Michael Miltenberger

I would suggest that for the last eight years now, we’ve been hard at work with our evolving energy strategy, from the time we put $60 million in our last government to a serious investment, $60 million towards alternative energy that we’ve come up with an energy plan. We’ve had energy charrettes that have helped structure and focus that energy plan. We’ve had another energy charrette last November and there is going to be a response tabled in the House this week. We have a power system plan from NTPC power as it was looking at infrastructure for the transmission line expansion to see if that...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have a challenge ahead of us and it does require some investment. We can’t just turn our back on trying to address the issue. I know the Member’s position is that we can somehow find all the talent we need in the North and if we keep it here it will all be well and good, but first we need an economy.

We have diamond mines that add $1.6 billion to our GDP every year. They have a significant fly-in/fly-out population. We are working with the mines. In fact, there’s a meeting this week to talk about this initiative, as well, from the private sector’s perspective and the...

I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, that Bill 58, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 2, 2015-2016, be read for the first time.

I appreciate the Member’s comments and fervour, and I want to reassure him on the communications side we’re not swimming in positions, and that’s one of the issues. One of the decisions that has to be made today by this Assembly is what trumps what in terms of as a government do we invest in the money to improve our services and systems or because there are process concerns separate from the validity of the request that would cause us to defer this for, potentially, at least a year or so. Thank you.

We already have the practice of entertaining power purchase agreements and buying power from folks who are generating it. For example, the people of Lutselk’e.

Mr. Chairman, as we have discussed and we have been taken to task for, the population is flat or declining. Everybody in the Northwest Territories who has skills, qualifications, that is available to work, for the most part is working. We have a very high employment rate in that area.

We know that there are job requirements in the North that aren’t being filled. We are investing money, as well, to do a better job to make sure that northern students are given every opportunity to return home with employment with the government or anywhere else that employment may be available. We’re making...

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Wednesday, June 3, 2015, I will move that Bill 65, An Act to Amend the Safety Act, be read for the first time.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just in terms of the timelines, it did come out in December. The budget for the fiscal year is closed off at the end of November. There was a significant amount of work that took place within the government, as Mr. Bromley pointed out, when there was an initial ask, potentially a recommendation of many dozens of positions. It required a lot of internal review and adjustment to come up with what we have come up with. We missed that window, and once the budget is set in the process for review, it’s very difficult after the fact to try to add things. By the time this was...

Mr. Speaker, I do not wish to be the bearer of bad weather reports, but as Mother Nature may have it, and based on the reports from our meteorologist, we will once again experience drought over the summer of 2015.

The prediction for this fire season is for another year of hot, dry weather. The downturn in weather for the next two days is unlikely to make much difference. It will be getting warmer and drier in all regions starting on Wednesday.

This is the first time since 1998 that an El Nino winter is followed by an El Nino summer. In general, El Nino is known to produce warmer and drier...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We note the Member’s concern and hopefully the proof will be in the pudding here in the not-too-distant future. If we can fill those hundred spots and each spot that is filled is calculated to bring in somewhere in the neighbourhood of potentially three people or a shade more, depending if they’re married and how many children they have, it’s an investment that I think we need to make. Thank you.