Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is one thing we are getting good at and that is to wait and see. We have played that game before and I guess we will continue to do it for some time now. Mr. Speaker, in the budget it was addressed. If there was a positive one, it was the $50 million to deal with our tax effort. How long will it be, Mr. Speaker, before we know how the federal government is going to treat that, whether it is going to be just a one-time thing, whether they are going to adjust the thing on an ongoing basis? When could we expect to find out how the federal government is going to...

Thank you. Just one more area I would like to touch on, Madam Chair, and that is on maximizing northern employment or job training, whether it be in apprenticeship programs or getting people into the trades. It's an area that I've addressed a number of times over the last four years with the previous Minister of Education. At that time I got the same answer more than what I wanted to hear about. If we do it in one place we can't do it in the other. We have to do it right across the Territories. In an area such as Hay River if there's a huge interest in promoting the trades in the school...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Finance as well. They are to do with my Member’s statement in regard to the federal budget. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the federal Minister, I don’t know if he heard our MP, Ethel Blondin-Andrew, on the radio this morning really bragging up how good this federal budget was for the North. When she mentions territorial formula financing for $150 million, it’s health support, $60 million; economic development, $90 million; northern oil and gas, $75 million; contaminated sites, $3.5 billion. How much of that...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Could I get the Minister to expand a little bit on the second paragraph on page 3 where, for example, the department is preparing an aboriginal language and culture-based directive that it will be sending to all education authorities outlining program requirements and criteria for expenditure? Could you expand a little bit more on what directive is going to be? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just one final comment on the reduction of $926,000 for the transfer to the NWT Housing Corporation. Is there an offsetting amount? Is there anything that shows up in the Housing Corporation’s budget that ties into this figure? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, could the Minister tell me…I think I heard him say that he feels all the other loan guarantees are pretty secure. Is the Minister fairly confident that all the other loans are on good standing and there is no danger of them having to be called on for these loan guarantees? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a few short comments. Some of these comments were brought up in our committee report, but I just wanted to ask a couple of questions anyway. I wanted to ask on the $120,000 increase in grant-in-kind equal to the value of interest of non-negotiated settlement and that is due to diamond manufacturing companies. This is an issue that has come up and there has been some concern raised about how a company could negotiate a settlement for this. I know from hearing about this that the government is probably caught between a rock and hard place, as far as getting...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, seeing as today is Friday, I would like to close out the week with a good-news story. What I am referring to, Mr. Speaker, is the recent announcement by the Minister of Justice that Ms. Bernadette Schmaltz has been appointed as a judge to the territorial court and she will be residing in Hay River.

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Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My line of questioning was in the same area as Mr. Villeneuve's. I have gotten my questions answered so I will pass it along. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. There were a couple of others areas I was going to ask questions on, but it’s been brought up and it’s addressed in our committee report as well, especially in information technology and projects. We always see increases in there. On the $294,000 reduction due to winding down of equal pay settlements, if it’s winding down are we done with equal pay settlements or is that still an ongoing issue?