Robert C. McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I give notice that I will deliver the budget address on Wednesday, June 1, 2016. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled “Follow-up Letter to Oral Question 44-18(2): Agricultural Land Availability.” Mr. Speaker, further to my Return to Written Question 3-18(2), I wish to table the following document entitled “Security Held by GNWT for the Prairie Creek Project.” Thank you.

In 1992 there was a commitment made by then assistant deputy minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. It was a written commitment to the folks out at Cassidy Point that they would have the opportunity after leasing for a while to pay fee simple at the end of the life of the lease. We have to honour a commitment, the written commitment, that was made, so we did that. However, what they pay out there was not the one dollar that the Member may be referring to. It was actually a portion of the assessed value of the land and so there was no one dollar nominal fee charged to the residents out...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a standard residential or recreation lease is the lessee charges a rental 10 per cent of the assessed value of per annum for the life of the lease. An equity lease is under typical residential or recreational equities. The lessee is charged 10 per cent of the assessed value per annum for the first 10 years of the lease and the lessee is usually charged a nominal amount of one dollar for the remaining years on the lease. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker and wish to table the following two documents entitled “Inter-Activity Transfers Exceeding $250,000, April 1 to December 31, 2015” and, “Follow-up Letter to Oral Question 3-18(2): Arctic Winter Games Mission Staff.” Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Alfred Moses will be absent from the House today to attend the Arctic Winter Games in Nuuk, Greenland. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

When the formula funding review group reviewed all that, they took all that into consideration because they felt that in the past there has not been any increase due to inflationary costs and the higher cost of doing business. The plan was to initiate that work at the beginning of the life of the 18th Assembly, but we thought that, at that time, during the 17th Assembly, if we took advantage of the opportunity we had to start that work, when the new 18th Assembly came in, they would have all the information they needed to go forward. Rather than start the work now and have it done in two years...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we had a lot of feedback from the communities because a lot of communities were part of the group that reviewed the formula funding. We had a lot of feedback from the communities. We had a lot of feedback from the NWTAC, which represents all 33 communities in Northwest Territories. Thank you.

The structure of the P3 agreement with Northern Lights is such that the ownership, design, and construction of the fibre line was a transferred risk from the GNWT to Northern Lights. Additionally, Northern Lights has the obligation to fulfill the requirements of the regulatory permits. As indicated by Northern Lights, the cost of remediation was borne by Northern Lights in accordance with the project agreement. Unlike a traditional build procurement, the construction risk was transferred by the GNWT to Northern Lights.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our department officials will be assessing the options available to the GNWT under the Project Management Agreement to ensure that the work gets completed. This will include working with Northern Lights and the communities to ensure construction can be completed early in 2017 and the line commissioned shortly thereafter. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.