Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Not wanting to get ahead of my budget address, I will make the observation that projections are for flat revenue growth between now and 2019, 2020. Anticipated growth of about less than half a percent, which means that the challenge for us is going to be to make sure that our expenditure growth does not exceed our revenue growth so that we can in fact maintain our Aa1 credit rating and all the other good financial indicators that we do have, like our debt to GDP ratio.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Friday, February 6, 2015, I will move that Bill 43, An Act to Amend the Borrowing Authorization Act, be read for the first time. Thank you.

Those are questions currently under review, not exactly the way the Member has phrased them in terms of a formal department or getting rid of all the distributors other than the Power Corporation. We are doing due diligence on those questions and I’m not in a position at this point to answer specifically because we haven’t concluded the work. Those are complex questions. There are economic questions; there are regulatory questions; there are policy questions and legal questions that we have to be clear in our minds before we formally stand up and take a final position on that issue, but that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would request the indulgence of the Speaker and the House. Listening to the debate on the point of order, I’m not sure if the Member’s comments triggered a point of order and the question that he asked me. Am I still trying to answer that same question?

One of the issues, if I may digress just for a second, one of the big issues of great, great interest in Inuvik, of course, was the fibre optic line that is now under construction. That’s going to have a major impact on Inuvik and it’s an $80 million investment by the Government of the Northwest Territories that’s going to look at Inuvik as a major remote sensing site for satellite remote sensing and the fact that we’re going to tie in all the communities on the way down with fibre optic connections or microwave. So that is another big piece that came up and was discussed extensively in Inuvik...

This round of budget consultation will be just a shade over $40,000. I would also submit to this House and to the Member that a lot of the suggestions that we get from the people out in the communities are not “just give us more money.” They have all sorts of good concerns. How we hire people, for example. The need to not create roadblocks in that hiring process, creeping credentials, lack of a really good equivalency, slow turnaround in how we respond to people. We, as well, have started the 2,000 people in five years initiative. A lot of the things we are talking about, people are talking...

Very clearly the Member has identified a very important issue, the issue of personal choice, personal choice as it relates to a number of things. As the Member indicated, there are four basic choices that are driving a lot of our costs that are easily changed. That’s not abusing alcohol, don’t smoke, proper diet and exercise. Those four things, if they were managed properly through proper personal choice, would have an immediate impact on our bottom line.

Simple things like babies being born healthy without being affected by FASD, for example. So, the departments of Health and Social Services...

Specifically in relation to the Sahtu, there are a number of things that are underway and being contemplated. The Member was at the budget dialogues, and the discussion was very clear the focus was on the next section of the Mackenzie Valley Highway, the Norman Wells to Wrigley section, and the need for roads.

The government has submitted, through the Minister of Transportation, an application for a special pot of money that exists at the federal level for initiatives and projects of national significance. We are making the case that this particular stretch of highway should meet that test...

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that I will deliver the budget address on Thursday, February 5, 2015. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, what is critical and what is going to be good for the Northwest Territories and all the people living here is that we’re going to have a $350 million project that’s going to give us a state-of-the-art health centre, that’s going to come in on time and on budget, that’s going to be 40 percent larger than it currently is, it’s going to provide us some of the best services, it will be our flagship acute care facility for the next 30 years or so, and it will be done in a way that we make sure, in fact, the staff complement at Stanton is going to grow. Yes, there are some potential non...