Bill Braden

  Thank you, Mr. Speaker.  Political life is something that we all enter into because we seek to do something for ourselves, for our communities, for our families, and it can be tremendously rewarding and satisfying when things go right. Good things in life and the satisfaction and the respect that can come from engaging in this does not come cheap. There is always a price to pay. We all walk a fine line every day, depending on the issues or the subjects or the problems that are before us, and we do what we think is right. Of course, that does not always work with everybody, so there are...

Here we go again, Mr. Speaker, still under Ottawa’s thumb trying to get anywhere at all with resource revenue sharing and devolution. It’s tough enough that we can’t even secure our own independence with one of 20 people on a board. We are not even able to get that far with Ottawa. Will the Premier, indeed, once consultation is through, put forward a name that we know we have confidence in and insist that the Minister of Northern Affairs take that as the true and full voice for the NWT, Mr. Speaker?

You know, Mr. Speaker, when these boards were created, and we are going back about 10 years now, the NWT fought for a degree of representation and autonomy so that we knew that our voices were indeed going to be heard, along with those of many First Nations who also have designated spots on those boards. Just why is it that we are not pressing the Minister to accept our nominee so that we can be assured that our position is being heard as clearly as possible and not subject to the whims or biases that a federal Minister might want to have, Mr. Speaker?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. In the area of development and regulatory matters, the Northwest Territories does not have a great score card in the industry of mineral and oil and gas exploration, Mr. Chair. We often hear the statistic quoted that Alberta, on an annual basis, processes hundreds of applications for exploration of natural resources and, yet, a number of approvals here in the Northwest Territories, basically you can count them on a couple of hands.

The major deficiency that’s been identified, a chronic deficiency, has been the lack of capacity in the regulatory boards established under the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The quantitative assessment of how much and where is something I would pursue a bit later on, in fact in a written question. I guess I am seeking more an assessment of the qualitative impact on us. Is this something that through the Executive office, through other government ministries, what is the depth of hurt, of impact, of deterioration in our communities and in our programs because of these cuts, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. How, then, does this $18 million surplus translate? What does it really mean for us here in the Assembly and for our communities and for the programs and the people that we serve, Mr. Speaker? Does this mean we will be able to look at some other options or some new options in initiatives or spending, Mr. Speaker?

Mr. Speaker, does this mean we have $18 million in new funding that we can find some programs or some additional things to spend it on, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question this afternoon is for Mr. Roland, Minister of Finance, and it relates to the fiscal update statement that was presented to the Assembly at the start of our day. Mr. Speaker, increasing our surplus for the previous fiscal year from $18 to $36 million is a positive sign. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to ask the Minister if he could explain, in brief, how did this happen? I'd like to think that it was upon the wise counsel and prudent management that committee has provided to the Minister, but I will ask for his answer to what happened. Why are we coming up $18...

Okay. So to some extent it was a revision of federal transfers or payments or contributions, then, Mr. Speaker. Is any of this subject to clawback in future years, Mr. Speaker? This is an aspect of our formula financing deal with Ottawa that has caused us considerable disruption, so are we going to have to look at having any of this amount clawed back in future years, Mr. Speaker?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Literacy, volunteerism, tourism, museums, public health, are but a few of the programs here in the NWT which are devastated by the scattergun approach of federal cuts announced September 25th.

Mr. Speaker, no doubt there’s room to find savings of a billion dollars in the federal budget that now tops $200 billion, but once again the NWT is suffering disproportionately from ill-advised and uninformed federal program actions.

Mr. Speaker, we’ve seen rallies in the streets, postcard campaigns, letter writing. Few actions have caused such vocal and universal dismay among our...