Jane Groenewegen

Check the attendance record? I think I was there.

Thirty-five years is a long time. There was a cost-benefit analysis done. There are projections. It’s a business case based on volumes of traffic that will go over the bridge that will pay a commercial toll, which will in turn help the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation make the payments on the construction of the bridge.

I would like to know if the G.N.W.T. is going to guarantee the bridge construction loan.

I’d like to know when was the most recent communication the Minister has had with the APG and the producers group and the proponents of the pipeline. When was the most recent communication that he had with them that causes him to still feel optimistic, and what is that vehicle for ongoing communication with our government and the business components of the pipeline?

Mr. Speaker, the eventuality of a Mackenzie Valley pipeline is something that has been debated extensively all through this process. Will it go, or will it not go? When will it go? This has been a question that has been out there.

Given the ramping up of positions and people in preparation for the pipeline on behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories, do you have a contingency plan in place? Do you have an exit plan? Do you have something else these folks can do? Do you have other priorities they can turn their attention to if the pipeline is postponed and deferred?

Mr. Speaker, over the course of the weekend, while out and about in Yellowknife and in phone calls I have received in my office, I’ve heard from Northerners who seriously question if we need a $160 million bridge over the Mackenzie River at Fort Providence. I know the government is worried about our liability if we don’t proceed with the bridge. Obviously the government is not worried enough to have obtained a legal opinion they could share with us, detailing the potential extent of that liability.

Mr. Speaker, I’m worried about our liability if we do proceed with the bridge. The cost-benefit...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is a response to the Premier’s Sessional Statement, which encompasses a broad variety of topics. So I guess people have been pretty much talking about anything that’s a priority to them.

Of course, right now, to me a priority is the issue of our fiscal situation: fiscal responsibility, how we as a government spend our money, how we engage in a consensus government — all Members of this House — in decisions that are made and dialogue that takes place that leads to those decisions.

The Premier is the Finance Minister. The Premier has laid out his vision of a government...

I’d like to ask the Premier: would the bridge project have collapsed if the bridge contractor from New Brunswick had not stepped up the day before the deadline with an additional $2 million equity? Would the bridge project have collapsed without that?

Mr. Speaker, how can the Premier assure us that our contribution to the Deh Cho Bridge project is capped at $2 million per year? And I understand it is indexed. How are we going to set the money that is going to go into the bridge project that is related to the ferry operations and the creation, construction and maintenance of the ice bridge? We’ve got dollar values on those now. Are those going to be subject to increase, as well, as time goes ahead? Is there anything on this that’s capped? Are the tolls for the commercial tonnage capped? Is our contribution capped? Is the other contribution...

My questions are for the Premier, to do with Deh Cho Bridge. I must have missed the dozens of briefings that were provided….

Interjection

I have been a big proponent of the government being prepared for the pipeline and making sure that Northerners are prepared, that industry is prepared, that as a government we are prepared. What kind of timelines are we looking at? You said you were waiting for the completion of the report of the regulatory bodies. What kind of a time frame are we looking at now to have that kind of information in hand?

Although we wanted this kind of preparation in place, at the same time, if there is a significant delay or postponement of the pipeline, we have financial pressures on us right now. We don’t...

Mr. Speaker, I have questions for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

On the news this morning there was more speculation about the Alaska pipeline and the Mackenzie gas pipeline taking a major sidelining to the proposals and thoughts that are out there now on serving North American markets through liquefied natural gas. It seems an alternative. When it looked like there was a possibility for the Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline, we criticized this government heavily on the front of being prepared because we said when the diamonds were coming to the Northwest Territories, we didn’t...