Statements in Debates
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Might I say that I will not be very happy if we are going back into the line-up for capital projects, not considering that we are talking about Fort Smith, Yellowknife and all of these competing interests for capital dollars. I want to make sure that Hay River stays at the front of the line on this. I would like to ask the Minister’s commitment on that. Thank you.
Okay, I am not liking that word flux stage, Mr. Speaker. We had a $14 million capital commitment from this government for either the renovation or replacement of the hospital in Hay River. Has the decision definitely been made that we are talking about a replacement versus a renovation? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At times, we do talk about a one-window approach, Mr. Speaker, to those types of services and also Community Futures also has an office located downtown. It would be an interesting concept when we look at the other ITI presence in the downtown core to put things at one location and the coordination that might result from that. So again, I would ask the Minister, what kind of a timeline will he be looking at and hearing back from ENR what their current and projected needs are? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement, Mr. Speaker, I mentioned that there were many, many questions that have arisen in our community with respect to the tragic loss of an RCMP member. We plan to reconvene a meeting a January. Again, we hope to have some answers at that meeting, but I also think it would be good to have some representatives of the departments there to interact with the people in our community directly. I’d like to ask the Minister if he would be amenable to himself personally coming there and talking about the issue of policing in our community in January....
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, has any formal work been done to assess whether or not the current space does have enough capacity to accommodate ENR and ITI? It is quite apart from an inconvenience for anybody who wants to see an economic development officer, for example, having to go all the way out to Mile 5. Has there been any assessment done of those needs? There are also seasonal people who come in with ENR who also use that same location office. So I would like to know what formal work has been done to identify whether those offices at Mile 5 are adequate. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister responsible for Justice. Mr. Speaker, we don’t have enough police resources in our community. As I said in my Member’s statement, our numbers have diminished in the last 25 years -- we’re going backwards -- and yet the demands on our police resources have increased. The projected future looks like there will be more increase with resource development and a lot of other development on the horizon. So the demands are growing and the resources are diminishing. Hay River is the second largest community in the Northwest...
Okay. Let me ask this then, Mr. Speaker. The concession agreement lays out conditions that the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation needs to meet in order for this agreement to proceed. There are deadlines contained as in any agreement. There would be timelines included in that agreement. If those conditions are not met within those timelines, could I please have this Premier’s commitment that this government will not embark on any further extensions or changes to those timelines should the conditions not be met? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When the conditions are met and if, for some reason, through political wishes or direction of this 16th Assembly, we don’t proceed, we are considerably more at risk of an unquantified, at this time, liability. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the working of a consensus government is based on our credibility on this side of the House to ask questions and to receive accountable and transparent answers from the other side. That’s the whole basis of this debate in the House. I mean, Mr. Roland can split hairs about this, but he knows the intent of my question and some of my colleagues was to find out what had transpired and where our government sat in terms of commitment. My question is to the Premier. In retrospect, was the signing of the concession agreement not a very key piece of...
On October 19, 2007, when the 16th Assembly was sitting in this House and I was asking Mr. Roland questions as the Premier, did he know that the concession agreement had been signed with the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation? Thank you.