Bill Braden

So there is no direct application, or the leaseholders here aren’t being assessed a certain portion of these remediation costs over time. A lease fee structure has been determined. That money goes into general revenue and that department gets what it needs from general revenue to fix the job here. What I am trying to determine here, Madam Chair, is are the people who are the tenants on these leases being charged directly or indirectly for the cost of remediation as opposed to a standard lease which has a standard fee structure and a regular way of handling it, Madam Chair?

The timeline we are looking at here, $3.5 million to get an extra four years of life…I’m sorry?

---Interjection

Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate the discussion here and the acknowledgement or confirmation that this is not something that seems to be happening; it is something quite tangible. The Minister has told committee that it’s a growing problem and one we are going to have to deal with. Would the Minister advise or commit to coming back to perhaps standing committees with some outline of what the status of this growing problem is, and perhaps come back to committees with some options on how we can help address it, Madam Chair? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Mr. Chairman, with reluctance I'm going to vote for the motion to delete. The amount of information that the Minister's providing is not enough to convince me that for $320,000 we're getting value for money. I really have difficulty accepting a request for this amount here. The information given us originally here to provide funding for planning and the functional program, the new consolidated office complex in Inuvik. It doesn't go so far as to say we're getting detailed drawings or architectural design. That's going to be another part. You know, Mr. Chairman, given the kind of...

You know, Mr. Speaker, we can see this on the back burner for a long time. Mr. Roland told us earlier today of his optimistic reaction to the expert panel on financing. I share that optimism. But there are so many other initiatives that are going to take their time to sort of grind out through the system. Mr. Speaker, I think as one of the Members who is involved in this motion -- I moved this motion last February -- I’d like to press the Premier to see if he could have a look at this again, speak with his northern counterparts, and see if we could put some kind of a time frame on advancing...

Well, Mr. Chairman, I don’t quite know where to go from here. The federal government really has a big hammer on this and the question that we have, I suppose, as the Minister is asking today, is that we take this unanticipated, unrealized, and take it out of general revenue rather than pass it on to the consumer. Is that what the Minister is seeking?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question this afternoon is for Mr. Handley, the Premier, and they’re in connection with the motion that this Assembly passed last February, Mr. Speaker, on the northern residence income tax deduction. Mr. Speaker, in that motion we asked the Premier and the Finance Minister to get in touch with their counterparts in our sister territories, as well as in northern provinces and Ottawa, to gage their interest and their commitment in approaching Ottawa to increase the northern residence income tax deduction, Mr. Speaker; something that has not been addressed since 1991...

Mr. Chairman, three years ago, not long after the calamity of 9-11, security across every transportation system in Canada was ordered to strengthen and for good cause and good reason. As we know, of late, our country is still dealing with the consequences of international terrorism threat to our safety. So it was not something that there was any real grounds to objecting to on fundaments. But the impact on our market, if you will, and our community of a safety system or an inspection system that the federal government alone contributed over $4 million to has a consequence of us, we determined...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The high cost of northern living, Mr. Speaker, is an issue that affects each and every one of us every day. It is an issue that is often debated directly and indirectly in this Assembly. We have taken some steps to address this, Mr. Speaker. Last October, we passed motions in this Assembly on energy costs and the overall cost of living. We, through our committee system, requested the government to bring forward information and proposed actions on the high cost of energy and the high cost of living. They did so. I think they did so in a very useful and a progressive...

Madam Chair, I’ll give the floor over to my colleagues. I’m sure they’re probably going to ask some of the questions I have on my plate.