Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have with me Margaret Melhorn, deputy minister of Finance, and Sandy Kalgutkar, deputy secretary to FMB.

Mr. Chairman, during this time period we were faced with extremely high rising and extremely high fuel costs before they peaked out and started to come down. A lot of the budgeting was done trying to compensate for those costs that were going up in some cases on a monthly or sometimes even daily basis and reflects that pressure of that time. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to present Supplementary Appropriation No. 3, 2008-2009. This document outlines additional appropriations of $17.833 million for operation expenditures and $6 million for capital investment expenditures in the 2008-2009 fiscal year.

Major items for operation expenditures include:

$5.1 million for costs associated with Northwest Territories residents receiving hospital and physician services outside of the Northwest Territories;

$2.8 million for the increased costs associated with the new contractor between the Government of the Northwest Territories and NWT...

Mr. Chairman, the budget in 2007-08 was too low, resulting in a requirement for a supp which brought them up to the level that they are at. Then they used the money that they were given from their share of the supplementary appropriation to maintain that figure. The numbers we are seeing that would assume are costs over and above keeping their utility costs at that level that they got the supp for back in 2007-08.

The Member is getting far, far ahead of anything that may even be considered to happen here. There was a general request about why doesn’t the government take an equity position and will you come forward with a paper that outlines what’s possible in terms of even considering it or being capable to afford it. We’re going to look at that. We’re nowhere near any time of consideration at the level of detail that the Member is suggesting. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There are a number of points for discussion here. I believe one of the issues with collective bargaining is -- and we have had this discussion before -- if we put the money in the budget when we are going to negotiations, it tends to be a giveaway as was the concern with capital projects, which is why, when we put out the information, we don’t have the dollar figure in, so that it is not…People don’t know exactly the amount in the budget and they tailor their bids to the amount.

The other issue is, yes, the departments have estimates, but the practice has been in these...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re not committing to look at taking an equity position in anything. I’ve committed to bring forward a paper that would lay out some of the considerations if we were going to look at that, some of the challenges, the lack of funds, what kind of…(inaudible)…building you would have and those type of very basic, fundamental issues before we would even think of being able to try to move forward on any project. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I will make a commitment on behalf of my colleague, the Minister of MACA, that he would be looking at how this money would flow, working with the City of Yellowknife to make sure that we can access each and every one of these pots even though they may be project-based or would have to compete with other communities and provinces from across the country. Yes, we will make sure that we work with the City of Yellowknife to see what is possible. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are still waiting for the detail of how these many pots of money are going to roll out. Some are clearer than others. The Building Canada Fund, for example, is an existing program where we’re compressing the time frame. This Infrastructure Stimulus Fund, along with their Green Fund and a host of other smaller pots of money that we may be eligible for, we’re still awaiting the detail to see what’s possible for us in terms of the conditions and criteria, how they apply to us as a Territory and how they may possibly apply to municipalities.

We’d be prepared to look at that whole issue, as I indicated, with the Member, myself, and the deputy, recognizing that the budget is currently before the House. While there may be some latitude, we may also want to consider how we would best address this through the upcoming business planning process, which will be starting once this particular budget is passed. I am willing to commit to sit down with the Member to look at this issue in its entirety.