Bill Braden

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Hay River remand situation has received a lot of air time in the Assembly in the last few days, to the extent that a lot of the detail, I guess, has really gone over or under or around me. But I have tried to look at this in the sense of what are we doing, what kind of an impact are we having on the delivery of essential justice services to a community and to a region of the Northwest Territories? The arguments that the Minister has made, Mr. Chairman, in favour of the amount of money that could be saved, where the service could be relatively easily and...

Mr. Chairman, I move we report progress.

Thank you. The scenario there was better than I might have imagined. I can only say that I do look forward to the business plan. Related to that, Mr. Chairman, are the ample signals, the very clear and loud signals that we’re getting about the anticipated increase in crime and the need for policing caused by super-development, the huge developments that we’re on the cusp of. The proponents for the Mackenzie Valley pipeline at a workshop in Inuvik in December made no bones about it that with the level of activity, the number of workers concentrated over a relatively short period of time, that...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So looking at the forecast for the coming fiscal year 2005-06, we are forecasting a deficit of $14,000, which is pretty good bookkeeping on almost $12 million in sales. I will give the department that. I am just wondering why there is a need to plan for a deficit. Can we not amend some prices in there to at least be able to forecast a break-even or a modest surplus here? How tight or fine-tuned can we get at this point? I am questioning why we should see a deficit there. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister had earlier indicated that this committee had not been active for some time. The policy was created in 1989. I’m wondering if he is able to advise just how long a life this committee had. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Perhaps that's a discussion we can have in another forum. I guess I would ask the Minister now, based on the principle, the idea that we have some $21 million in net book value in infrastructure that is, in effect, providing a subsidy to those customers. If we take the principle that government as a whole is assisting a certain category of people, despite and by virtue of where they live, and that if we're going to accept this as the kind of subsidy that our government wants to provide, then why don't we consider it in that large basket? It's more the principle...

Okay. For quite some time, Mr. Speaker. I’m assuming now that we’re going back into previous governments here and I will not hold this Minister accountable there, but I would like to ask why this government has not acted to create or engage this committee and get some creative work coming out of it. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

That's right, we did it. Mr. Chairman, one thing that I think is worth keeping in mind with the petroleum products division is it's my understanding -- correct me if I'm wrong -- that while the division is mandated to certainly recover the cost of the product and the cost of overhead and operations, the cost of the infrastructure of the tank farms and all the ensuring liabilities and environmental work and things that go along with it, are not recovered. They are absorbed by the government at large. That has been my understanding of the way we set up our PPD. Is that essentially still the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The specific area of age and place of birth for someone who is living half their life in the NWT will continue to stay high on the radar screen. Can the Minister advise whether this is something that may demand a priority or a quicker response than waiting for this overall review? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If I recall, I think that was taken care of in last year's annual appropriation. Now that the Minister reminded me it was in the stabilization fund, that was where the debt was written off. If he could just confirm that, and that happened a year ago. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.