Joe Handley

Mr. Speaker, it's true that those discussions did take place with Imperial. Imperial agreed that, yes, that would make a difference. I have not seen their latest model for how they propose to build the pipeline, but they're afraid of having their pipeline attached to a highway from an environmental review side, so they've been a little bit reluctant to engage in that. But, Mr. Speaker, we presented that argument to the federal government as well and I can tell you that all of our economy is going to be dependent on good infrastructure some day. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Some of us believe it is our job in this Legislative Assembly, it seems, to just keep consulting and consulting and studying and so on. Some of us believe it is our job to do things. Mr. Speaker, we are going to do this. We are not going to every step of the way go out and get people’s opinions again. We got people’s opinions since 2002. We know we have a good deal. We know it is workable at the $6 a tonne in 2002 dollars or $6.75 today and something else in 2010 when it is completed. We know it is good for Yellowknife, the North Slave region and the mines. It...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am really disappointed that the Member is so reluctant to move ahead with an important piece of infrastructure here. Clearly, he hasn’t seen the empty store shelves, the shutdown of construction projects because there is no material, the mines to construction industry, everybody being affected by this let alone the number of students who can’t fly home at Christmas. There are no assurances and so on.

Mr. Speaker, when we come to negotiations, we don’t negotiate this in public any more than we negotiate most things that are negotiable in public. We are elected. We...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like the question referred to the Minister of ECE. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It will certainly be the recommendation from the Housing Corporation to, number one, do those intermediate repairs that have to be done to keep the building serviceable for a five-year period, and second is to put forward, as part of the business plan, a request for the money to be able to get on with the planning of a new building. In fact, I expect the Housing Corporation will begin the consultation on the type of facility beginning as early as this year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The engineer’s report was received on August 1st. The recommendation from the engineer is that it would cost roughly 70 percent of a replacement building to completely renovate that one. He also commented that the site is not a good place for that building because of the elevation of that site. Mr. Speaker, the conclusion that he leads us to is that we should do immediate repairs and then plan for a new facility. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, yes, I will bring it up. I'll bring it up right to the last day that I'm in office here, Mr. Speaker. It's my responsibility to do that and I will do it. Mr. Speaker, I believe that it is essential and that's why our government has spent millions of dollars building over 20 some bridges, why we're committed to building a bridge across the Bear River to extend the winter road, and eventually we'll build that into highway. But again, without our fair share of resource revenues, we're very limited in how fast we can move ahead with this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish the federal government would just do it, because I think it's a good idea to do it. I think Diefenbaker started that. Prime Minister Diefenbaker started over 50 years ago. We've got to build infrastructure. We can't just keep studying these things. We’ve got to get on with it.

Mr. Speaker, I've had discussions over the past few years with the Prime Minister, with Minister Prentice, with Minister Cannon, anyone who would listen to us. Myself and the Minister of Transportation have both been strong advocates of it. So we need to get on with it.

Mr. Speaker...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just find it really odd that of all of the public infrastructure we build, the MLA would choose this one to say we need to have all of the facts. Are we going to have to do this every time we replace a culvert or pave or chipseal a piece of road? This is a piece of infrastructure. We don’t do that often. We do our assessment. We run good government and we make sure that what we are doing is in the benefit of all of the people of the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, I just don’t understand the reluctance here. Mr. Speaker, do we talk to everybody? Yes, we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The bridge is a result of negotiations for financing, contracting, consultant services, oversight and so on. There is a whole range of negotiations going on. That kind of analysis is an ongoing exercise. Mr. Speaker, I give the Members assurances that that bridge at today’s prices is doable for $6 a tonne in 2002 dollars. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.