Sandy Lee

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think it would be pessimistic to not expect questions. Madam Chair, I have a question for the Minister on the cost overrun on the heating fuel and power and maintenance cost of the new Inuvik hospital. I know there were lots of questions raised on this yesterday and I only have one final question. It has to do with whether or not any specific investigations were done as to whether there was a major defect in this area, or it’s just a case of not crunching the numbers. Often houses get built and you start heating for a year and things come up and are noticed that...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am ignorant in this new area here. Is this a new approach to the delivery of programs? It must be the integrated service model that Minister Miltenberger has been talking about for the last five years or the last three years. He’s been the Minister for the last three years. Is that a move to bring all these providers under the same umbrella incorporating what they are doing and they have to be in the same building? Is that the need for improvements, or is it that the separate offices where they are housed need separate renovations? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It seems to me that the federal government is somehow involved in investigating this. Could I ask the Minister to tell us whether or not the GNWT is responsible for monitoring and enforcing and cleaning this, or is it the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Could I get some information on the $355,000 for Inuvik and $350,000 for Yellowknife? Are any of these offices for Inuvik services being housed in the new hospital by any chance, or is it in a completely different building? Is it just for renovation? It just says improvements. Could I get more detail on that? Where is this office space for medical and support staff being renovated in Yellowknife? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question today is to the Premier in his responsibility as the Minister responsible for the NWT Power Corporation. It is with regard to the oil spill at the Jackfish plant.

Mr. Speaker, in the newspaper on October 8th, the story was covered. The Minister indicated that, because of less usage of the plant with the Bluefish plant being more operational, there has been less need for 24-hour supervision or there has been some cut. It is a cost-cutting measure. The Premier questioned whether or not having more people there would have prevented it. I think...

Thank you. I’d like to have some more information on that because it sounds to me like this is an ongoing program and why is it that this was not in the budget to start with? Why did that happen? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. My apologies; I mixed up two different items there. For Yellowknife air terminal building I’m just not sure why the money was spent in this way in that we have been aware since the September 11th attack that there have been lots of requirements being imposed on various airports, the Yellowknife Airport being one of them, to upgrade their facilities and baggage areas and better security and such. I’d like to know why it is that this was not incorporated into a main transportation budget and what transpired that required this to be spent, the money to be allocated in this...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just to be clear, I just want to make sure. I would like to have confirmation from the Minister that this doesn’t have anything to do with the 22 mobile homes we bought to encourage the markets in communities so that employees who come up north to work could have places where they pay their own rent. I just want confirmation that this doesn’t have anything to do with that program. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. May I just ask the Minister as to whether this is a yearly increase or is it something that comes periodically? How often does the commission review the salary of judges? Thank you.

Thank you. I think it's open to debate whether or not there were any other spaces, but for now, Mr. Chairman, I just want to concentrate on this item in front of us, $115,000 for a lease improvement that was approved on August 22nd. What I'm gathering from what the Minister is saying is that this amount was approved in advance without knowing the details. It's an approximation of what it would cost to do lease improvements to make the space suitable for the office. Would the Minister say that there's a very good possibility that we may need more money to improve, especially given that...