Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Roughly about 45, I believe. Thank you.

Madam Chair, I have with me Mr. Michael Aumond, deputy minister of Finance. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am here to present Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditure), No. 1, 2014-2015. This document provides for an increase of $2 million for capital investment expenditures in the 2014-2015 fiscal year.

The one item in these supplementary estimates is to provide funding to resume the Detah Access Road Project in the 2014-2015 fiscal year.

I am prepared to review the estimates of the supplementary estimates document. Thank you, Madam Chair.

I can feel the love.

---Laughter

We will endeavour to make sure that all the positions are appropriately located. Thank you.

The majority of those positions are tied specifically to the operation of the Snare system and, of course, the Jackfish plant and Bluefish, as well, in the larger service area that we do have. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the Northwest Territories Power Corporation is working to provide residents, communities and businesses of the Northwest Territories with a safe and reliable source of electricity that is both cost effective and environmentally sustainable.

NTPC’s renewed strategic plan is aligned with a number of this Assembly’s key strategies, from the Greenhouse Gas Strategy, the Biomass Energy Strategy and the Solar Strategy, to the Energy Plan and Power System Plan that will soon be tabled in the Legislature.

NTPC plays a critical role in our government’s plan to move the territory’s energy...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just appreciate the Member’s comments. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is an important discussion to have in a thorough, measured way, and I do agree with Madam Groenewegen’s concern that this has been an intense time here. There’s been a lot of emotion and a lot of debate, and it’s late. This thing deserves better from all of us. We clearly want to look at how we do this, because I’ve been in five elections, I’ve been through this process three times, and I can tell you, the process needs adjusting or fixing.

It’s not that we give up our authority. Our job, in my mind, the more I think about this and I’ve been watching over the years...

Thank you, Madam Chair. This is my third go around with this type of report and debate. The hard issue that tends to get overlooked every time is the fundamental discussion of how many MLAs do we think we need in the Northwest Territories to run the government, and work back from there and design our system. We tend to want to follow the line of least resistance, which is either the status quo or just add more. It’s very similar to some of the budgeting processes where we very rarely cut government. We tend to just add more because it’s easier to add than it is to cut.

I know we have the...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document, entitled Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditure), No. 1, 2014-2015. Thank you.