Joe Handley

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to make some closing comments on this discussion we had this afternoon. I want to say, first of all, that I really do listen carefully and will read Hansard very carefully on the good comments that were made today. I think that was a good discussion, the kind of discussion that I hope we can have more often because there are many things going on in this territory and in the North that we have no control over, whether it is by big multinationals or whether it is by other governments or whatever there may be. We are not in control of it. I don’t feel that...

Mr. Speaker, I will look into this one. I know it will be on the agenda for the next Council of the Federation meeting of all the Premiers, because we’ll all be looking at it, because often Quebec has its own arrangement with the federal government and the rest of us have a cooperative arrangement. I will certainly look into this one. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Mr. Speaker, the proposed changes in Hay River -- I’m assuming she’s referring to Dene K’onia and SMCC -- are proposed changes that will happen, assuming this budget is approved, after April 1st. That is a time we would be making the final decisions on it. That’s where we would have to decide if something was wrong in here, then we would have to look at a supplementary or look at doing it some other way. I can’t change that today, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I’m pleased that the Audit Bureau has contacted the Member and I want to assure this House that I didn’t have any part of that. That’s something that they would have done on their own. I will stay away from the Audit Bureau’s work because, again, as I said, their impartiality is the most important in their business. Mr. Speaker, the one thing I can’t do is change the amount of money that’s in the budget that is before this House. It’s before the House. The money that was identified as a savings has been identified in the budget, it’s a reduction in the budget. I can’t put pieces...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize a very special person in the gallery today, Ms. Sandi Briscoe. She has represented our territory and the NWT government in Ottawa since 1982 and will retire this spring. In addition to managing the Ottawa office and providing direction to visiting NWT politicians and public servants not familiar with the city, Sandi was often the first contact for Ottawa bureaucrats who knew nothing about the North, numerous Ottawa Valley school kids doing special projects on our territory, and prospective northerners seeking information about the NWT...

So we will put together a strategy this spring. I am determined that we have something that we can take back. I like Mr. Yakeleya’s comments about the elders, that they have vision. I don’t know if it’s something that comes from age. When you are young, you think you are invincible and life goes on forever, and as you get older you start thinking about what purpose you have served. How do I make a lasting difference that’s going to go on? Maybe it’s partly my age that lends me to want to have our government leave a vision that has some impact over the longer term. We are only here for four...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to take some time this afternoon to set the context for the debate on the Northern Strategy. Then the Minister of Finance will speak on some of the specific financial issues we face. I want to say that, while one of the most important tasks that we have as MLAs is to deal with our constituents and with specific issues that are of importance to them, we cannot ever forget that we also have a responsibility to take a lead on charting the course of the Northwest Territories over the next number of generations.

I believe the impact of decisions that we make...

Mr. Speaker, the Member has raised a very interesting development in Quebec. Certainly they have the richest plan now on parental leave in Canada. We are talking with the federal government on devolution, and, along with that, resource revenue sharing and we feel that we need to have a fair revenue arrangement with the federal government that allows us to be able to afford what every other Canadian can afford, and that is clearly spelled out in the Constitution that all Canadians, no matter where they live, should have benefits that are roughly equal. I note that the federal government has...

Mr. Speaker, it’s unfortunate that when we reviewed business plans that this item hadn’t been identified early on, because that’s where we can make changes, as we build our business plans and build our main estimates. Mr. Speaker, having said that, if we find as we move along in the next fiscal year and so on after this budget is approved, then there are other ways of changing the budget through supplementaries and special warrants and so on. That’s the proper way of doing it. I can’t, as the Premier, suddenly start changing this budget that we’re reviewing here, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Justice has asked the Minister of Finance to have the Audit Bureau look at the methodology that was used to arrive at the numbers. They will do that. Mr. Speaker, I want to be very, very careful that I’m not politically stepping into the realm of the Audit Bureau and somehow compromising their impartiality on this. So, Mr. Speaker, whatever I do I want to be very, very careful about that. So I can’t say that we would share what they say publicly. I can’t make that commitment right now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.