Robert Bouchard

My next area, obviously, would be the interest in the Tuk to Inuvik highway, but my question would be what does it currently cost us to build the winter road, operate the winter road from Tuk to Inuvik.

Along the lines of the bridge as well, can the Minister maybe provide me some of the analysis of the toll collection, collecting the tolls? Has that been what we expected and also the other side to it, the expenses? Has the toll system been working effectively and have there been any additional costs to tracking of this or any additional expenses to doing the toll collections?

Thank you, Madam Chair. My opening comments for the Department of MACA deal mainly with what the community of Hay River has been dealing with the department for some time. We’ve had the opportunity to meet with them over the last couple of months. The community’s obviously concerned about the formula funding and the way that some of the formula funding has been affecting the community of Hay River.

The way the formula is calculated out for the last couple of years, Hay River has seen a major decrease in some of their funding. We continue to work with the department on finding ways to see if...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am rising today to talk about the Hay River Homecoming that’s coming this June 28th to July 1st. Hay River invites all its former and current residents to stay in the community, come back to Hay River and enjoy the festivities that are being organized. It is a time for people that were in the fishing industry, people that worked for NTCL, NorthwesTel, GNWT, or just lived in Hay River to come back, experience Hay River and take part in this great event.

I want those former residents to look up on hayriver2013.ca. There’s a website there. You can register your name. They...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When I first read this motion I did have the feeling that, from a business perspective, to say, well, let’s stay fair and let business do business, but I think there’s a lot of people in the general public that are concerned with pricing and the way the pricing of fuel and gasoline happens. We have an event that happens in the Middle East one day and the next day the prices at the pumps in Hay River, Yellowknife, Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk change immediately where that has nothing to do with the inventory that sits in those tanks at that time.

So I support this motion in the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This weekend I have the opportunity to attend some of the events going on in Hay River. As I indicated yesterday, it will be March 1st and the beginning of spring is here, because we have the carnival. The Kamba Carnival will be starting this week and I’d like to thank all the organizers that had to help organize it. I would like to wish the five queen contestants good luck on the competition, and also those people that are in the snowmobile races, snocross races and drag races. Good luck. Hopefully everyone participates safely.

This brings a lot of people into the...

My next question is: Does the department have any money in this year’s budget to assess the needs of Hay River’s dredging and what exactly is it going to entail and do, maybe, some cost estimates to bring to the federal government so we have something to bring to the table other than our hands out looking for money?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Leon Nason, a resident of Hay River, and Lorraine Hewlett from a long time ago when she used to live in Hay River. I’d also like to welcome all the children from the schools as well.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Probably a lot of my comments are similar to my colleagues here. I am definitely happy to see the 3.6 percent increase in the budget. I think this is a department of great potential for this territory. Education is very important to the development of us. Obviously, the activity in Early Childhood Development is very proactive of us to be involved in that. I am definitely happy to see the Student Financial Assistance enhancements, as well as some of my colleagues have indicated that getting money back into the Inclusive Schooling would be a definite asset to us.

Some of...

I’m wondering if the Minister can use that money to assess Hay River’s needs and make some sort of plan so that we have a plan to bring to the federal government. We know in the past when they’ve had infrastructure dollars come forward, often it comes quickly, and we need to have some sort of plan in place. Will the Minister commit to doing that type of assessment and having that type of plan in place?