Michael Miltenberger

Madam Chair, clearly the government was part of the discussion in the Cabinet, the agreement for interim appropriation, the understanding being is we continue to fund the government to do the work it is doing until it gets us to the point for this new Assembly to build and put their fingerprints on the business planning process for this coming year. Our commitment is that we are continuing that program. It is a status quo budget. The work that is underway is still underway. This is not a blank cheque for Ministers or the Cabinet to make any changes. Our job is to keep the ship of state pointed...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. No, this will not affect our long-term borrowing or debt. Our current fiscal strategy will remain in place. All this gives us basically is a tool that allows us to manage the $1.4 billion that flows in and out of government in its very many different ways through the Consolidated Revenue Fund, as Mr. Kalgutkar pointed out. Recognizing how long it’s been since the last increase with the growth in government and the amount of money that now flows through there and some of the pressures that we’ve been managing as of late just with the economic downturn and a lot of the...

Madam Chair, the purpose of the interim appropriation was to give the government enough money to run so that we can go through the business planning process in the intervening months following this session to get us to the May/June budget session to have time for the committees to review all the business plans of all the departments. The debate and discussion about what should be in the business plans, what should be in the budget going forward, that’s a discussion we have to have. We’ve taken, as I indicated in my opening comments, basically a third of the budget and we’re putting it to use...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. From Finance I have with me Mr. Michael Aumond and Mr. Sandy Kalgutkar.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The work on the childhood family services committees is continuing. The work on the midwifery review will be concluded. I believe the third item, which I didn’t get a chance to make a note of, is also going to continue to be dealt with.

No, Mr. Chair. Sorry. Minister Ramsay I think would like to have some closing comments on this item. Thank you.

I do, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I apologize to Mr. Yakeleya. He asked a question about energy and all the sunsets. In fact, as the Member pointed out, the end of March is the end of all that $60 million we’ve devoted to alternative energy over the last four years. One of the things we are as a government working on to be ready for business plans and for the main budget is to see, given our very tight financial circumstances, what we can do to look at the various initiatives that were underway. It’s the same with strategic initiatives. There are a number of initiatives that are sunsetting. We are...

There is activity; there is a proponent for a wood pellet plant that has done a lot of work. The issue of the supply of waste timber in the yard that the Member for Hay River South has raised has been raised with the proponent. At some point it may have that value, should the project go ahead, but at this point that is probably two to three years away. At this point the proponent had indicated that he was not in a position to buy that product in anticipation of his mill possibly going ahead. We are aware of it. We’ve looked at it. We’ve tried to consider it. We’ve talked very directly to the...

It speaks to the issue of getting money to fund contracts for child care facilities for purchased services. Some we can do on a quarterly basis or do it for three months and renew as we go. Others, where there are full-time programs running and some certainty needed in terms of funding would be we’d be looking for the full amount. Once again, as well, to have funding available for those specialized purchased services that are demand-driven.