Michael Miltenberger

We’re open to all suggestions that haven’t been considered in the last 17 years or so, and we will, of course, give them all the consideration they deserve.

As we indicated in our discussions with the mayor last week – a very good discussion – this is fundamentally a municipal issue. There are things that have to be worked out with this condominium corporation. It’s not the position of the government to get involved in those type of circumstances. There are things that have to be done, there are funds that have to be raised, there are debenture votes that have to be taken, there are changes to the condo corporation that have to take place first before anything else can happen. The debate about what can and what should the residents of Northlands...

The fibre optic proposal is at the stage where there’s a business case being put together to look at and quantify the business benefits up and down the valley, other than the Inuvik component which is very clearly a business case that has already been made. To put that infrastructure into the communities up and down the valley, that work is being done and we expect that report to be concluded in March of this coming year.

This is a business decision and I can let the Member know that in Fort Smith, for example, it took us years and years of lobbying to convince NorthwesTel to invest, and they brought in an old cell phone tower from somewhere else even though they knew when they asked for a minimum of 250 subscribers. If you went to Fort Smith now, as we told them would happen, they probably have close to 500 or 600 or 700.

Every man, woman and child in the community has a cell phone. This is a business issue. The reason we’re looking at the fibre optic line is because it makes good sense for us as a government...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to take this opportunity to recognize and thank two of the Pages that have been working with us this week, and waiting on and responding to our every whim, and passing every note and looking after us: Jenni Watts and Katelynn Holtorf, from Fort Smith. Two fine young ladies that are going to be around for a good long time and have been great ambassadors for the community. I’d like to thank them and their mother Rene Watts.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to wish the constituents of Thebacha a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year, as well to the people...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, that Bill 1, Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures), 2012-2013, be read for the second time.

Mr. Speaker, this bill authorizes the Government of the Northwest Territories to make infrastructure expenditures for the 2012-2013 fiscal year. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I seek consent to proceed with First Reading of Bill 1, Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures), 2012-2013. Thank you.

I acknowledge, as well, that the Member has been an impassioned advocate on behalf of the Pattersons over the years and to no small way that’s part of the reason that we’re still having these discussions. I appreciate that interest, and I’ve heard her concerns, and I will be following up and I will commit to keep her and her constituents informed. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have been working closely with the Patterson’s operation for the last number of years. We had meetings again yesterday trying to come to some agreement to allow this process to proceed and the operation that the Member talked to about to remain in business. There is still some work to be done, but clearly there are challenges in terms of the revenue that they can generate, the costs that they are incurring and the simple things like stumpage fees and such that they have difficulty generating enough revenue to cover. But we are still at work trying to see if something...

That is one of our interests and one of the reasons that we, when we looked at the fibre optic line, rather than going laterally north or west, sorry, to the Yukon, we looked at the plan to run the fibre optic line down the valley to hook in down by Fort Simpson so that we would be able to in fact provide those services and infrastructure improvements to the communities up and down the valley.