Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have with me the deputy minister of Finance and the director of the Management Board Secretariat.

The fire seasons are starting earlier. They are lasting longer. They are more intense. There are more draught occurrences. There is more critical fire issues tied to values at risk. The amount of lightning seems to be on the increase. As we deal with things like, unfortunately, the pine beetle coming north and if we are going to end up with forests of standing dead trees, then that will be just another further complication that will significantly affect fire behaviour.

Yes, there is a trend. If you turn on the TV and watch California or Alberta where they have fires in March, or what is...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The correspondence I am aware of was the Legislative Building Society wrote a letter to the Speaker, indicating they wanted to wrap things up and that they accounted fully for all the work they’ve done, that they had met their mandate and that there was a residual amount of money, $400,000, which they were turning over to the Speaker to use on behalf of the Legislative Assembly building and here we are today. I’m not aware that they wrote a list of things that they wanted to see done. I think, in keeping with the information we have, that they wanted to wrap it up and...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am here to present Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2013-2014. This document provides for an increase of $275,000 for infrastructure investment expenditures in the 2013-2014 fiscal year.

The two items in this supplementary estimate include:

$100,000 to the Legislative Assembly for the design, fabrication and installation of a prominent sign welcoming visitors to the Legislative Assembly in all official languages.

$175,000 to the Legislative Assembly for the enhancement of the Water’s Edge Park to develop it into a multifunctional public park...

Mr. Chairman, we spent approximately $18.3 million in 2012-13 for suppression in the NWT.

Mr. Chairman, I will restate for the record, approximately $10,000 is budgeted for a private dinner for former and current MLAs, Commissioners, Clerks and the Legislative Assembly Building Society, just over 100 confirmed guests. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we have a common concern about making sure we have the best industry practises when it applies to any type of resource development; in this case, hydraulic fracturing. As a government, we have come forward with a draft guidance on the issue of best practises for hydraulic fracking. That information, the document, now sits with committee, looking for their feedback.

As industry has indicated to us, as well, they are prepared to do full disclosure. It’s something that is supported by CAP. We are looking for feedback, but we are fully intent to make sure we manage and have that...

We’ve managed to keep them all airworthy. Not this summer, but last summer they were grounded. Our fleet was grounded because we had used up all the gas available in Inuvik so we had to bring in, on very short notice, some turbo prop aircraft, or a turbo craft aircraft that could assume those duties. That’s one of the biggest challenges. We’ve addressed it in the short term in the communities, trying to make sure we have gas available. That’s the one thing that has posed a real operational obstruction and challenge. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have Mr. Michael Aumond and Mr. Olin Lovely from Finance.

Mr. Speaker, in some way, as I’m sure the letter will become public knowledge soon enough, I am declining the request or the demand that we strike an investigation into the Sahtu permits that were handed out. There are a number of reasons for that, which I would be happy to discuss if the Member has further questions. Thank you.