Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Clearly, this wasn’t an unforeseen expense. It is the way that the money is booked so we can respect the confidentiality as much as possible of the collective bargaining process. We don’t put in our budgets the figures we think are going to be there for negotiation.

It is similar to the issue with the capital plan that Members have raised. There is so much detail in the capital plan that contractors know to the dollar what money is there for a specific contract. So that’s the way the money is booked. Clearly, if there is an interest from the Members in coming up with or...

Mr. Speaker, the government is committed to working with the diamond mines; we do it as a matter of course. We are putting special attention and emphasis on this because of the revenue options that we see dealing with the fly in/fly out workers. Being able to get more of them located in the North, as has been raised in this House repeatedly by the Member for Kam Lake — he has pushed us to do that — is a key part of the possible revenue options that we see would add to our economic pace and help us grow the population of the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Chairman, there’s a line just below the $10.272 million negative supp that indicates that these projects will be put back into the budget for next year. The $3.75 million is part of the money for the $9.4 million that’s being advanced to free up funds to start projects that are considered important, in this case the demolition and site remediation of the Aurora College campus.

Mr. Chairman, the scope of the work for the project in Aklavik includes planning, design, construction and warranty work associated with replacing existing water treatment systems to meet the Canadian drinking water standards. The existing intakes will be upgraded and reused. The current status is that 60 per cent of the design is scheduled to be received by the end of October 2008, which will be the end of this month.

Mr. Speaker, ITI regularly meets with the diamond mines. There is a meeting set up here in the next number of weeks with Minister Bob McLeod and Minister Lafferty, as well as myself, to talk to their president. They have indicated an interest to us to talk about the revenue options paper. So we do meet on a regular basis, but there is clearly going to be some special attention paid to the work that is currently going on in terms of the consultation process.

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have with me Ms. Margaret Melhorn, the deputy minister of Finance and FMB, and Mr. Mike Aumond, deputy minister of Public Works and Services. I would also like to request at the appropriate time to bring in Mr. Russ Neudorf, the deputy minister of Transportation, when we get to the Transportation page on the supplementary appropriation.

Yes, there are.

Mr. Chairman, the Member is correct; this issue has been identified. As we move forward with the upcoming year and what’s being proposed in terms of investments in alternative energy and as we plan to transition to other fuel sources, clearly we’ll be looking at the capital process as well so that we’re not putting in brand new facilities if we’re looking at changing the possible source of generation of electricity, for example, or running other facilities.

Yes, Mr. Chairman. I’m pleased to present Supplementary Appropriation No. 2, 2008–2009. This document outlines the additional appropriation of $11.617 million for operation expenditures and a reduction of $43.329 million for capital investment expenditures in the 2008–2009 fiscal year. Major items for operation expenditures include $3.3 million for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs to complete upgrades or replace aged water treatment plants in the communities of Deline, Kugluktuk, Tuktoyaktuk, Behchoko and Aklavik. These expenditures will be offset by funding available through...