Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The committee wishes to continue, please, with general comments on the NWT main estimates and after the general comments are completed to get into the detail with the first department, that being Health and Social Services, as time permits.

Is the Minister aware of any federal funding which is specifically available in relation to these kinds of issues in navigable waters? I have observed from the air, flying into Hay River, the buildup of silt that’s creating its own delta beyond the delta. Vale Island is a delta in the mouth of the Hay River and I’ve observed it, flying over this summer. It is going to have a huge impact if something is not done about it. I will not recite all that again. Is the Minister aware of any federal funding that we as a government could access to address this?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about dredging and my questions today are for the Minister of Transportation. Since the federal Department of Public Works vacated their role in Hay River in ensuring that the mouth of the river and the shipping channels in that area were dredged on a regular basis, whose responsibility is that function at this time?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to move that we report progress.

---Carried

Thank you Mr. Chairman. The committee’s wish today is to begin on general comments on the budget address.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I made reference to the Tamerlane Ventures venture at the old Pine Point site. I notice today -- I can’t find the page where the Finance Minister referenced it -- he talked about several different potential mining projects but he left Tamerlane off the list.

The Finance Minister also kept making reference to Taltson and the supply of power to the mines and power purchase agreements. I can’t even guess how much money the government has spent running down that road of trying to sell hydro to the diamond mines. The diamond mines have a limited...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is budget day in the Northwest Territories and I was interviewed by the media after the budget address and I said that, overall, I am pleased with the budget.

This budget will not see the same volume of investment in things like capital infrastructure that we have realized extraordinarily in the last few years, but I think the 16th Assembly will be remembered for carrying this Territory through a recession at the same time using those stimulus dollars and extraordinary capital investments to help ease the impact of the recession here in the Northwest Territories. I’m...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that we report progress.

---Carried

Hydro power went to Pine Point in the old Cominco days. Tamerlane’s site is so close to where the hydro went and where the road goes, it would seem that with all those kinds of proximity and access to services that this would kind of be a no-brainer in terms of this government lending some support to a project like this which has so much potential for a community like Hay River. As I said, we do appreciate the government infrastructure going in there, but let me tell you, with about 100 jobs on our doorstep right now, we could absorb vacant housing without any extra expansion. This one seems...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s a pleasure to rise in the House today and recognize a constituent of Hay River South, His Worship Mayor Kelly Schofield. Mayor Schofield and Deputy Mayor Mike Maher both arrived in Yellowknife this morning on the Buffalo flight, Mr. Schofield for the delivery of the budget statement and Mr. Maher for a different type of delivery: we congratulate him on the arrival of his daughter Brooke this morning.