Michael Miltenberger

I am here to present Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 2, 2011-2012. This document outlines an increase of $11.807 million for capital investment expenditures in the 2011-2012 fiscal year.

There are four items in the supplementary estimates:

$9.5 million for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to advance funding approved for the Sir Alexander Mackenzie and Samuel Hearne Senior Secondary School replacement project, from 2012-13 to the 2011-12 fiscal year.

$1.729 million for the Department of Transportation to record previous contributions provided by the...

Yes, Mr. Chairman, we will have access to the money that’s available.

There is detail provided in terms of where this money is going to be spent. The Member is asking what these are for. A lot of it is based on getting people in place to do the work tied to the negotiations or the implementation side. Pick some of the areas. Contaminated sites coordinators, the minerals devolution work. There’s going to be a whole range of activities that these folks do tied to either the actual negotiations or to implementation. The two are linked and often there’s going to be significant overlap tied to the workload at where we are at any particular time. The detail is here.

I...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The money that’s before us is to carry us to March 31st. The additional information that the Member has asked for, the more detailed information, we’ll commit to get that to the Member, to this committee.

The Member and I have served now in four Assemblies together. This issue has been a dominate theme in every one of those and I would suggest will continue to be a dominant theme in the 17th Assembly going forward. So we take the Member’s point and assure her that this issue will be there.

There are positive things we can do, many that don’t cost enormous amounts and aren’t requiring new technology, just simple decisions by people to make those choices and put in those gardens and such. Thank you.

The Member has to keep in mind that this is a federal program. It is an important program. There are concerns with it and I appreciate the Member’s concern, and we have the same concern that the savings that accrue to the retailers are not being passed on to the consumers. We still have a great interest in proper diet. Our whole focus on prevention, Get Active campaigns, proper nutrition to do with healthy eating, diabetes, all these other things are still critical pieces of the education that we can’t turn our back on. We have a small fiscal role with the funding from the federal government...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. They are, of course, related. The North has a very long history of agriculture throughout most of the Northwest Territories, up the valley where there is, as was indicated, rich land, and there is a resurgence of interest in many communities to take advantage of that opportunity to grow many, many crops. I was in Norman Wells and saw the very impressive greenhouses that were up there and the variety of crops that were being grown, as well as flowers. There is a correlation between healthy living and being able to eat your produce out of a garden as a summer pastime, and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to recognize and acknowledge a very good returning officer, a fine lady and a friend, Margo Harney.

That is a significant issue. This issue is on the agenda of every government that I’ve been involved in, and every Assembly, and will continue to be. The decision about priorities with the resources we have available and the best way to do the programming to deal with the issue of addictions and the other areas that the Member has talked about are going to be critical challenges for the incoming 17th Assembly. That issue will be there for them to consider.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are no new treatment facilities in the capital plan in the foreseeable future for Health and Social Services. There are many other projects, but there are no new plans for imminent treatment centres.