Wendy Bisaro

Thank you. That goes to my point, when I call them “hidden costs” I was not impugning that anyone was hiding anything, but these are costs which are not all that easy to itemize. The two PYs, yes, they’re obvious, but then there are many other bits and pieces of costs in various departments and that’s what I’m talking about. I’d like to know if the Minister can tell me approximately what kinds of costs the GNWT is incurring for staff time that’s been spent on this project, and that would be from after October 2007 election until now. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s my pleasure today to recognize Wendy Wile, as well. I can’t see her up there, but I know she’s up there. She’s a resident of Frame Lake and a neighbour just down the road from me. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I request unanimous consent to return to item 6, recognition of visitors in the gallery.

---Unanimous consent granted.

Thanks to the Minister. I do appreciate the commitment. That is what I’m asking for, is some kind of an approximation of costs which GNWT has had to endure for this project over and above the actual costs of the construction and the management of the project. So I am looking forward to that information.

My next question has to do with chargeback and the Minister has mentioned that many costs are charged to the project. These GNWT staff costs I presume are not charged to the project and I’d like him to confirm. I understood that the $15 million we just approved is going to be paid back to GNWT...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Transportation and I’d like to thank both the Minister of Transportation and Finance for the package of information on the Deh Cho Bridge that we received the other day. It was comprehensive and there was a lot of information in there, which Members have been asking for.

I spoke about the bridge last week and in my statement I asked for two things. I asked for an analysis of the costs, how they were accumulated from inception until now, and I also asked for protocols for the future. My first question to the Minister is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Early this month the Minister of Health and Social Services made a statement about the 2010 Drop the Pop program in effect for this month of February. Since it’s Education Week and Drop the Pop Month, I thought I would see what Yellowknife schools registered for the program are doing and highlight some of their activities.

I mentioned a few days ago that we have a great bunch of teachers in the NWT. Their creativity and that of our students is evident in the events that YK schools are holding to emphasize the importance of dropping the pop. Here’s a summary of what some...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just wanted to echo the comments of my colleague Mr. Bromley. We have talked about the issue with the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority and their employees for quite some time now and my comment is simply just bite the bullet and do it and get it done. Thank you.

The three assumptions are: that all families should have a fair and equal access to Government of the Northwest Territories funded programs that assist with the cost of uninsured health services; that the structure of these programs can be confusing, this makes application for benefits or claims frustrating; a statement that we need a clear policy; a statement that we need a program that provides help to those who are most in need while maximizing our limited resources, and the assumption is that the uninsured health benefits are sustainable for the Government of the Northwest Territories...

Certainly those explanations make sense, but I guess if we know those things, why are we not budgeting for increased costs at the time that we put the original budget on the floor? Thank you.

My thanks go to the GNWT staff who set up all the details for my trip. My thanks go to VANOC, the Olympic Committee, for hosting us so well, for welcoming and pampering us as they did. I hope that I and the NWT will get the chance to return the favour sometime in the future. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.