Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are on the Deh Cho Bridge Project and they’re directed to the Minister of Finance.
Certainly we recognize now that there has been a lot of mismanagement and contractors disarray, costs are soaring, and the Minister of Transportation is working hard to stabilize that situation. I’m wondering, Mr. Speaker, what is the impact of the new costs of the bridge on the government’s debt, particularly with respect to our borrowing limit. As people know, we are obligated to stay within a limit of $500 million. I appreciate that response. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the debt or the $15 million that’s being requested is equivalent to about 10 percent over the initial cost. So that will be $15 million added to our cost as a government. So with the $15 million factored in, as we’ve said, it will shrink our borrowing limit by that equivalent amount. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, thank you very much for those general comments. Perhaps the Minister could interpret for us what sort of flexibility we’re giving up in terms of pursuing other things that this government might have wished to pursue. Thank you.
As we look at this $15 million, the other point to keep in mind is that it’s significantly self-liquidating through the tolls and all the other arrangements that have been signed as part of this deal. But going forward, because of this debt and other debt that we’ve agreed to accumulate as part of the current economic downturn, we are going to be going down in our borrowing limit. In 2011-12, available borrowing capacity will shrink to about $85 million. Thank you.
I appreciate that more specific information. In the immediate future, and I’m sure there are other implications in the longer term, but what is this government doing to minimize our risk? What are the additional risks that we’re facing and what are we doing to minimize those risks? Thank you.
The Minister responsible for Public Works laid out all the steps that are currently being taken to make sure that this project goes ahead. It’s 50 percent complete. It’s had some challenges, but it’s going to be, at this point we hope, the final costs will be about 10 percent over the budgeted amount. We are going to work closely, as the Member indicated in his own statement, to stabilize this particular project, where it is right now, sort out the current challenges and then take a critical look, along with the Members, about what we’ve learned from the exercise, how do we go forward and what other particular issues that may be out there that could become major concerns for us. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Your final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, again, appreciate those comments. I think we, indeed, need to take some serious looks at what’s happening. I mentioned the spiral into poverty that can happen in families and certainly when we have soaring costs in the midst of an economic recession and so on, these are the sorts of things that I’m talking about. There are more in the future. We need to plan for them. What is the Minister doing, though, Mr. Speaker, on the larger picture side to ensure that this government puts in place a mechanism to ensure that future Assemblies are not saddled with exactly this situation? Mahsi.
That broad policy issue and debate and discussion, I think, has to take place as a Legislature, to lay out whatever specific conventions or protocols that we need to have agreed to, to address the concerns raised by the Member. I know at this point we are doing our planning collectively, looking at June 2011 as the date up to which we could make substantive decisions, but after that we’re planning, recognizing that we’ll be moving into an election year. As a Cabinet, we’ve picked that particular date as a target for us that we’re working back from, recognizing that we’re going to be into a whole different mode after the last sitting of this Legislature before the election. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
