Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, that helps. So we are leaning away from renovation towards a new facility. Is our $14 million still there as at least a starting point? If we change it from a renovation to a replacement, where do we go in the capital plan? Do we go back to the drawing board? Do we go back to square one or do we still have that capital carry-over of $14 million at least as a base start? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services, the Honourable Sandy Lee. I would like to thank the Minister for her recent visit to Hay River and her tour of all of the facilities that fall within her department in Hay River. We had a good look around at things. I have heard my colleague talking about some of the working conditions and structural conditions at Stanton Territorial Hospital. Of course, I can’t fail to mention that we have some huge infrastructure challenges with the hospital located in Hay River. Now the Minister has...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What kind of a priority, Mr. Speaker, would the Minister put on accessibility for clients and the public accessing offices related to Industry, Tourism and Investment? As to the issue of office space, I think the Mackenzie Valley pipeline office is located in a downtown location on a floor basically all by themselves. Also the representative from whoever sends agriculture interests in Hay River for ITI is located in the same spot, so you already have a fair presence with the Mackenzie Valley pipeline office and the agriculture officer in the downtown core. I think...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When you look across the country, Mr. Speaker, it’s not unprecedented for a jurisdiction to have its own police force. We were about to spend a million dollars as a government on the safer communities and neighbourhoods legislation, which was a level of enforcement as well. There were problems; it didn’t go through, but I would like to see some resources committed to the home-grown development, training and teaching through the college of a territorial police force. I’d like to know how soon we could expect a reaction from the government on that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a question for the Minister of ITI. The ITI and ENR used to be one department. They have been separated now, ENR and ITI. In some communities, the office has remained co-located. I am certainly aware of the Shared Services Agreement between those two departments, but in Hay River we have a logistical issue I think with ENR offices and ITI offices currently located at about Mile 5, quite a ways from the downtown core and all of the other services in town. I can see renewable resource officers in ENR being out along the river there in that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with respect to the Deh Cho Bridge 3P project, we have an infrastructure deficit in the Northwest Territories. We have a lending limit. Acquiring capital projects through public/private partnerships is something that is not a foreign concept. It hasn’t been a very happy concept for this government, might I say, to date. However, if the government were going to consider this method for acquiring capital infrastructure in the future, I think it would be prudent to have a P3 policy in place for this government, because obviously we’re flying right now by the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that was the case exactly on the day that I asked these questions, yet no reference was made to the concession agreement having been signed, putting this government at that potential significant, greater liability should the conditions be met.

In response, in another question, the Premier states, “it’s not too late. The 16th Assembly and its mandate has not signed a deal on proceeding forward...” I’d like to ask the Premier how he could reconcile that to the fact that a concession agreement had been signed. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to quote from the Hansard, unedited Hansard of October 19th. I was questioning Premier Roland about the extent of our involvement and commitment to the Deh Cho Bridge. I asked about the point of no return, and at that time the Premier responded that “I am not prepared to sign a blank cheque.” If the Premier was not prepared on the 19th to sign a blank cheque and understanding that our level of financial commitment has now significantly changed with the signing of this concession agreement, if the conditions are met and this government wants to pull...

Thank you. To the issue of the liability of this government with respect to the Deh Cho Bridge project, is the Premier, and was the Premier, aware that the signing of that agreement would necessarily take the level of commitment of this government and the liability of this government to a new stage? Thank you.