Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Thursday, June 1, 2006, I will move that Bill 2, Supplementary Appropriation Act, No, 1, 2006-2007, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to advise the House that the Honourable Joe Handley will be absent from the House today and tomorrow to participate in the Western Premiers' Conference and the Leaders' Summit on North American Relations in Gimli, Manitoba. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Thursday, June 1, 2006, I will move that Bill 2, Supplementary Appropriation Act, No, 1, 2006-2007, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to advise the House that the Honourable Joe Handley will be absent from the House today and tomorrow to participate in the Western Premiers' Conference and the Leaders' Summit on North American Relations in Gimli, Manitoba. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Thursday, June 1, 2006, I will move that Bill 1, Supplementary Appropriation Act, No, 4, 2005-2006, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to provide an update on the government’s fiscal position and outlook.

Since February, a number of events have occurred that will impact our fiscal outlook, the most important being the federal budget on May 2nd and the release of two key reports on federal-provincial-territorial fiscal arrangements. We expect a third report to be released very shortly.

The federal budget included some good news for NWT residents and for the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT). The reduction in the GST from seven to six...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I will have the Department of Public Works work with our infrastructure to have a look around and work with other departments to see what is out there and the facilities we lease and what requirement it might take to bring those up to code. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s a bit of an issue. Communities like Trout Lake have a ramp for the disabled, but it’s like gravel so it’s quite a lot of work to get somebody up a gravel ramp. Those are issues to look at. As well, there is a building that we actually lease in Fort Simpson where stairs are the only way to get up to the second floor and that’s just not acceptable in this day and age. So those are the types of issues that I bring to the Minister’s attention. Will he conduct an assessment of all the buildings we do have there? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Deh Cho, that Bill 19, Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 3, 2005-2006, be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do, when we are into new leases or building new infrastructure, the new requirements for access by disabled is incorporated and put in there. For the older leases we have, at times we would have to look at when we renew the lease to have some modifications brought in. As I stated, we will have the department look at this and see what options there might be available. Thank you.