Jane Groenewegen

Mr. Speaker, in view of the many pressing needs of the people of the Northwest Territories for everything from better education, to homes and houses in our communities, to health services — we have no doctors going into Nunakput, we heard today — in view of all those pressing needs, does the Premier not think that he has a duty to very clearly tell people, before we commit to it, that this government was entering into an obligation and a liability for $165 million?

Mr. Speaker, with this being Education Week, I, along with several of my colleagues, would like to acknowledge the educators of our Territory. In particular, I would like to recognize those who invest their skills and energy to educate the students of Hay River.

These weeks set aside to recognize specific professions are a good idea. However, if we are to truly respect and recognize our teachers, we could most sincerely do that by ensuring that our schools and their staff are adequately resourced to make the most positive impact possible in the education tasks of our children.

To that end, I...

Mr. Speaker, it is unfathomable that this Premier can say we should have a debate on one simple question alone: do we support this project or not? How could we possibly say whether we support the project or not if we did not have access to the details of it? That's like saying, “I'll buy a house, and I won't look at it or inspect it, and I won't understand any of the terms of the financing, but I'll just….” It is “Do I want a house, or don't I want a house?” That's how simply he’s putting the question.

And to the fact that, yes, we do have the information — yes, we do have it now, after the...

Mr. Speaker, the Members on the opposite side are putting words…. They are adding words. They are embellishing this. They are using things like “head on a platter,” “lying.” I never said lying.

I stood on a point of order to the fact that the Premier was offering…. He was misleading the House with the information he was giving. So if they want to describe that in whatever way they want to, that is what I said. And that is what I will set out to prove.

Mr. Speaker, the Premier is not telling the entire story, and he is misleading the House.

Interjection.

Well, Mr. Speaker, I'd be interested in knowing who approved the loan guarantees, because let’s be very clear: I was never part of a decision to approve a loan guarantee.

Under the Financial Administration Act, when a loan guarantee is put in place or is increased, there is an obligation to notify Members, but I don't ever recall voting on the increase to the loan guarantee. So somebody must have been acting on our behalf in the interests of the government and in the public interest to have approved those. I'd like to know who that was. Thank you.

I was previously directing my questions to the Premier on the Deh Cho Bridge. Maybe I should be directing them to the Minister of Transportation.

My questions are with respect to the $9 million loan guarantee we put in place. Were we privy to what the $9 million to date was actually spent on? Did we have a role to play in approving what that initial $9 million to date was spent on?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I just want to be clear. Is there something yet for our government to sign off with respect to these schedules, which are the appendices to the concession agreement? Do we still have requirements to officially sign something off? If that is the case, who would be signing those off on behalf of our government?

Mr. Speaker, I'd be most interested in knowing when that might happen, because as the Premier knows, we will all be leaving here shortly.

Speaking of leaving here, Friday is February 22. The 22nd was the day by which the legal counsel for the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation was supposed to have “dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s,” as has been referred to a number of times. I'd like to know if the Premier has had any kind of update on the status of that review that's been ongoing. If he wouldn't mind throwing in when we can get that other piece at the same time, that would be great.

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to thank Mr. Krutko for bringing up Motion 5. I know this has been a concern of the diesel communities for some time now. The rates for power in their communities are structured on a community-by-community basis. I also empathize with the cumbersome process when there is a general re-application and the extreme amount of study and work that it takes just to keep the community-by-community–based rates current.

Hay River is not a community that is serviced by diesel anymore so, as Members of this House who are from communities that are on hydro, we’re being called upon to...