Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just briefly I want to just draw Members’ attention up and away from this specific issue that is on the table and just remind everybody about our fiscal circumstances, similar to what Mr. Menicoche was talking about.

We have a very modest capital budget, a very rigorous process that takes a great deal of patience and hard work to get projects on from across the North. It’s a process that everybody watches very carefully. We also are dealing with a project – I want to mention this project again – of the Stanton Hospital that is going to be the biggest capital project we...

We have to look at the consolidated public accounts process as part of the overall budgeting process where we do business plans, we do reviews, main estimates, and where we spend a full year either getting ready for the budget or cleaning up after the budget and then having a short, very, very short pause before we renew that process.

Once again, we have skilled, trained staff. We have qualified managers and we now have, of course, this clear political direction from this body, from the government, that public accounts have to be paid attention to and it has to be given its due. We are doing...

This is a process that has some history to it now, as I’ve indicated in my previous answer. I’ve taken this on, along with the deputy minister of Finance, as a critical issue. It’s been pointed out clearly by the Auditor General that we were lacking in this area and we acknowledged that. So, we have the political commitment. We have been working with all of the boards and agencies and government departments to make sure that they know that there is an emphasis on this particular function and that these reports have to get done. We’ve met with chairs and board presidents to make sure that they...

Thank you. When net metering was initially looked at, the focus was to entice and encourage folks in the thermal community, where the costs are very, very significantly higher than the hydro zone. We’ve built this array of supports, but the issue of the taxation, of loans, those types of things have not been considered. We have to wait and see how it works in the hydro zone where we’ll, in effect, be exchanging one type of renewable energy for another as opposed to the thermal zone where we know we’re going to be replacing diesel with solar or wind, whatever other alternative energy is used...

Mr. Speaker, I want to take this opportunity to update Members on our fiscal situation and discuss some of the things we are looking forward to in the near-term.

Two years ago this Assembly created a plan to restore fiscal balance after years of stimulus spending and deficits, and to provide resources

required to tackle our $3 billion infrastructure deficit. I am happy to report today that the plan is on track. We have constrained spending growth, reduced short-term borrowing, and achieved an increase in our borrowing limit. As a result, we have kept our promise made in February’s budget to...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am here to present the 2014-15 Capital Estimates of the Government of the Northwest Territories.

The estimates outline appropriations for government and infrastructure contributions of $193 million and $29 million respectively, in the 2014-15 fiscal year.

The estimates, however, do not include appropriations for housing infrastructure proposed by the NWT Housing Corporation in 2014-15, totaling $31 million. The appropriation for these investments will be sought during committee’s review of the 2014-15 Main Estimates. The NWT Housing Corporation’s proposed 2014-15...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’d like to thank the Member for his comments, and I won’t try to restate my comments that I made to Ms. Bisaro or Mr. Bromley, but I recognize the overlap that the Member is talking about.

The issue of this is not an Assembly budget, in a consensus government I would say that this is a collective process. If it wasn’t an Assembly budget and this was party politics, we would have walked in here today and this would be the first time you would be seeing the budget, and we would be having a discussion that would last probably a few days, and then we would vote. I mean, we...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate the Member’s comments. The issue of the water treatment plants in Kakisa and Enterprise, I know the Member has initiated discussions with Minister McLeod. That issue will be given due consideration.

The issue of Providence and the old site where the road used to be and the ferry, Transportation is in the process of responding to the letter from the Member who has raised that concern.

In terms of small communities and some of the school needs, we do have money in the budget for planning studies for Colville and Trout Lake. So there is going to be some progress...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Member has helped articulate the clear difference between the needs and the resources. Just looking at a rough number here as the Member was articulating the concerns for Yellowknife alone, which would be well over half a billion dollars and these are all projects that have merit, that need to get done.

The issue of the Transportation money and too much being spent on one project, that project is underway. It’s going to, in the long term, be of enormous benefit to the North, the most northerly portion of the Mackenzie Highway. We hope to achieve maximum benefit in...

Yes, Madam Chair.