Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Opportunities Fund is under the oversight of the Minister of ITI, but this fund was structured very specifically back in 2003 in its passive form. The criteria set, the government made a decision to put deputies on there when we were approached with this unsolicited proposal and given the economic circumstance. At that point FMB decided to play an active role. In this case, we made the decisions right away, the committee and the appropriate departments did a lot of the groundwork in conjunction with the consultants that were brought in, but the decisions were made...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will confirm that Mayor Miltenberger from Hay River was with me and that he did want to go down and pay a quick courtesy call to the Member, who wasn’t there and he left her a message. I think the rest is assumption on the Member’s part. The news of that motion was all over the place. The word was out that there was something afoot. There were calls received from High Arctic up in the North. People had heard already, so she has made some fairly damning accusations against the mayor; making some very strong allegations about the contempt.

Mr. Speaker, the funds that previously existed -- Aurora I and II, I understand -- had a more arm’s-length board structure. In this case, given the passive nature of the fund, we will take a look at the structure as well as the move of adjusting the policies that are there for the passive approach, bringing them into line with the reactive approach. The issue of the board structure has not been finally dealt with. We do have the current structure at this point to keep us going in the interim. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the due diligence was done by independent third parties that the Government of the Northwest Territories picked. The bill was sent as part of the deal to Discovery Air to pick up that tab, that they were hired by us and work for us. That was part of the arrangement.

What we get out of this, Mr. Speaker, in a very tight economic situation where we’ve had slowdowns at the mines, layoffs at Laurelton Diamond polishers. What we have is assistance and a good business investment to a business that has a strong name and presence and employs hundreds of people, that has business...

Mr. Speaker, we followed the due diligence process. We did not think this was a market disruption. We did not query what other loans may have been out there. My understanding was that the $10 million loan had expired. We accepted and dealt with the company as they came to us with their request for $34 million, which we saw not only as a loan but as an investment with interest accrued and all the value-added at a time of extreme economic turmoil in the country, and in our own jurisdiction, a company that has hundreds of jobs, it has business relationships with other firms and aboriginal...

Mr. Speaker, this was a loan for an existing financing arrangement. There was no expansion to the firm. It was not considered anything but that kind of loan agreement and didn’t require a market disruption. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that I will deliver the Budget Address on Thursday, February 5th, 2009.

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that I will deliver the Budget Address on Thursday, February 5th, 2009.

I’d like to recognize Ms. Bea Campbell as a past president of the NWT Seniors’ Society and Mr. Leon Peterson, current president of the Fort Smith Seniors’ Society. Welcome to the Assembly.

I’d like to recognize Ms. Bea Campbell as a past president of the NWT Seniors’ Society and Mr. Leon Peterson, current president of the Fort Smith Seniors’ Society. Welcome to the Assembly.