Tom Beaulieu

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]

Mr. Speaker, since being elected MLA for Tu Nedhe in October of last year, I have worked with numerous Ministers and both communities to get a clear picture of the infrastructure needs of Fort Resolution and Lutselk’e. After learning that no project has been allocated to Fort Resolution and Lutselk’e over the next three years, or the balance of this 16th Assembly, I’m now pursuing a mandate to increase infrastructure dollars in my riding.

According to the plan, the community of Fort Resolution will receive zero dollars, while Lutselk’e...

Just to confirm, the Department of Public Works will share the deferred maintenance plan with Regular Members.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It’s a question for the Minister. I’m fairly certain that the deferred maintenance program is for buildings only, but just for confirmation I want to know if the GNWT did an evaluation of its buildings, roads and equipment prior to the expenditures for this year, the ’08–09 $5 million expenditures. I was wondering if there was any evaluation done prior to that to determine the cap, to determine where the money got spent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister commit to working with me and each of the Tu Nedhe communities of Fort Revolution and Lutselk’e to develop a youth strategy? I feel that a youth strategy is important. I define the youth strategy as a comprehensive, community based approach to investing in Youth budgets, programming, infrastructure and other youth related support.

During my visit to the communities this past year I heard from the youth in both communities about how they feel and what they need. “There is not much for us to do” is often the comment.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell this House what the plans are, if any, to increase the budget in the Youth portfolio for 2009–2010?

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]

Mr. Speaker, on numerous occasions I’ve talked about the impact of the high cost of living for residents of Fort Resolution and Lutselk’e. Today I would like to focus on the high cost of food in the packets, supplements, store bought foods or traditional foods for Tu Nedhe communities.

Mr. Speaker, in small communities like Fort Resolution and Lutselk’e little or no competition in the local economy results in higher food costs. Couple this with transportation costs and Tu Nedhe families are hit with a double whammy. In addition to this...

I must have missed that. I didn’t see the deferred maintenance plan, but that’s good. I’ll look forward to getting a copy of the deferred maintenance plan for this year and just look forward to receiving the rest of the plan.

Did the GNWT evaluate its buildings to complete the deferred maintenance programs in order to determine the allocations for this year and future years?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am happy with the timing of the way capital has been rolled out. I think the sooner we get this out, the better the chances of us actually completing the projects are. I see some problems with the allocation because of the capital planning.

In reality, in Tu Nedhe over the next four years, plus future years, what was allocated outside of what we considered, areas like that highway, was actually some holdback money, which is very interesting, I found. They have no capital projects in two of the communities at all. The only capital project that appeared in Tu Nedhe is the...

Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit to conducting a comprehensive review of how Youth budgets are currently allocated, specifically in the Tu Nedhe communities — if there are any planned budgets going into those two communities of Lutselk’e and Fort Resolution?