Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize two key people of the Yellowknife Seniors' Society; the president, Ms. Sandra Taylor and, of course, Ms. Vivian Squires, the new executive director, who are with us today in the audience. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the intent is still to relocate the program. The initial intent was to renovate work done by some experts in this field that came back with a report that indicated that for the same price they could build new. As Minister, I thought I was obligated under good sense and good management to at least take a look at the options since they indicated it would add 20 to 30 years to the life expectancy of the building. So those are the steps we are taking at this point to see in fact to ask for the estimates for either demolition and construction new, or just...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, all the capital projects we bring forward are very good on their merit and we’ve been working hard on recognizing, as the Member has pointed out, that there is a need here. We are competing for scarce resources, as the Members all know. But we are bringing it forward, along with a number of other initiatives and we will be making…We have, I believe, made a very good case. The factors are going to be looked at like the capital fund that’s available, the cost of the project as it’s been initially laid out. But we are moving on this and it is on our agenda...

Mr. Speaker, we will continue to provide full access to all those children that are deemed to be in need of the service at the Territorial Treatment Centre and that has never been an issue. We will put the resources necessary to continue to do that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what was initially proposed by YACCS was both that we would cover the O and M, as well YACCS would take out the loan and we would just cover off the monthly mortgage payments. Mr. Speaker, this issue has been on the table for some time now. There’s been funds, as the Member indicated, committed to this and the direction from Cabinet was to put this into the current business planning process that is now underway in the capital planning process and that has been done. Work has been done on the model and the initial cost estimates which we have received....

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, let me restate once again for the record that Yellowknife is not losing access to any service. It will be available across the lake in Hay River the same as services in Yellowknife are available to all people who have to fly into Yellowknife from wherever they may live. It’s a very simple situation. There is no loss of service to the people of Yellowknife. Thank you.

I am, Mr. Speaker, and on May 26th I wrote to the chair of the Social Programs committee to give her the latest information that we had available. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Joint Leadership Council already has that within their mandate. In the terms of reference we agreed to, as I just indicated in the last two responses, to formalize that process and that’s how we intend to move forward, that it’s comprised of all the board chairs and they are at the table and doing an effective job, in my opinion. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the intent is still to relocate the program. The initial intent was to renovate work done by some experts in this field that came back with a report that indicated that for the same price they could build new. As Minister, I thought I was obligated under good sense and good management to at least take a look at the options since they indicated it would add 20 to 30 years to the life expectancy of the building. So those are the steps we are taking at this point to see in fact to ask for the estimates for either demolition and construction new, or just...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it was agreed that we would continue with the process and it was agreed, as well, that, as the Member indicated, there was one area that was of concern and that is if an animal has been found to be diseased it was agreed that there would be a specific site now used where the bodies of the animals would be taken to and burnt as per the requirements under the legislation and policy. So that was agreed to and it was recognized that we wanted to provide that certainty so that the community was aware and we all had the same basic understanding of how that...