I move, seconded by the Member for Thebacha:
WHEREAS it is required by Rule 85 that the Legislative Assembly shall appoint a Striking Committee of five Members to report and recommend, with all convenient speed, Members to comprise the standing committees;
NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that Mr. Menicoche, Mr. Bromley, Mr. Hawkins, Mr. Moses and Mr. Nadli be appointed to the Striking Committee of this Assembly.
Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. Robert C. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to deal with the motion that I gave notice of earlier today.
---Unanimous consent granted
I move, seconded by the Member for Thebacha:
WHEREAS Rule 85 requires that Members be appointed to the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure;
NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that the following Members be appointed to the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure:
Mr. Robert Hawkins, the Member for Yellowknife Centre;
Mr. Frederick Blake Jr., the Member for Mackenzie Delta;
Mr. Robert Bouchard, the Member for Hay River North;
Mr. Bob Bromley, the Member for Weledeh;
Mr. Kevin Menicoche, the Member for Nahendeh;
Mr. Michael Nadli, the Member for Deh Cho;
AND FURTHER, that the following the following Members be appointed to the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure as alternate Members:
Wendy Bisaro, the Member for Frame Lake;
Mrs. Jane Groenewegen, the Member for Hay River South; and
Mr. Norman Yakeleya, the Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. Abernethy.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to deal with the motion I gave notice of earlier today.
---Unanimous consent granted
I move, seconded by the Member for Thebacha:
WHEREAS Rule 85 requires that Members be appointed to the Standing Committee on Social Programs;
NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that the following Members be appointed to the Standing Committee on Social Programs:
Mr. Alfred Moses, the Member for Inuvik Boot Lake;
Ms. Wendy Bisaro, the Member for Frame Lake;
Mr. Daryl Dolynny, the Member for Range Lake;
Mrs. Jane Groenewegen, the Member for Hay River South; and
Mr. Norman Yakeleya, the Member for Sahtu;
AND FURTHER, that the following Members be appointed to the Standing Committee on Social Programs as alternative Members:
Mr. Bob Bromley, the Member for Weledeh;
Mr. Kevin Menicoche, the Member for Nahendeh; and
Mr. Michael M. Nadli, the Member for Deh Cho.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. Blake.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to deal with the motion I gave notice of earlier today.
---Unanimous consent granted
I move, seconded by the Member for Kam Lake:
WHEREAS Rule 85 requires that Members be appointed to the Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures;
NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Kam Lake, that the following Members be appointed to the Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures:
Mr. Bob Bromley, the Member for Weledeh;
Mrs. Jane Groenewegen, the Member for Hay River South;
Mr. Robert Hawkins, the Member for Yellowknife Centre;
Mr. Kevin Menicoche, the Member for Nahendeh; and
the Honourable Glen Abernethy, the Member for Great Slave;
AND FURTHER, that the following Members be appointed to the Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures as alternate members:
Mr. Daryl Dolynny, the Member for Range Lake;
Mr. Alfred Moses, the Member for Inuvik Boot Lake; and
the Honourable Robert C. McLeod, the Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question is being called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to deal with the motion I gave notice of earlier today.
---Unanimous consent granted
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
WHEREAS Their Excellencies the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, and Mrs. Sharon Johnston, as part of their first trip to the Northwest Territories, will be visiting the Legislative Assembly on Thursday, December 8, 2011, and have expressed an interest in addressing the Assembly;
AND WHEREAS the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories has the authority to waive any of its rules, procedures, customs or precedents;
NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that notwithstanding any rules or usual practice of this Legislative Assembly, that on Thursday, December 8, 2011, this House shall interrupt its regular business at the appropriate hour in order to receive an address from the Governor General of Canada, the Right Honourable David Johnston, together with all the introductory and related remarks, and upon completion of such address the House shall continue with its business before it.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Oh, Mr. Yakeleya.
I’ll continue on with the motion.
AND FURTHER, that this House shall welcome the representatives of the Aboriginal governments in the Northwest Territories to enter the Chamber at the appropriate time to bear witness to the address from His Excellency the Governor General.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question is being called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Thank you, Member. Item 18, first reading of bills. Item 19, second reading of bills. Item 20, consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters: Tabled Document 2-17(1), Northwest Territories Capital Estimates 2012-2013, with Mrs. Groenewegen in the chair.
I’d like to call Committee of the Whole to order. We have one item on the agenda before us today, but I will ask what is the wish of the committee. Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much. We wish to hear the opening remarks from the Minister of Finance on the tabled capital estimates.
And proceed with general comments on the tabled document?
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Yes, we will.
Good, we’ll see how far we can get, then. But before we do that, we’ll have a break. Thank you.
---SHORT RECESS
I’d like to call Committee of the Whole back to order. The item we will be dealing with here today is the Northwest Territories Capital Estimates 2012-2013. I’d like to turn the floor over to Minister Miltenberger for his opening remarks. Mr. Minister.
Madam Chair, I am here to present for the committee’s consideration the 2012-13 Capital Estimates of the Government of the Northwest Territories.
The estimates outline appropriations for government and community infrastructure investments of $124.2 million in the 2012-13 fiscal year.
The estimates do not include appropriations for housing infrastructure proposed by the NWT Housing Corporation in 2012-13, totalling $13.2 million. The appropriation for these investments will be sought during the review of the 2012-13 Main Estimates. The NWT Housing Corporation’s proposed 2012-13 Capital Plan, however, has been included in the estimates document as an information item for review and comment.
Including the proposed housing investment, the total planned infrastructure investment in 2012-13 will be $137.5 million. This reduced level of investment returns the GNWT to a more fiscally sustainable level of capital investment, as required by the current Fiscal Strategy.
Although smaller than previous years’ budgets, the 2012-13 Capital Estimates still provide a stable source of funding for community governments, and permits the completion of many of the projects begun during the 16th Assembly.
This level of funding, however, will not address the GNWT’s growing infrastructure deficit, which is currently estimated at $3 billion over the next five years. This does not include deficits also accruing in our municipal and housing infrastructure needs.
The GNWT is facing the difficult challenge of maintaining existing assets, improving housing stock and meeting legislative requirements, with limited fiscal resources. Our ability to meet these needs is further constrained by a borrowing limit whose definition is broadening while the limit remains restrictive and does not reflect the debt carrying capacity of the territory. Under the current limit, there is limited opportunity for the GNWT to make investments to improve our territory’s essential infrastructure base to deliver programs and services, to respond to slowdowns in the NWT’s economy or to make the required investments in strategic infrastructure that will better position the territory and all of Canada to maximize economic opportunities of the North.
Major highlights of the 2012-13 Capital Estimates include:
$25.6 million for highways and winter roads across the NWT;
$11 million for school replacements and renovations;
$28 million to continue to fund community governments for infrastructure;
$30 million for health facility replacements and renovations;
$11.9 million for small capital projects across all departments;
$1 million to complete the required planning for the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk all-weather road;
$4 million for the Deferred Maintenance Program; and
$654,000 to continue the Capital Asset Retrofit Fund Program for energy efficiency upgrades to upgrade existing GNWT buildings. The energy savings resulting from these investments will be used to enhance the program.
We are prepared to discuss the 2012-13 Capital Estimates with the committee. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Will the committee agree to have the deputies join Mr. Miltenberger at the witness table during our general comments?
Agreed.
Thank you. Will the Sergeant-at-Arms please escort the witnesses into the Chamber, then we’ll get ready to go with our general comments.
Mr. Miltenberger, for the record, can you please introduce your delegation.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We have with us today Deputy Minister Mike Aumond from Finance, Deputy Minister Russ Neudorf from Transportation, and Deputy Minister Paul Guy from Public Works and Services. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. General comments. Just in terms of process today, Members, we’ll make general comments, you have up to 10 minutes, and then we will ask the Minister if he would like to respond after each Member has spoken. Any general comments on the capital budget? Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Having had the capital budget in front of us for two minutes here now, I’d like to start off by just saying that I note that $1 million had been budgeted to complete the required planning for the Inuvik to Tuk all-weather road. I’d like to ask the Minister what has been spent to date to confirm that this will complete the planning for that project mentioned in his opening remarks.
I want to compliment the Minister and the government for establishing this Capital Asset Retrofit Fund. It’s something we’ve talked about for a number of years. It provides for energy efficiency upgrades to upgrade existing GNWT buildings and I’m happy to see that in there based on savings as a result of the previous projects that have reduced greenhouse gas emissions, reduced our energy expenditures, provided more employment and helped develop a brand new industry in the Northwest Territories. All kudos there. I’m hoping that we can see that build as we continue the retrofits that yield these annual savings.
The Minister has noted again that our debt limit is compatible or consistent with our increasing level of annual budget. I’m curious, I wonder if the Minister would know what our annual budget was at the time that we had the $500 million debt limit imposed on us in our fiscal responsibility policy or adopted that.
That’s it for now. I haven’t had much time to look at this budget but I’ll look forward to detailed comments later.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate the Member’s comment about the Capital Asset Retrofit Fund. We do have all the particulars at Public Works and Services in terms of the savings and costs and how we plan to move forward with reinvesting that money.
I can tell the Member that pre-division, 1999, the budget for the whole combined Northwest Territories was about a billion dollars. Post-division both budgets very quickly approached a billion dollars each and our current budget is almost $1.3 billion, almost $1.4 billion in total.
With regard to your question about the borrowing limit and when the $500 million was put into place, I would point out, as well, that in regard to our budget, our debt-to-revenue ratio, or debt-to-GDP ratio, makes us one of the best managed jurisdictions in Canada, second, I think, only probably to Alberta. We appreciate and agree that the borrowing limit is a constraining factor.
I would ask, Madam Chair, with your indulgence, to get Mr. Neudorf to speak to the million dollars and the Tuk-Inuvik highway.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Neudorf.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The department is continuing to do some planning for the Inuvik-Tuk road. There is certainly much to do to prepare and get underway. The number that’s in the 2012-2013 Capital Plan is a bit of a holding figure meant to signal the commitment of this House to the project, assuming the project is approved. In the meantime, we are using other resources that are available to us at the present time to do the planning for it. Of course, it started off with $1 million from the federal government for the project description report. We’ve used some of the money that was originally scheduled for the Tuk gravel access road. We’ve re-profiled that to spend it to help carry on with the environmental and other related studies for the full Inuvik-Tuk road and that’s just over $1 million.
Thank you. Members, at this time I’d like to draw your attention to the visitors gallery to a former Member and Premier of this Assembly and now president of the IRC, Nellie Cournoyea, and the mayor of Inuvik, Mr. Denny Rodgers. Welcome.
---Applause
Very timely. We were just discussing the budget allocation for the Inuvik-Tuk highway. Good timing. Thank you. Anything further? Mr. Bromley.
