Michael Miltenberger

Minister McLeod would like to shed light on this. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’d like to thank the Members for their comments and feedback. I would also like to offer to committee a package of information that we have pulled together to address some of the concerns for more detailed information. It contains the Dehcho Bridge Project and Construction Management Structure, the Dehcho Bridge Project Estimates Summary, the Dehcho Bridge Project Costs to December 31, 2009, Dehcho Bridge Project Timeline and the Ruskin Team corporate capacity. Mr. Chairman, with your indulgence as well, I would ask that Minister Michael McLeod, Minister of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we sort out who, in fact, we’re going to be dealing directly with the authorities, be it the chief or the Dene Nation. We will deal with this and we will continue to deal with it through the two most senior officials in the department, both the deputy minister as well as the assistant deputy minister. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The big issue is of timing. Otherwise, if we wait until next fall we will have lost a valuable six months and we only have, I think, 19 months left in our term. Our hope is to advance this and to get it on the work being done as quickly as possible, given the projected savings of possibly up to $100 million and our concern about being fiscally responsible. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have with me Margaret Melhorn, deputy minister of Finance; Russ Neudorf, deputy minister of Transportation; and, Sandy Kalgutkar, deputy secretary to the Financial Management Board. Thank you.

The summit we had in Inuvik about three years ago now was about a half a million dollars, and it brought people in for the first time from around the North to discuss caribou. Things have progressed considerably since then in terms of the planning, what’s happening to the caribou herds, the need to work very specifically on a herd-by-herd basis with all the boards to develop harvest management plans. I’ve just laid out for the Member basically three tracks that we’re dealing with with the short term, the mid-term and then the longer term to sort out the harvest management plan for the Bathurst...

We’ll of course commit to keeping the Members as fully apprised as we can going forward and we’re also working on improving our public communication so we can address some of the concerns that are out there with the facts and not rely on other information, but give everybody the best information that’s the most current and available. Thank you.

I am here to present Supplementary Appropriation No. 4, 2009-2010 (Infrastructure Expenditures). This document outlines an increase of $16.205 million for operations expenditures and $2.669 million for capital investment expenditures in the 2009-2010 fiscal year. The total supplementary request is $18.874 million.

The major items in this supplementary request include:

$15 million for the Department of Transportation to advance contribution funding to the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation for the construction and other costs associated with the Deh Cho Bridge Project.

$1.8 million for the Department of...

One of the issues that the Member talks about meeting with the Yellowknives, which we’re prepared to do. At the same time we have the Dene Nation telling us that they’re acting on behalf of the Yellowknives. There’s some confusion that has to be cleared up in terms of who we are dealing with and has the decision-making authority to resolve this issue. We have our staff who have been, and continue to be, willing to sit down any time of the day or night to try to sort this out.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That information is available on the website for the Member’s ease of reference.