Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that consideration of Tabled Document 246-17(5), Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 4, 2014-2015, be now concluded and that Tabled Document 246-17(5) be reported and recommended as ready for further consideration in formal session through the form of an appropriation bill. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that consideration of Tabled Document 247-17(5), Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 2, 2015-2016, be now concluded and that Tabled Document 247-17(5) be reported and recommended as ready for further consideration in formal session through the form of an appropriation bill.

Thanks to the Minister for that. I just have one last question. It’s my understanding that the public sector accounting principle that we are coming into adherence with applies to non-operating sites.

Could I get confirmation on that and could I also get confirmation that our number includes both non-operating and operating sites? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a question here with regard to the Inuvik Tuk Highway. It’s almost $5 million and it is a carry-over. I understand that. It’s my recollection we had an extended discussion in the House about advancing money for this project. So I’d like to get an explanation as to why this project is seemingly behind, perhaps, where we are in terms of completion of this project, are we going to be finished on schedule, why it is that we are lapsing $5 million from last year’s construction season. Thank you.

When I use the term “Commissioner’s lands,” I’m thinking it’s the land that we’ve taken over since devolution, but I think those are called Territorial lands. So we think we’ve found all the sites on Territorial lands and Commissioner’s lands, just to confirm for me. Thank you.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I have a question with regards to the $300,000 for a planning study for Taiga Lab. I guess I would like to know, this is a new expense, I think. It looks to me like it’s a new expense. So, why are we not able to put this into our budget which we passed not very long ago? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have some questions. I presume that’s acceptable? Thank you. I don’t have major concerns, but I think I need to ask some questions to ensure anybody who is listening to this and wondering about this great expense, to ensure that they understand what this is all about. The Minister stated in his opening remarks that this is a one-time expenditure, but I would suspect that we would see that it’s entirely possible with new developments happening, and/or the discovery of contaminated sites which we haven’t yet discovered, that we would see another one-time increase.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I look at the list here in tourism and parks and it’s not a huge amount of money. I mean, it’s $2.4 million but in the grand scheme of things it’s not that huge, but there are an awful lot of projects in here. So I’m wondering if this is a situation where ITI is trying to get too much done in a year. I seem to recall that in previous years we had a fairly long list in each of the last several years of tourism and parks projects, which didn’t get done.

So, although there’s not much in each of these projects, there are a lot of projects here and it adds up to $2.4 million...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Minister: I have to say that I am very dismayed. I am quite surprised. This is something that started last September, October, and now we have to wait until the 18th Assembly for any kind of change to take place. I’m very dismayed. I urge the Minister to get it done sooner. Thank you.

Thanks, Mr. Chair, and thanks to the Ministers for that info. The other item here that I have questions about is the health centre in Norman Wells. It’s a large amount of money, almost $15 million. It suggests that that project wasn’t even started. Could I get an explanation as to why we are carrying over such a large amount?