Wendy Bisaro

Yes, certainly. Thank you, Mr. Chair. With me is Ms. Kelly McLaughlin. She’s legislative counsel, legislative division with the Department of Justice, GNWT.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, I will.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will add just a couple of brief comments.

I’d like to commend my colleague Mr. Bromley for bringing forward this idea and this motion and for thinking creatively. It’s something I think we all should be well aware of and should attempt to imitate. We spend millions of dollars in subsidies on our residents. Albeit this is an additional subsidy, I think it’s a subsidy that probably is more important than almost any of the other ones we currently have, and I think it’s one that is very much needed. I also think of this as one option to try to go a little bit towards...

I don’t know how to rephrase that question. I guess my last question would be relative to…. Well, it kind of has to do with planning, but if money were available, could construction start in the summer or fall of ’09?

Thanks for the explanation. To the time required to develop and design.... So we have an educational program at the end of this year. We know what the technical upgrades and requirements are. What is the time period to get to a working design that can be used for determining construction?

Okay. Thanks for that answer. We approved $800,000 for this particular project in the ’08–09 capital budget; February, I think, we approved it. My understanding was that was planning money. So if we’re going to have an educational program done at the end of this month — I think that’s what the Minister said — I wonder when planning for renovations can take place. If the educational program is there, we know what’s required in terms of the technical requirements, building envelope, upgrades and so on. When do we expect that planning is going to start to develop some sort of drawings for this...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’d like to return to a discussion of the delayed, deferred school project in Hay River. I’d like to follow up on some of Mr. Bromley’s questions that he listed and a few of my own.

I know this project’s been delayed. I have heard that the education program — or lack of one or the need to plan for one — is the reason for delay, but is that the only reason that this project was delayed two years?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to make a number of comments relative to this motion.

Unlike other Members, I do feel that we’ve received adequate substantiation for this project. From what I hear periodically, this project has been around for quite some time, although it hasn’t been in place as a capital project. But there’s been a need for office space in Inuvik for longer than the last year and a half, from what I’m given to understand.

One of the strong factors for me is that if we build the building ourselves, we will save, give or take, $38 million over the 20 year life of this particular...

I understand the difficulty in giving me a time frame. Can I get a rough idea of whether it’s between three months and three years, or three months and one year? I won’t hold you to it, but an estimate would be helpful.

I guess I just have one last question. Mr. Bromley sort of alluded to the fact that there’s a bit of a discrepancy here, and I’m having the same difficulty. In the capital budget for ’08–09 we approved $800,000 for this current year, and it earmarked $15 million for this project in ’09–10. Now that $15 million is gone, and there is nothing for that particular school project in the ’09–10 budget. I’m having difficulty understanding how — I think it was February we passed the capital budget — in February of this year we expected, I would presume, construction with a $15 million tag to start in...