Michael McLeod

Mr. Speaker, we’re very confident we’re going to have all this work done. We’re going to a completely different design than we had used initially. We’re quite comfortable with the fact that we’re going to have all this work in place. We will have the bridge up and operating by the end of the month. We should not have any need for different options for a bridge, but if that is the case we will reassure the community that there will be access to the airport in some form or another. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the Member would have to demonstrate to me that it’s something that would be sustainable. So I would have to see those types of studies first.

---Laughter

Mr. Speaker, I have a return to oral question asked by Mr. Zoe on February 18, 2005, regarding the establishment of the Council of Sport and Recreation Partners.

Mr. Speaker, during the October 2004 session, I tabled the implementation schedule for the establishment of the Northwest Territories Council of Sport and Recreation Partners. I am pleased to report that the implementation process is proceeding as scheduled, and I expect that the council will hold its first annual general meeting in April 2005.

Further, I am pleased to report that all sport and recreation partners are fully involved in...

Mr. Speaker, I’m not sure what alternative option he’s looking at. That is why we’ve hired a consultant to look at what is out there in terms of dust control. We know there’s calcium, but some communities are quite concerned about how harmful it would be to the environment. There are other things such as what we’re using on some of our airports. It’s called EK-35. We’ve used it as dust suppressant on our airports. Most of the communities are quite happy with it. However, it’s quite costly and we’re not sure how corrosive it is, so we would need somebody to do an analysis of it and get back to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today and share with Members information on the inaugural Northwest Territories Games being held in Fort Smith, March 18th to 21st.

This exciting pilot program will provide an opportunity for youth from all communities to participate in and experience the benefits of a multi-sport games competition.

Host organizers are expecting close to 400 participants from all Northwest Territories communities. They will be participating in curling, cross-country skiing, ski and snowshoe biathlon, snowshoeing, snow soccer, Dene games, Inuit games and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re expecting the new sports council to have all the fiscal responsibilities by April 2006.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the tasks that the new sports council will be having to undertake is to see how they can maximize revenue flow. At this point I’m not in a position to say whether that’s going to involve more terminals or longer hours or where the terminals are going to be located. So I would have to seek that information and try to come back and provide that to the Member, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we should be clear that the $1 million is for planning and consultation and not for actual capital projects. The capital dollars allocated for next year are around $17 million. We are planning in 2006-07 to increase the capital budget for communities to $25 million. So we have to get out there. We have to make sure everybody is included in the discussions, everybody is consulted, everybody knows what the game plan is, so they can tell us what projects are out there and why they want to deal with certain initiatives in the communities. That is what those dollars are for. Thank you...

Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct; there is some money identified for planning and consultation of $1 million for this upcoming fiscal year. It’s to give us some resources to have a consultation process with the communities. We would be able to talk to the community leaders and it would also allow us to talk to some SAOs at some of the different criteria we are looking at and some of the projects in the capital plan and have a good thorough discussion on the needs of the communities out there. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I am astounded that the Member would ask the same question so many times.

---Laughter

Mr. Speaker, we realize the sense of urgency that some of the Members are experiencing in wanting to get some of the answers. Our staff has been working on drafting some of the criteria that we will be using. We have had some early discussions with the NWT Association of Communities. We are still working on some of the other funding initiatives. We plan to have our MRIF funding and our gas tax all in place by some time this year, so there's a lot of work we have to do. We have scheduled a...