Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, it is not. We have made a commitment to work with all of the other stakeholders through the round table that I have set up and we have indicated that we want to put other issues on the table. I have indicated today, as well, of interest in pursuing the process to take a broad look at the way we do our taxes and, as well, we will work through the departments for feedback and recommendations. But there is no government-wide employee committee that I am aware of. Thank you.
Thanks to the Finance Minister for that clear answer. It is, unfortunately, not the answer that I was hoping that I would hear. I would like to explain to the Minister and perhaps to anyone who is listening, and to you, Mr. Speaker, there are employees who certainly have valuable ideas that would work in the front lines. They experience all kinds of situations where they can see that expenses can be reduced, where waste can be terminated. I would like to ask the Minister if he does not agree with those sentiments. Does he not feel that our front-line staff have the opportunity to provide valuable suggestions to reduce our expenses and keep our costs down?
The Member is asking for my opinion and I would be happy to provide that. There is a valuable role for employees. As we forge ahead with this budget into the rough waters that are there economically, and the darkening skies economically, I will pursue with thinking outside the box -- as has been recommended by Mr. Abernethy -- and we can revisit those issues. There used to be a committee in the days of old and the value of that could be reviewed. So it is not that we don’t think it is valuable, it is just that at this point it has not reached an agenda. Thank you.
Thanks again to the Finance Minister. I struggle with the answer that yes, it is valuable, but no, we are not going there. I would like to remind the Minister that given a very small piece of rope, I think our employees would provide us with a very large gain. So, no, they wouldn’t hang themselves. But I would like to know from the Minister when we might see that our employees might be given the opportunity, even if they form this staff committee by themselves or if they are certainly given licence to go ahead and make suggestions, when might we see a concrete date for that to happen. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of ENR has been supportive in the department of setting up green teams. Over in the office building where they work there is a very dedicated, interested group of people who are currently working on all the opportunities that are available in terms of savings with paper, with copiers, with machines being left on, with recycling. I’m fully supportive of that and I’m sure the other Minister is. Maybe it’s a situation of having departments working with the Members to encourage that type of formation. They brown bag it at lunch. I think sometimes we help cover their lunch. I’ve met with them on a couple of occasions. I think it’s a very valuable resource. It does exist. As keeping with Mr. Bromley’s suggestion of keeping it small, keeping it local, maybe that’s the approach we should be considering. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I commend the Minister of ENR for setting in place this green team and that particular initiative. My request is going beyond that. We need a committee that goes across all departments, that is representing the front line, the front end of our staff. I would like to ask the Minister… Sorry. I’ll go back again. I would like to say to the Minister that, yes, other departments have to follow the lead of ENR, but I think that in addition we need to have a committee that is broadly based across all departments. I would ask him again what date that might be initiated. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I will commit to bringing the issue to the FMB or the Cabinet, whatever’s the most appropriate for the initial discussions. I will commit to report back to the Member before the end of this session. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Mr. Speaker, I just want to follow up on my Member’s statement with regard to the Dehcho Connection and Highway No. 1 and No. 7 to the Minister of Transportation. Many documents have been brought towards the work with the federal government. We’ve got the Connecting Canada document that went to the federal ministry, as well as the Dehcho Connection as part of the National Highway Strategy. I would like to ask the Minister what has been done to work with the federal transportation to find us some resources to build up Highway No. 1 and No. 7. Mahsi cho.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Mr. Speaker, I believe the Deh Cho connection was spearheaded by ITI and we’re certainly trying to do our part to promote and help out with this program that’s been in place for some time. The issue of highways across the Territories has been on the forefront for many of our Members as our roads continue to hit their mid-life retrofit needs. Highway No. 7 is no different. Highway No. 7. In fact, it might be a highway that certainly needs more attention. It was built many years ago and it requires an upgrade and new construction, as we all know now. Last summer we certainly had a lot of problems with excess weather and drainage problems that led to having additional investment in that area. We have brought this forward. We have included it in our plans for the federal government and we have targeted some dollars to improve the structure of the road and also to look at some of the problem areas. Thank you.
I know that in the federal budget when they mentioned the highway systems in the Northwest Territories, of course, they mentioned the Yellowknife bypass road, but to the discern of my constituents I think our highway system should have been mentioned. I’d just like to question the strategy that the Minister had with the federal government in that regard. Just saying there, Mr. Speaker.
I’d like to know how much work has been done in this budget towards speaking with… Sorry. The resources for highways No. 1 and No. 7. In particular, I’ve been always pressing for working towards the chipseal of highways No. 1 and No. 7. Have they been looking at that in this budget? Have we had any discussions in the capital planning process, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I’m struggling to answer the Member’s questions. He’s asking questions about the acceleration of the Building Canada Plan where we do have a number of projects, and he’s asking me to disclose what has been discussed with the federal government. That has not come before the House. Our budget has just been introduced today and has not been on the floor of this House, so I can’t really start discussing issues and projects that are in the budget at this point. I’d certainly be glad, to when we come to the portion of the budget presentation that involves Transportation. I can assure the Member that we’ve had certainly a lot of discussion with the federal government on highways; Highway No. 7. We’ve also had a lot of discussion internally looking at the different issues that are challenging Highway No. 7 and highways across the North.
Thanks to the Minister for detailing this. He’s kind of limited in all the answers. I just, once again, want to reiterate the concern of Nahendeh residents that working towards chipseal of the Deh Cho connection is a priority. First and foremost, I’d like to see that on the long-term capital plan, Mr. Speaker, if the Minister can address that. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, our first priority in the reconstruction of most of our highways is to strengthen and reconstruct the road base; have that done on our roads and then we can start focusing on the secondary measures such as dust suppressants, including chipseal. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
I’m glad he answered it that way, because that’s a goal. One of my goals in this term is to actually see the chipsealing program on the long-term capital plan. I’d like to ask the Minister again if he’ll work towards that with me. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we’ve heard the Member loud and clear on many occasions now speaking about Highway No. 7 and Highway No. 1 and other transportation infrastructure in his riding. We’d be glad to work with him and it’s our goal to have our roads strengthened and reconstructed and at some point have chipseal applied or other dust suppression measures.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
Mr. Speaker, my questions are directed to the Minister of Finance with regard to my statement earlier about the loan to Discovery Air to the tune of $34 million. The Minister talks about due diligence and when we review the report it’s surprising to me that there was no market disruption review done in regard to this particular loan. There are other lending agencies out there who had loans in place, they had a major stake by way of shared equity in this company, but they weren’t even contacted in regard to this government’s $34 million loan which undermines their ability to basically provide that service in the northern economy. Yet, Mr. Speaker, the loan that the Gwich’in presented at $10 million was at 9.25 percent but the government loaned some $34 million at 10 percent, which is higher than what’s presently in place now. I find that kind of odd.
I’d like to ask the Minister, during the evaluation of the loan request submitted by Discovery Air, did the government officials or Deloitte Touche provide information about the possible ownership, management options and what could be an exchange between the Gwich’in Development Corporation or other private investors such as lending agencies to take ownership of that loan?
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Mr. Speaker, Discovery Air came to us with an unsolicited proposal. We dealt with the company that came to us. We did not, nor do I think it was appropriate for us to try to sort out whatever things may have been going on outside of our purview in terms of other interests, other financing. We were aware the general credit market was very, very tight, that there was time constraints. The level of detail that the Member is asking about the Gwich’in and their plans and all the other possible players were not something that came to our table. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, it’s pretty obvious if he didn’t do a market disruption analysis of this loan, I guess you wouldn’t have got that information. But don’t you think by due diligence that that should have been done and why was it not done?
Mr. Speaker, this was a loan for an existing financing arrangement. There was no expansion to the firm. It was not considered anything but that kind of loan agreement and didn’t require a market disruption. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, again, as I mentioned, there was an offer made by the Gwich’in Development Corporation and other lending agencies to the board of directors of Discovery Air based on an agreeable price and a percentage by way of the loan that they were willing to offer. They met with the board of directors before this government made the offer for $34 million. Was that ever considered and the question asked have you approached other lending institutions to see if they are willing to lend you the money versus you coming to the government for a $34 million loan?
Mr. Speaker, Discovery came to us with a request for $34 million. I understand, from what the Member is telling us, the Gwich’in offered 10. Discovery Air made a choice and they came to us with their proposal which we then considered. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you. I think the Minister was misled or something as the Gwich’in had already loaned Discovery Air $10 million at 9.25 percent. They were willing to lend them more to get an increased share in regard to that company. I’d like to ask the Minister again, is this government going to follow some rules and procedures that are in place for other loans where you have to go to other lending agencies, get a letter basically showing that you were not able to get a loan from a bank or another institution before you come to the Government of the Northwest Territories so that rules and procedures can be followed with any loans that this government gives out in regard to this Immigration Fund?
Mr. Speaker, we followed the due diligence process. We did not think this was a market disruption. We did not query what other loans may have been out there. My understanding was that the $10 million loan had expired. We accepted and dealt with the company as they came to us with their request for $34 million, which we saw not only as a loan but as an investment with interest accrued and all the value-added at a time of extreme economic turmoil in the country, and in our own jurisdiction, a company that has hundreds of jobs, it has business relationships with other firms and aboriginal businesses up and down the valley. On that basis we reviewed this, did the appropriate due diligence and made the decisions. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement I spoke about infrastructure spending by the government to stimulate the economy. I’d like to ask the Minister responsible for the various infrastructure departments, the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, Public Works, and Transportation. Mr. Speaker, does the Minister have an actual plan in place that will ensure that his departments spend all of their infrastructure money that they have in the budgets? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Mr. Speaker, that’s a, that’s a very good question.
---Laughter
Mr. Speaker, it’s always our intent and we always plan to spend all the dollars and proceed with all our projects that we bring forward as part of our capital budget. Historically, we carried over sometimes up to one-third and possibly more. Over the last while we have done some significant changes to the capital process where the timing of the budget approvals is done in the fall versus the winter months. We’ve changed the system so that we have better due diligence on the projects. We are now in the position where we can roll our projects out, design them and develop the contracts over the winter months and we expect that’s going to change to carry-overs. We expect better results, less carry-over. The short answer to the Member’s question is yes, we plan to spend all our money, however, we know the difficulties with some of the issues and we probably will end up with some carry-over, although less than one-third. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, specific to highways, housing work and schools, some of the stuff that’s been in the plan previously. Does the Minister have a plan? What is the significant difference between this plan and all the other year’s plans that haven’t worked? Thank you.
The difference is timing and a longer planning period and the ability to have more discussion and have more people on the ground, whether it’s contracted or our own forces. It will allow us to get the contracts out earlier. It will allow us to have more attention paid and more diligence at the project level. We expect that will help us deliver. Mr. Speaker, we are starting to see some of the dollars flying from the federal government, especially in the area of housing, where we will have to spend all the money. It’s a use it or lose it agreement so we expect to do that in the housing front also. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, would the Minister commit to reporting progress from his various departments on the infrastructure spending to the House on a regular basis so that we can keep our constituents advised and our northern businesses and local businesses advised if these expenditures are not going to occur, so that they too can plan for these activities? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, that’s going to be a very challenging commitment to make. We have, since this 16th Assembly came about ,we have, as a government, been investing a fairly significant amount in infrastructure. We’re close to the $300 million mark in the previous budget and we are looking at it again this time around. When you start adding all the different infrastructure initiatives in all the different departments including housing, some of the new housing trust money, comparing it to what we used to have, it’s probably triple. In 2001 I believe it was around $100 million; now we’re three times that. Having to deliver on a timely basis is going to require all our people on the ground all the time to ensure that we shorten up the carry-overs. We have many challenges. I would have to consider that. I’d certainly let the Members know through committee whether we can accomplish that. It’s going to be difficult to have all of the departments coordinated so we can present progress reports. We may be able to deal with it on a Member-by-Member basis, but I’d have to investigate to see if we have the resources to do that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mr. Speaker, I can appreciate that reporting progress on all of that infrastructure spending would be difficult. Can the Minister then advise me, if he is able to advise this House or our committee, if the department is not able to carry out the planned infrastructure spending? Thank you.
I think we already have that mechanism in place as part of our process. If there’s a project that’s not going to go forward or has been dropped from our budget, and there is a requirement through our Financial Administration Act to notify the Member and notify the appropriate committee. So I think we already have that mechanism in place. If that’s not enough, then I’d certainly have to have that discussion with the Member to see what he’s looking for. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Mr. Speaker, my questions are to the Minister of Finance. The loan that one of the Members was mentioning is with Discovery Air. With our small government and with so many demands that we’ve heard in the last couple of years, especially in the last couple of months, especially in our small communities, why are we willing to risk $34 million on a high-risk loan to a company which indications show through financial reports was close to bankruptcy? Why did we do this?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This fund is a federal Immigrant Investor Fund. We have an agreement with the federal government. We have agreed to back that guarantee, all the money in that fund. So any money that we lend, we have to be prepared to repay. This is not a grant fund. This is not a low-risk, low-value fund. We’re accountable for every cent. So we have the opportunity here. Due diligence indicated to us that it was, in fact, a tolerable risk that we’re prepared to take, given these tight economic times. The value added that it brought to the Territory is a good investment: $13 million in interest, or so; the jobs and the families and the headquarters moving north. The fund still exists. It’s for applications over $2 million. Below $2 million we have the BDIC fund, which is there for the specific purposes of working for small businesses in communities. Thank you.
