Michael McLeod

I am pleased to present the Department of Public Works and Services Main Estimates for the fiscal year 2008–2009. The Main Estimates propose the department operations and maintenance budget for 2008–2009 of $57.8 million, which represents an 11.6 per cent increase in O&M funding over 2007–2008. In addition, the department has an infrastructure investment plan of $12.1 million for 2008–2009.

Position changes for Public Works and Services include the hiring of eight new apprentices in Fort Smith, Hay River, Fort Simpson, Inuvik and Norman Wells in designated trade occupations. An energy...

  As indicated, we still have a considerable amount of time to deal with a number of issues that are not, maybe, at the top of our list, as some Members would like to see.

The volunteer sector and Volunteer NWT, I think, are two separate issues at this point. We are still investing in the volunteer sector. We don't have any money to provide core funding to Volunteer NWT. We would like to take a step back and start looking at this issue and look at all the issues of interest to the volunteer sector and make sure that each department across the government is involved and that we provide...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think, first of all, we should be clear on who has cut funding to Volunteer NWT. We never did provide any core funding to Volunteer NWT. We had an arrangement with the federal government and Volunteer NWT to be partners on a number of initiatives. The core funding came through the federal government’s funding sources. A couple of years ago that funding lapsed and was not going to be renewed. Our investment in Volunteer NWT was on specific small initiatives.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I believe the grant-in-kind is the contribution, or the recognition of the contribution, made for Rockhill Apartments, which has now been transferred over to the Department of Health.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We certainly agree with the comments that were made by the Members.

The issue of pilings has been something that has proven to be very expensive in the last while, as we've experienced change in our climate. We're starting to see a lot of our buildings in the northern end of our territory having problems with pilings. It has forced us to do a lot of work to rectify the situation and look at different ways to try to avoid using the wood pilings that have been causing us problems.

The comments about fuel being expensive, and concern about the supply this winter is...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The issue of deferred maintenance has become very serious in the last while. This is one of the first years we’ve had a budget line to address any of the issues. The number of buildings that need attention is growing.

As an attempt to try to deal with the many issues that are challenging our capital process and capital investment, we are convinced that having at least the schematics and a design that’s fairly standard available for the communities and for most of our infrastructure…. We’re finding that, for example, we have water plants across the Northwest Territories...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. A number of issues have been raised there. First of all, I recognize the Member’s concerns regarding the issue of the environment and the use of fossil fuels. We as a government have committed to looking at all the avenues to see how we can reduce our dependency on those fuels and introduce new sources of energy.

Of course, the supply of the product at this point is starting to become a concern. I think everybody would agree that the cost is becoming a real factor, and it’s going to force us to really become a lot more efficient and use a lot more alternative sources...

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

That's something that we have been doing on a fairly regular basis in the last while, trying to find ways to support Volunteer NWT. We have been meeting with their executive.

Our information is that they have since dissolved their organization. To bring in the board and representatives from across the Northwest Territories is going to be a very extensive undertaking. At this point we don't have the resources to do that. We'd like to bring people from across the North to talk about volunteerism and to see how we can improve our system and support. However, until we identify the resources and...

We have been meeting with Volunteer NWT as recently as last week, or several weeks ago at least. The dollars that were provided to Volunteer NWT was $50,000. That money was to be used to explore new and other sources of revenue for that organization, as we indicated to them that we were not in a position to core fund them or pick up where the federal government cut the funding. So those dollars were provided to them. I don't believe we have seen a report of what they have found. Our information tells us that Volunteer has decided to wind up their organization as they haven't been able to...