Robert Bouchard

Then I guess I’ve got a question about this communication report that was done. We’ve been given the information, as far as this report was done, in November. So, it should have gone through our regular budgeting process.

Why cannot we, as a government, get a report in November and have it ready for our March implementation of funding in the March review? Now we’re back here on June 1st looking at something that we don’t really have full direction on, we haven’t had full discretion about it, we haven’t had a business planning process to go through. I guess, why does it take so long to get that...

I’m trying to get clarification. I think on Ms. Bisaro’s question, the Minister indicated it was going to be added to our ongoing costs and you just indicated to me that it wouldn’t be added to our ongoing cost, but be part of ongoing devolution money. Can I get more detail? How are these positions going to be funded after devolution money has been expended completely?

So if we’re using Yellowknife as the base and also using the calculations of the community, it could be the price in Yellowknife went down or the price of the community went up or vice versa I guess. Is that the factor or, I guess, how do we keep that stable in the fact that the greater the northern living allowance adjustment to a community, the cost to the community may have gone up, but if Yellowknife was affected then everybody gets affected?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’m just wondering if we’re able to get that information or is it available on a public website where we can get the new northern allowance adjustments or the new allowances and which communities went up and which communities went down.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Throughout this document we have quite a few items that have to deal with the adjustment to the Collective Agreement. Can the Minister maybe give me a little more explanation why these numbers weren’t available during our regular process of budgeting? I guess it’s spent throughout the document. So, if the Minister could just explain to us why this is a supplementary estimate as opposed to the regular budget process.

In the department’s plan that I heard last week, they talked about the price of fish and trying to bring that up.

Is the Minister aware of what the department is looking to do in increasing the price of the fish for the fishermen in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I guess I want this House and the Minister to understand that I don’t disagree with the fact that… I see the information before us that we probably had less than other jurisdictions in these areas. I’m concerned about the GNWT positions overall. I’ve had those concerns before. The question I have in this House is whether we allow this to continue. They may have a valid point for these positions. My point is we really haven’t had an in-depth discussion here and had that discussion with Regular Members because this came to us a week ago, less than a week ago probably. I am having trouble...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In follow-up to my Member’s statement, I have questions for the Minister of ITI and their current plan of how to revitalize the NWT fishery and maybe the construction of the fish plant in Hay River. I know that they’ve invested in capital money, but I know we’re looking for federal money.

Can I ask the Minister where we currently sit in negotiations with the federal government to invest in the Hay River fishery? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have some of those documents in front of me here too. I have a document dated December 18th, when we actually got the plan of the final report that we’re making decisions on. So, that’s my difficulty in the fact that we got it December 18th, but there was no indication that it was coming into a supp into the new year, or there’s no discussion of it being added to our January discussions to get a briefing in January to talk about getting this put in the budget.

I don’t have the details, but I do believe we have, in the past, added this stuff to the budgets in a quick...

If I could get a little bit more detail. When we talk about communication, communication seems to me like consulting. I mean, anything can be communicating. We’re communicating here in this House today.

What exactly does communicating mean? Does that mean we’re communicating with the general public? Is that communication between Cabinet and Regular Members? Is that communication a communication system as far as telecommunications? What does communication mean when we’re talking about these types of positions and what these people will be doing?