Michael Miltenberger

I well remember the discussions when we had this very similar debate. The Member might have been involved, as well, when we were talking about moving Health out of Inuvik to give the economy to the people in the Sahtu. I think that process is underway. We have commitments on decentralization. We are looking at how we do this, and going forward I think I know we will get there, but I’ll ask Minister Ramsay if he wants to speak to the issue so we can give the Member some comfort from the Minister himself. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my left I have Mike Aumond, deputy minister of finance. To my immediate right, Russ Neudorf, deputy minister of Transportation. As well, to my far right, Mr. Sandy Kalgutkar, deputy secretary to the FMB. Thank you.

I indicated that there is an agreement-in-principle. That agreement-in-principle is there and has been committed to by both parties. Once the resources are in place to make it happen, the formal agreement will be signed.

Once again, there is nothing further I believe I can add that will assuage the Member’s concerns or allow him to accept the fact that we made some decisions. He is unhappy with those decisions, we’ve laid out to the best I can in this House, and the Minister has made every effort as well through the questions he’s been asked and the deputy, to lay out what the issues were, the...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am here to present Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 1, 2012-2013. This document provides for an increase of $10.014 million for operations expenditures and an increase of $105.745 million for capital investment expenditures in the 2012-2013 fiscal year. The total supplementary request is $115.759 million.

Major items in this supplementary estimate include:

$105.7 million to carry over funding for infrastructure projects. This funding was approved and lapsed in the 2011-12 fiscal period. The carry-overs for capital investment expenditures in...

For whatever the reasons the Member may have, that he wants to get in the middle or be seen to be causing a lot of friction and bad blood. We’ve worked very hard to come to a cooperative agreement with the contractor. We’ve done that. There is a need to move forward to get this project done. There is nothing to be gained at this point, as I’ve indicated, in the middle of this process to do the kind of forensic autopsy that the Member seems to be intent on, and to be able to point fingers in the confines of this House, to say many things when we’re intent on working out and have worked out a...

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 first time.

All those issues would have been part of the protracted dispute resolution at some point, and a year from now when the project would have been completed if we would have chosen to go down that acrimonious, litigious path, that would not be in the best interest of the people of the Northwest Territories.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Monday, June 11, 2012, I will move that Bill 4, Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), 2012-2013, be read for the first time.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We do intend and we are going to do this work and we’re going to continue to do the work in the proper way. As the deputy indicated, the licence had some restriction factors in it. We found out where things aren’t; now we have to find out where things are.

In terms of the money that is now before this House, it will allow us, once again, enough of the information that committee and the MLAs were asking for and that we need to make an informed decision about this project, about potential costs and are all the resources there in terms of granular resources and such. I’ll...

Madam Chair, what we have done is been what we’ve focused on from the start, is to complete the bridge across the Mackenzie River. That project is 90 percent complete. It is not a $10 million issue. It is a $200 million issue. It is one that we have worked hard and we all look back and say yes, if we were doing this over, we definitely would have a different genesis. It would definitely have a different evolution as it went forward, but that is the benefit of hindsight.

So now here we are. We’re still involved in this issue. We are focused, as we have been from the start, on managing our way...