Michael McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to read this statement on behalf of the Premier who is currently attending a government business matter.

Mr. Speaker, later today the chair of Caucus will be tabling a results report for the 16th Legislative Assembly. It highlights activities this government has taken to support strong individuals, families and communities sharing the benefits and responsibilities of a unified, environmentally sustainable and prosperous Northwest Territories.

I will not try to list all these activities, but rather would note that we all should take some pride in the achievements...

Mr. Speaker, we have been pushing for a meeting since the announcement of these dollars was made, and up to now it’s been challenging to get all the schedules to coordinate. We’ve indicated we would like to have the mayors from Tuk and from Inuvik join us, and we again today reinforced that we still would like to have a meeting, and we’re hoping to have positive feedback on that.

First of all, the money identified in the federal government’s announcement is to start next year. The decision whether construction can start will be done and made by the 17th Assembly. We as a department and all our officials along with other departments are working towards doing all the legwork that’s required, all the discussions that need to happen prior to the election, and during the election the work will continue. We want to have the information available for the Members as they return or the Members that are part of the 17th Assembly.

I’ve also asked Minister Aglukkaq to have a...

I want to quickly thank my constituents for the support they’ve shown, to all my friends in the communities of the Deh Cho. I will be seeking support for running another term. I will be back in the community starting Friday and be gearing up for the election.

I want to say in closing, best of luck to all my colleagues who are running again and best of luck to all the candidates who are planning to put their names forward.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s good to see you were saving the best for last.

I considered making a response to the opening address yesterday and I crafted a long list. Then I looked at it and it was all about me. Since I don’t like to brag about myself, I’ll just keep it short.

I did want to say farewell to a number of people who are leaving us today, and best of luck. First of all to yourself, Mr. Speaker. I think we’re the only two left from the people who were elected in the 14th Assembly. I thank you for your time here and working with you. I want to wish you the best of luck.

Of course our...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document entitled Public Works and Services Energy Conservation Projects Annual Report, 2010. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I hear the Member loud and clear. The reality is there are a number of initiatives that we have to embark on to get the information that is required to help the 17th Assembly make the decision on a going-forward basis. We want to ensure that they have the best information in front of them as possible. If I was to commit to finishing some of the work on source 177, then in all probability we wouldn’t have the money to do the environmental impact report, which is close to a million dollars.

I can commit to the Member that we’ll look very closely. The money that’s required will have to come from...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a number of things that we would like to continue doing and working on. Source 77 road is, of course, always on our agenda. We also want to do more work on the Environmental Impact Review Board submission. We’ve earmarked some dollars internally to address that and we want to continue those discussions. We also need to start our discussions with the Inuvialuit on some of the gravel sources that we’re going to need, and use of the land, and purchase of the land. There are a lot of things we’d like to do. We want to keep the momentum going on this project. Of...

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

I think I already committed to doing that. I’ll say it again; we will follow up with the Member and gather the information that we think is required and relevant to the situation, and get back to the Member.