Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The comments that we made yesterday in response to the concerns raised by Ms. Bisaro I’ll let stand so we don’t take up too much needless space in Hansard and chew people’s cabbage twice.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have with me the deputy minister of Finance, Mike Aumond; deputy minister of the Department of Transportation, Russ Neudorf; and the director of the Management Board Secretariat for Finance.

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Monday, November 3, 2014, I will move that Bill 35, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2014-2015, be read for the first time.

I also give notice that on Monday, November 3rd, I will move that Bill 37, Financial Administration Act, be read for the first time. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There have been the required discussions about the issue that the Member raises, and if the money is not voted on or approved, then the department will be having to absorb those costs from their existing budget. But it’s clear to all parties here that this is not the process that we have laid out to be followed. We have the issues before the House that have been identified by the Members and it’s been dealt with entirely within the government and now we’re here having judgment passed on this request. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The audit committee approved 12 audit projects in 2013-14 based on the audit risk assessment methodology which is used to identify or determine systemic risks inherent in government programs and services associated with governance framework, internal audits and…(inaudible)… independent oversights. Eight of the approved 12 projects were assessed as being ready for audit by the Audit Bureau in 2013. Four of the proposed 12 projects were deferred based on management feedback. In some cases, new business processes were being designed and that required time to be implemented...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to assure the Member here, Ms. Bisaro, that we’re fully invested in the process of consensus government. I can tell you that the last six months I have felt at times like she says she is feeling now, is day after day that we would be constantly bombarded with rising costs with all the fires and the impact and the huge amount of territory that was burned and the communities that were at risk and knowing that we had to spend the money. So we did that. I said at the time, this is not the time to argue about money. It’s not the time to worry about where the...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We have built this project into our fiscal framework. We’ve built the $40 million into the current fiscal framework and we can manage our way through this. There is a four-year contract. The first three years are where the bulk of the work is done. Embankment construction is the key piece. The first year got off to a slower start than was anticipated just because of the logistics of bringing in many, many millions of dollars of brand new equipment and getting the manpower up and running, the systems working and everybody doing business. It’s accelerated only insofar as...

The issue of pressing and why we did what we did, I mention to the Members that when you’re in their chair and responsible for, as the government, dealing with the issue of cost of living, forest fires, unexpected expenses like this and very many other urgent fiscal balls you have in the air that, yes, things do become pressing, and they become pressing in the context that I just laid out, and they require a timely response.

I appreciate, once again, that Members don’t think we subscribe fully enough to the protocols that we’ve agreed to. I’m saying that we had touched the bases we needed to...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am here to present Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 4, 2014-2015. This document provides for an increase of $48.928 million to the capital budget.

The most significant items in this supplementary estimates are:

$40 million for the Department of Transportation to respond to revised cash flows required to accommodate the accelerated construction schedule of the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway Project;

$2.9 million for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, $2.6 million for the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, and $1.4...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The written correspondence we have from NTPC was September 25th. Oh, sorry. August, August 25th. Sorry.