Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The 12 identified positions, including the casual, are ones for the support of the operation of the Liquor Commission. What is not included in that is the sales end of it, the warehousing and so on. That has all been privatized. So that’s where there are liquor outlets, contracts let out and they have their own staff through the contracts. We also have contract liquor inspectors who are in different communities and have been working to recruit more. There was some difficulty in having liquor inspectors in all the communities that have sales, but that is something we...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I guess, number one, we’re hopeful and fairly confident that federal Finance will see what we are putting together as an appropriate one and they would endorse and work with us on that avenue. Looking at the picture, if things don’t change, then, yes, we are going to have to look at our fiscal strategy once again in how we would go forward to ensure we don’t go over our debt that we’re aware of and have to make some adjustments necessary. There are a couple options in that. One is working with federal Finance again about that repayment plan that they do have set up...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The reason it’s down is there has been a drop in liquor sales from what was estimated the previous year. There are a number of factors that play into that. One is as we’ve looked at it; there is a reduction in liquor sales in some of the establishments. So that is one of the areas that is causing that to drop, as well as we can say maybe some of the programs that are out there are starting to have some effect on the consumption. Right now we are seeing a drop in the sales and are going forward on that basis. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as this has unfolded, and I have committed to Members in this House, we will go back and look at what has occurred and where we strengthen our position as the Government of the Northwest Territories. For me, and this government, the 15th Assembly, it’s difficult to go back to when the original agreements were put in place, to what caused the government-of-the-day to decide that was the best agreement that could be put in place and the MOU that followed. Unfortunately, as will the next government, they will have to live with some of our decisions we make...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the process, as it unfolded, we started this with two operations being affected. One is back on the road and is a healthy operation. The other one is once again back into the realm of trying to find another opportunity for sale. We were hoping to bring that to a closure before Christmas. So once we realized things were not moving along, in December we started making contacts through the receiver to try to see what was going on and encourage a speedy resolution to what was happening. In the first week of January, with the information available to me, as...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, what we’re looking to do in that area with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment in the area of high schools is to begin to look into and start getting into the area of trades itself. Realizing, just as the Member has stated, that not everybody who is going through the school system is going to want to go into an academic field and rather probably would like to go into a trades field. With the position we are in now in the Northwest Territories, we know there’s a large shortage in the trades area. So the Department of Education, Culture...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, that Bill 21, An Act to Amend the Public Service Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The process, as it would unfold, is to sell the facility as a going operation so that it remains in business. Once we have that done and a final working of the numbers between that settlement and what it has cost us, we will be coming back, as the rules of this House apply, and make it known to Members and the public what it cost us. It will have to come through a supplementary appropriation as we go forward. It will come back to this House and it will be public as to the actual losses, once we have the deal concluded. We are hopeful we can still get a deal as a going...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I laid out the events that led up to where we are today, I pointed out that with the system that is in place, we, as a government, are involved at the front end and once we designate a potential company as a northern manufacturer, conditional on supply of rough agreements being put in place, our ability to enter into or be part of those discussions is severely limited. The discussion process for a supply of rough is between the potential northern manufacturer and the mining industry. We have agreed, Mr. Speaker, that as a government we will have to...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I either can do it individually or after Members are done their general comments. I’m open to either way. I think I can respond to Mr. Braden’s one comment at this point.

First of all, just to say thanks for the support on a lot of the initiatives. We’ve worked hard as Members of the 15th Assembly to put this budget together. There were some difficult decisions that had to be made on moving forward with this, trying to bring some balance to our expenditure requirements as well as increasing our revenues. I really believe this budget puts us on a footing going...