Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What we are doing as a government is investing over $80 million in a Fibre Optic Link that’s going to go all the way up and down the valley. It’s going to hook in all the small communities. It’s going to create tremendous business opportunity for the final mile piece in the communities in terms of all the services that need to be provided for, the infrastructure to support those services.

So we see this approach, and the Member touched on it in his statement, about it’s not so much the taxing, it’s the creating the conditions for economic development and that’s what we...

Once again, we agree. We have the private sector that’s churning out about half of our $3.6 billion GDP. Half of that comes from the diamond mines. We have the private industry hard at work on a P3 process, putting that Fibre Optic Link in that’s going to create a whole industry, telecommunications, IT-focused industry in Inuvik. It’s going to provide that same advantage to every community down the valley. I believe we’re doing the same thing that the Member is asking us to do, and I appreciate him raising repeatedly the issue of the need to have the conditions for economic development. Thank...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It was, indeed, a good news day. There have been resources provided to the community, both in Res and Providence, by the government to the tune of about $200,000 for each community to help give them the SEED money to hire a manager, and the big other critical piece is negotiations that have to take place between the community and the proponent for the business, Aurora Wood Pellets, to negotiate their economic arrangements, which is well underway, I understand, in both communities. Thank you.

Once again, forums such as this, talking to your MLA. I know, for example, some groups like CPAWS have already mounted a campaign getting their members to start calling their Members of the Legislative Assembly and such. I’ve had meetings, as well, with concerned citizens. I know there is lots of interest in this and we will be coming forward with a clear plan of what we intend to do as a government and Legislature in the next few weeks. Until then, people will have to be patient, but they do have to know that we see this as a priority. We see fundamentally this is a very important area. A...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A forum such as this will aid in that process. We are at work right now, as I indicated to Mr. Dolynny earlier this week in the House, that the government see Thaidene Nene as a priority. We see a combination of a small federal footprint supplemented and complemented by various northern tools as a way to maximize the benefit and keep the maximum amount of land in northern control. We also recognize this area as one of immense riches and wealth, both in ecological values as well as the various and many blessings in terms of mineral resources. It’s an area that’s very...

Jean Marie River, as well, has indicated an interest as well as Kakisa, I understand.

There will be as soon as we get the key information together and our thinking clearer. We’ve been doing some preliminary work. As I’ve said, we’ve compressed a significant amount of negotiating, about 18 months into six, and we will be coming forward here in the next few weeks with an update and an ongoing portal for folks to stay tuned as to what’s transpiring.

The idea and the issue of a communication plan is an important one and one we’re looking at. We are going to be having a full briefing to Cabinet here in the next couple weeks and then we want to have a chat with committee. Then, once our thinking is clearer, at that point we will be looking at a more formal process of communicating with the public, but first we have to do our own work internally to get to that point.

We are breaking trail here and we’ve done a significant amount of work over the years to get the first two major signings between Fort Resolution and Fort Providence. We’ve had some additional expressions of interest which we are following up on with Kakisa and Jean Marie River, which are tied into the current project of Aurora Wood Pellets with Mr. Mapes. So we’re going to pay attention to those and make sure the ones we have signed are going to have done what they need to have done and be as supportive as possible in the areas we need to be as this business interest takes off as well as...

We will look at how timely we can be. We are somewhat consumed with the budget session and such, but I will once again commit to the Member that I will be able to get back to him before the end of session with some specific timelines. Thank you.