Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I guess the Member won’t be satisfied if I told him once in a blue moon.

---Laughter

For the record, Mr. Chairman, I will have Mr. Aumond provide the detail. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, for the scenario we entered into as Members of the 15th Assembly, with the fiscal forecast as it was, we laid out our fiscal strategy which included three years of reductions. The first budget we brought in had a $10 million capping of government expenditures plus own source revenues of $10 million.

This is our second piece of that. There is a $20 million reduction scenario that we are looking at and year three of the plan would bring another $20 million in reduction. With our fiscal picture changing as it is, we may not need to see any large-scale...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I am aware of some of the erosion concerns from the communities the Member has raised, but the involvement that we would get into from the Public Works and Services side would be somewhat limited. Again if the project has been established, contracts would be let out in those areas of geotechnical work that needs to be done. In some cases we might be directly involved; in some cases it may be strictly within the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs. I’d need to get more detail on the specifics of the project. Again, as well, if it directly...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The vision adopted by the Assembly last May begins with the word self-reliant. The vision that leads off the Northern Strategy framework uses this phrase in its first sentence. Self-reliance means that we look to ourselves first to tackle our challenges and to improve our lives and our communities. If the NWT is truly to achieve our vision of self-reliance for individuals, families, communities and as a territory, we need the right tools and we need the resources.

There is much work to be done. With adequate financial resources, our job will be made easier and our...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, based on the recommendations we received and the code upgrades that have been required, we’d have to do a cost-benefit analysis. That’s why the direction has been, at this point, to look at relocating, and that’s what the meeting is going to be about; to see what needs to be done to make sure that the department can continue to operate in the community and in the region.

With respect to the facility ongoing, again, we haven’t identified the cost of doing a total upgrade on that to see if it is a usable space. The government’s initial move, looking at the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that facility is one that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment uses to deliver its programs in that community and region. What was done and undertaken was a review through the fire marshal’s office and, on that recommendation, we’ve moved in this area. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we can’t commit to continue using the facility unless we get the okay from the fire marshal’s office. So with the fire marshal’s recommendation, the facility can’t be used beyond 2006. That’s why we’ve undertaken this next step, working with Education, Culture and Employment, and we can look at the reports to see what options might be out there. But with the preliminary work that has been done, this avenue was chosen because it’s the most cost-effective way to move. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the initial work was done as far back as about 2002, when the fire marshal was looking at that facility. There is a meeting coming up on Monday, between Public Works and Services and Education, Culture and Employment, to review what the necessary steps will have to be. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when I meet with my counterparts from the other jurisdictions in the finance area, we use the information we have available to us; the housing information, the cost of living factors and we use that to build our argument to try to get more revenues to our own jurisdictions. So when I go down to meet with Minister Goodale, I’m carrying in my briefcase or my backpack the arguments we’ve developed in the Northwest Territories to try to convince them in fact we need more dollars to deliver the same level of programs that southern Canadians have already. The...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think we again, as a government, can demonstrate the fact that it is across the board and the cost of living impacts on the health of residents. There are a number of factors that we’ve looked at, as a government, in trying to wrestle with the shortage of housing across the Northwest Territories, and the Housing Corporation has undergone an initiative to try to bridge that gap to a certain degree. Members of this House have put a motion on the floor to decrease the core need, and all of that requires much more money than we have right now, and we...