Michael Miltenberger

Mr. Speaker, I move seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, that Bill 4, Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), 2013-2014, be read for the first time.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If I could get the indulgence of the Member to repeat it, please.

Yes, Madam Chair, we have a contingency built into the project, but clearly the cost overruns would be the responsibility of the Government of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

So out of the $60 million, $40 million will be coming from the federal government. Okay, got it right. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I would point out, as I have numerous times in the past, that, in fact, what we spend on dealing with problems related to alcohol abuse dwarfs what little money we make selling it, in terms of health, social services, education, justice and housing.

Yes, we will have the discussion in a forum where we can, in fact, have a discussion in the House. I do acknowledge that we are prepared to do that and we’ll talk specifically about the Member’s suggestion, and what other suggestions may be there if it’s done with a broader committee and as well as the folks from the Liquor Commission...

Thank you, Madam Chair. This is a complex, large-scale project over very challenging terrain. There are a lot of risks and we’re concerned about all of them. Our job is to identify them, mitigate them, manage our way through them, and take all the steps necessary in getting the project done within budget to be aware of what those risks are so that we can move forward in a careful, planned way. I’ll ask the deputy if he wants to add anything further.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We will look at the politics of the day. The reality is if when we move from Wrigley up north to Norman Wells on the assumption that we’re going to have a robust oil play that is proved out, then there will be, I suggest, a whole different dynamic that is different than what is currently in play for the Inuvik-Tuk highway, and we would be looking to see if there was an interest from the federal government, but I would think that we would have an even greater interest from industry in some type of partnership arrangement to build that critical piece of infrastructure...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Mike Aumond, deputy minister of Finance; Mr. Russ Neudorf, deputy minister Department of Transportation; and Mr. Sandy Kalgutkar, deputy secretary to the Financial Management Board. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In his Member’s statement the Member did mention the modest amount of money that he said he pulled from the report that the Liquor Commission spend on education. I think the number he mentioned was $38,000. I don’t have that report in front of me; however, I take very clearly the Member’s point. If there is an interest from the Social Programs committee and the Legislature as we look at developing the business case and the business plans for the upcoming cycle, then we’ll start as soon as we conclude this particular budget cycle. We would be definitely very willing and...

Madam Chair, once again, the debate by Members that live in the regions where they have just about all their infrastructure needs met and asking people in the northern part of the territory and the Beaufort-Delta, why do you need a road, it’s a sinkhole, it’s not worth investing up there. That, as Northerners, somehow we do not consider you worthy putting in things that we take for granted, the road, the bridge, the Ingraham Trail, the bypass road. That type of infrastructure which we take for granted here somehow becomes a megaproject that’s not economically viable in the northern part of the...