Michael McLeod

Mr. Speaker, the plans haven’t changed from last year, so I will repeat the answer I gave last year. Mr. Speaker, we had done design and drainage studies. We have embarked on doing the changing of the culverts and also providing the solid base for the community. I believe that is going to be upgraded and some of the areas that were not completed during that year will be finished off this year. We intend to move forward with the Chipsealing Program, providing the budgets are still sufficient to do all the communities that we had intended to do. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Premier for the update. Two hundred seventy-five million dollars left the Northwest Territories in 2004, and that was just from the diamond mines. That should cause the leadership of the NWT a great deal of concern. As we continue to try to hash this out, money continues to flow to Ottawa. As my final question, what is our next step? Where do we go from here? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, after the federal election, I asked the Premier about the status of the royalty talks. It has been four months now. I would like to ask the Premier again, has there been any progress made in the status of the devolution and royalty talks? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we will commit the money that would go to Yellowknife once we have that defined. We have yet to go and have the discussion with the NWT Association of Communities. We will look at the criteria that is required across the Territories. This is not Yellowknife money, as the Member has referenced these dollars for. There are a number of criteria possible. There is community vans, handy vans, bike lanes, intelligent transportation systems. There are a number of things that could qualify. That is something that is available to us to negotiate. There have been special provisions...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The discussion for the public transit funding came about in November of 2005. As Members will recall, the election was called shortly after that. There was no further discussion on this initiative. There was no negotiations, and negotiations only picked up as recently as March and we’ve had some initial discussions. What is holding us up from signing a deal is lack of an agreement at this point and the discussion over the allocation of the money. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, we did some additional studies over this past fiscal year. We have done an analysis in each community. We have also looked, as part of this analysis, to see what would be the best method of applying dust suppressant, whether it is chipsealing, calcium or others. I would not be able to speak specifically regarding what would be the best mode of applying dust suppressant in Good Hope, but I would say that, with all the new dollars that are available with what is currently in the community government’s budget, I would be very comfortable in saying, yes, there are adequate...

Mr. Speaker, yes, they are.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, travelling down the Mackenzie Valley in some of the communities, a wise man once told me that our common goal should be greater than our common enemy. With that being said, I would like to ask the Premier, is part of the delay the inability of the leadership of the Northwest Territories to get at the table and be on the same page? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess first thing we have to get clear is the NWT is made up of 33 communities and this initiative is geared towards the Northwest Territories. We will define what the criteria is through negotiations, through discussions with the NWT Association of Communities. If that does mean bike lanes and we would like to create bike lanes, then that’s what we will do. We have to have that discussion. We have not had the discussion with the NWT Association of Communities and set up a working group and have this talk to further define what will be allowed. We need to have the...

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the offer of the Member to straighten me out, but first he has to get his facts straight. Mr. Speaker, the definition of the public transit funding and what projects and programs can qualify under there has not been defined. There is a general terminology that has been used that allows a number of initiatives to qualify, but rapid transit, buses, intelligent transportation systems, bike lanes, these things are all general terms being used. However, in jurisdictions such as the Northwest Territories there is, in the agreement, the provision for greater flexibility....