where my statement left off. I would like to ask some questions today on where the disconnect is between the producers, the Government of the Northwest Territories and the Leviev Group. All I see, Mr. Speaker, is the fact that the government is going to be on the hook for millions of dollars and we don’t really have any answers, Mr. Speaker. I know there have been media reports indicating that the Leviev Group didn’t meet the commercial criteria for one of our producers and was also asking for too...