Michael Miltenberger

The key is the resources we’re putting on the table, as Mr. Neudorf indicated, they’re going to have two shifts working instead of one. They’re going to be working 20 hours a day as opposed to one shift with half the men. If you do the math, do the building schedule, then you can see that if we don’t concentrate those efforts then, yes, this will drag out until another building season and we will lose all the revenues and all the other… We’ll run ferries and winter roads for another year. That’s the key piece. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, that Bill 4, Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), 2012-2013, be read for the third time. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to thank all the Members for their comments. If I could just reaffirm the track that we are on, in terms of capital. In 2008-2009 we had a $211 million budget. In 2009-2010 it was $328 million. In 2010-2011 it was $455 million. In 2012-2013 it’s $260 million. This coming year it’s going to be $75 million. There’s a substantial drop. We know we have a $3 billion infrastructure deficit that’s looming and we have to keep working on it. There are a lot of critical infrastructure pieces and development projects that have to be done. For example, last year...

This was a business decision that was made for all the reasons, all the factors, political factors, technical factors, legal factors, all the other constraints and variables that are there, and we made a business decision on this project. That’s what it was. We chose to go down a path that did not involve trying to invoke clauses in contracts and getting involved in the middle of completing a project that is 90 percent complete, protracted legal battles.

Yes, Mr. Chair.

It has been agreed to but has not been formally signed off yet.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, that Bill 4, Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), 2012-2013, be read for the second time.

This bill authorizes the Government of the Northwest Territories to make appropriations for operations expenditures for the 2012-2013 fiscal year.

I believe we – myself, the deputy, the Minister – have given some pretty specific areas where there are areas of potential dispute if we would have chosen that path. Things like the very specific things he just mentioned about who should pay, if we dragged it out another year who would pay for the ferry service, who would pay for the ice road. Those type of things. Change work orders, scheduling issues. We’re not in a position, nor would it be appropriate, to be dissecting contractual arrangements that, in fact, had potential for litigation in this House in a political forum like this. We want...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I request unanimous consent to proceed with first reading of Bill 4, Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), 2012-2013.

Thank you, Madam Chair. If the Member will recollect, there were two tracks. The one track is the one he’s asking about right now. Why don’t we just sort of move on and sort out the project, and then when it’s all over we’ll spend months, maybe years in court in litigation over claims, or the tact and approach that we are taking which is, let’s nail down the deal, let’s nail down a timeline that’s three months out and a dollar figure that’s going to take all those other extraneous, complicating issues off the table. Those are the two tracks. We’ve moved on one of getting the project done in...