Jane Groenewegen
Statements in Debates
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that we report progress.
---Carried
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to table a letter that has been sent to Minister Sandy Lee. It is from the Hay River Seniors’ Society regarding supplementary health benefits and signed by John Brockway, president. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the feasibility study has been concluded, as I said. The ability of the business to support all of the initial start costs, which I believe would be in the neighbourhood of $3 million, this work has now been done with the support of this government. So going forward, what would the next steps be to see if any of the funding that Mr. McLeod has referred to could be allocated for the establishment of a pellet mill in Hay River? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The work of the CEO of the hospital, the public administrator, yourself, Mr. Speaker, and I had met to go over some of this preliminary information. I believe that when this site is decided on or determined, I would hope that we are certain that the stakeholders have been consulted. I know that the Town of Hay River has a very keen interest as well in being kept fully apprised of what is happening with this project. I don’t know why there were no representatives from the town at some of those planning sessions that we were part of, but I would just like to get the...
Mr. Speaker, we have had the construction of a new hospital on the agenda for Hay River for quite a number of years now. There has been a lot of work that has gone into the development plan and trying to determine what is best needed in the community. Now we are down to trying to decide where such a facility would be best located. Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Health and Social Services indicated to me that there could be some time sensitivities around identification of a site for a large capital project. I was wondering if the Minister of Public Works and Services could tell me what is that...
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that consideration of Tabled Document 8-16(5), Supplementary Appropriation No. 2, 2010-2011 (Infrastructure Expenditures), be now concluded and that Tabled Document 8-16(5) be reported and recommended as ready for further consideration in formal session through the form of an appropriation bill. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I feel like I have already said so much about the Deh Cho Bridge. It is probably the single topic that I have spoken to most in this Legislature in my 15 years that I have been an MLA. I don’t know what good it is to rehash everything that has already been brought up by other Members here today except I do feel obligated to my constituents to be on the record in this matter.
I think Mr. Abernethy did an excellent job of summarizing the situation where we find ourselves today.
Mr. Chairman, if we could argue that the bridge over the Mackenzie River is a useful piece of...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Sorry, dumb question there. I forgot the Taltson was $700 million and I guess that is a bit outside of our debt limit. What do we do -- this is a hypothetical question -- I was going to say what do we do if something unforeseen comes up that’s in the millions of dollars? If we had brought the Deh Cho Bridge onto our books through a normal process similar to the Inuvik school, if we had brought that money onto our books in a similar fashion, this would be three or four years’ worth of our capital budget. Is there any possibility that we could still do that, understanding...
Mr. Speaker, if we leave the Deh Cho Bridge debt on the books long term and that becomes part of our borrowing limit for the long haul, does the Premier not see that as really tying the hands of this government since it does not affect our fiscal capacity and does not affect our ability to deliver programs and services, it doesn’t anticipate anything unforeseen and it limits our borrowing ability? Does the Premier not see that as affecting our fiscal situation?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I just want to make a few statements about this sitting of the Legislature and why we are back here. The public very well knows that we had our spring budget session, which lasted almost six weeks, and towards the end of that session information and circumstances came to light that required this government to make the decisions with respect to the Deh Cho Bridge Project.
Mr. Speaker, rather than waiting until the May sitting of the Legislature, by which time the government would have had to expend funds through special warrants and bring forward an...