Jane Groenewegen

Moving onto Transportation. Transportation, capital investment expenditures, highways, not previously authorized, $2 million, total department, $2 million. Mr. Bromley.

Agreed. We’ll do that after a short break.

---SHORT RECESS

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Mr. Aumond.

I’d like to call Committee of the Whole to order. We have two items before us today. What is the wish of the committee? Mr. Menicoche.

I will now rise and report progress. Thank you, committee.

We are not really supposed to make reference in the House to documents, and numbers, and information that were before committee. We can certainly speak to what is here. I believe it to be a genuinely interesting question, but I am hesitant to start digging out committee documents for reference. Mr. Miltenberger.

That’s quite an assertion on the part of our Transportation Minister to say it will be that road and we will spend money on that road. It will be. It kind of makes me wonder, you know, where we are in terms of our level of commitment on this. When we started out and it was $150 million from the feds and $50 million from our government, okay, I could see it. But we haven’t even determined what the cost of the road is yet, so how can the Minister say this will be it?

What if the road comes in at $400 million? How can the Minister make such an assertion? How does he know with such certainty?

Thank you. The motion is in order.

Mr. Aumond.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister speaks of the desire of the federal government from a sovereignty point of view to have this road built. What about the aspirations of the people of the Northwest Territories? How are we going to calculate whether the significant capital investment of this government and the ongoing costs to maintain and upkeep this road is in the interests of the people of the Northwest Territories? By what process are you going to gauge that, given all of the competition of these capital dollars? How are you going to find that out? Thank you.