Michael Miltenberger

Mr. Speaker, further to Written Return 7-16(6) I wish to table the following document entitled “All Program Operations and Maintenance Budgets for Tourism and Parks 2011-2012.”

Mr. Speaker, as this is the last session of the 16th Legislative Assembly, I would like to take this opportunity to update Members and NWT residents on our fiscal and economic outlook, and to describe the difficult decisions that will be facing the 17th Legislative Assembly.

Let me first say, our Assembly has a lot to be proud of. We made some tough choices to reduce in some areas to provide funds for the key priorities of this Assembly. By the end of its term, the 16th Legislative Assembly will have invested almost $297 million of new initiatives funding in priority programs to support the...

Earlier in the winter there was over 360 surgeries of backlog, and since July we’ve whittled that number down to 102. I agree with the Member, we want to do this as quickly and expeditiously as possible, to let people get their lives back as quickly as possible. So now that we are back up to doing full surgeries, elective surgeries, I’m confident that list will be whittled down with even more alacrity and expediency. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My information is that we targeted the 12th. As of August 15th, elective surgeries are being performed at Stanton. Thank you.

I meet regularly with the Health and Social Services staff, the deputy and senior officials, so I will commit to have that item placed on the agenda so we can, in fact, have that discussion. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A two-part answer, I would suggest. There’s homelessness within Yellowknife, where you have a lot of agencies and a lot of resources, and then there’s the homelessness services outside of Yellowknife, which are coordinated and managed by the government and the various departments within government. There is a Homelessness Coalition in Yellowknife that we’re part of and has a primary responsibility. We also look internally, monitoring and organizing those services. One of the things that existed in the 15th Assembly that may be worth considering again was that there was...

We’re doing a number of things, as I’ve indicated publicly and to the Members. We have current discussions going on right now with the federal Finance in terms of borrowing limits. We are also looking actively at other pots of government money that may be there, federal government money such as a P3 funding, to look at some other projects that may apply under that particular fund. Of course, the other area that would possibly bring more money into the government coffers is the revenue side. We haven’t looked at that specifically, but there is going to be a need to look not only at the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated in my statement, the capital plan for this current year is well underway. Next year, as we have all agreed to, for the consideration of the 17th Assembly we have set a target of $75 million. With that very modest sum coming down from $1.1 billion over the last three years, the capital plan will be pretty well consumed by many of the existing multi-year projects. It will be up to the new Legislature to look at what opportunities are there to try to meet additional infrastructure needs.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have with me Lisa Cardinal, director of policy, planning and evaluation, and Mr. Mark Aitken from the Department of Justice. Thank you.

As a matter of course, the Government of the Northwest Territories traditionally travels on the high road. This case is no different. I will discuss the issue with the deputy and officials and make sure, I’ll confirm for my own satisfaction whether or not we’re in conflict.