Sandy Lee

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, following up on my Member’s statement, I’d like to just ask the Minister of Finance what is his explanation for the gas prices in Yellowknife stations going from $1.19 to $1.25 when he knows that we have no bridge and unless they flew the gas in, which I don’t think they did, it’s the same stock. So if he could try his best to answer to start with. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have to say they surely have us where they want us. They know we can’t make our own gas. Conveniently, every gas station, no matter what name brand except for the Co-op, keeps the price high so there is not even really competition in gas pricing. As the news said, we can continue to suck it up, but I think we should all try to reduce the use of gas so that we could try to make an attempt to reduce demand, but that is not going to happen fast enough. The real action has to come from the government. We need to demand the federal government and all the...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I just want to take this opportunity to just go on record that all of my questions will be in the detail. A lot of general items have already been covered by lots of other Members. I will have some specific questions as we go through the supp. Thank you.

…it went up because it went up down south. So could I ask the Minister to make a commitment to review the prices of gas at the gas stations in Yellowknife over the last three weeks and provide us with the information from the industry as to why they raised those prices? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think we can establish there have not been new tax increases from the GNWT. The Minister is saying rack price adjustment but what we see is, and we can tell, that the gas they were selling last week is the gas they would have gotten at least before the ice bridge went out and chances are it’s been there for months. We can’t think of any increased costs, so I think another word for rack gas pricing adjustment is gouging. So I’d like to ask the Minister, if someone is selling the same…This product doesn’t change; they didn’t bake it fresh that day; it’s the same...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to recognize students from Range Lake North School: Robert Digness, Austin Tanner, Allison Web, Trent Broom, Dakota Hamilton, Jensen Hu, and with them the teacher, Jason Perrino. I would also like to recognize Mr. Peterson.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to speak today about something funny going on at our gas pumps in Yellowknife. Mr. Speaker, we know the rising price of gas has been on the national news because the prices keep going up and staying up. But what is an issue for a Yellowknife resident who called me last week is that the gas price went up by six cents per litre one day last week and there should be no reason to. Mr. Speaker, the ice bridge has been out for weeks. We know we have no permanent bridge over the Mackenzie River. This should tell us that the gas at the pumps has been...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My understanding of this project is that government will make an investment, whether it be the GNWT or federal government, to lend the money to the corporation and the corporation will levy enough toll to pay for the project and make a little bit of profit so that the communities can benefit from that. But the return on investment has to be viable. So I’d like to ask the Minister to confirm whether the cost of the project and the increase that’s going on is still making it viable for the corporation to be able to pay the money over a period of time that’s been...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to speak today in support of the Premier’s statement yesterday that the GNWT and the Fort Providence combined council are in the final stages of negotiating the concession agreement and project financing for the great Deh Cho Bridge project. Mr. Speaker, I do appreciate that questions about the details are warranted and should be provided, and they will be forthcoming. I also respect that Members may have differing opinions on things. But I do believe very strongly that it’s very important for us to not lose sight of the fact that this is a very...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a short follow-up question. We learned during our public hearings, Mr. Chairman, from the Minister that the NWT Law Society was consulted on this legislation and that the Minister received consent or approval from the Law Society. So could I ask the Minister what form of public consultation has taken place with the Law Society? Thank you.