Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to rise today to pay tribute, as well, to a constituent on the recent achievements of this constituent. That constituent is Dr. Curtis Brown, who is with us in the gallery today. He is an educator that has spent 23 years or so working between Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, mainly in the Northwest Territories and mainly his time as superintendent of the South Slave Divisional Education Council.

In that capacity, Dr. Brown has provided innovative leadership. His leadership over the years has been recognized in the North by the Government of the...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The actual money that was put towards renovating and updating and retrofitting government facilities was substantially less than the $15 million a year overall that we tried to put to the various alternative energy priorities. If you look at the actual number, which Mr. Guy could probably provide, the savings that we are realizing and the payback times are actually quite significant. The payback times are short. The savings for the amount of money we’ve spent I think are fairly good. If we get an adjustment to our borrowing limit, then we will be collectively, as I’ve...

Thank you, Madam Chair. In point of fact, we do have and will be going into our last year of a $75 million bump-up that we got because of the Deh Cho Bridge impacts. The budget shortly after division was very close to $1 billion. I’d have to commit or ask Mr. Aumond if he knows the detail of the $500 million as a loan limit, but that’s been there, to my recollection, for a good number of years. I’d ask Mr. Aumond. He’s indicated that he doesn’t have that information with him, so I’ll commit to get that information for the committee.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We have with us today Deputy Minister Mike Aumond from Finance, Deputy Minister Russ Neudorf from Transportation, and Deputy Minister Paul Guy from Public Works and Services. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table to the following document, entitled “Northwest Territories Capital Estimates 2012-2013.”

Thank you. One of the, I suppose, most unique practices that we’re considering or initiatives we’re considering, of course, is to conclude the Devolution Agreement, where we would take over responsibility and authority of our land, water and resource development and be able to speak to these type of practices. I appreciate the Member’s comments on the Water Stewardship Strategy. If he has specific recommendations in terms of what he considers unique northern approaches that we may not have considered, I’d be very happy to look at those and would ask that he share that with us so that we can...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a recently new process that is not completely understood. It is a source of great research at the international, national and even in our level as we seek to understand the use of hydraulic fracking for unconventional oils, in particular shale gas.

There is work being done at the federal level. We are striking a committee between ENR and ITI and other relevant deputies and departments to look at this issue and to address some of the issues that the Member talked about to try to get a good handle on the research. Some provinces’ fracking for unconventional sources...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Once again, just to point out that the money that’s there, the $28 million for communities has been maintained, and over the years that I’ve been around, we’ve maintained the level of growth at a higher level than all other program areas, probably with the exception of health.

The Member talks about money while we talk about the struggles. We do have to keep in mind that we are still spending $1.34 billion across the North and we’re going to continue to spend that amount and probably more with all the growth pressures.

The other piece – and I have to take this...

This government intends to follow through on the work that’s been laid out in a recently concluded Greenhouse Gas Strategy, and the path laid out in that strategy to look at how we will set targets and meet our obligations as a territory within Canada, of course, and as inhabitants of planet earth. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In regard to Highway No. 7 and the red flag list, I can assure the Member and this House that if there is an opportunity to put more money into capital through a bump up to our borrowing. We want to look at targeted infrastructure in the capital planning process and the committees will be fully involved. The work that’s been done up to date, the red flag lists will be put out there and we will have that discussion both in terms of the amount of money and how we move forward to put the money that we have available to work strategically. So, yes, I will confirm to the...