Robert Bouchard

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Minister Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. Minister McLeod.

Public Works and Services, energy, infrastructure investment, $300,000.

Thank you, committee. I will call Committee of the Whole back to order. We’ve agreed to continue with the NWT Housing Corporation. I will ask the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation if he has any witnesses to bring into the House.

Thank you, Minister Beaulieu. Deputy Minister Guy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister of Transportation commit to getting a meeting together of all the responsible federal Ministers to see that we can move this project forward in the future sooner than later?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t think we have here in this House any of those Ministers, so the only Minister I can ask this question to is the Minister of Transportation.

I guess the question is: What is this government going to do to dredge the Hay River?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize two young Pages we have here with us this week: Mr. James Beaulieu and Austin Cayen, and also their chaperone, my own constituency assistant, Myrtle Graham. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will keep my comments fairly brief. I think most Members have taken on the issues that concern me.

I guess one of the biggest issues that I see right off the hop is, like other Members have indicated, it is one of the biggest operating budgets but yet it is probably well in the bottom half of the capital budget. My concerns would be the fact that we have to keep upgrading schools. We have to keep upgrading those facilities. I see a couple of retrofits on them but not a lot of big projects. I know we have done a couple of big projects in the regional centres, but it just...

I know some responsibilities that have been federal only, let’s say building new highways, have now become the responsibility of the GNWT. We’ve committed money to creating some of those new highways.

Is there a way that we can commit dollars to it to maybe move this project forward?