Bob Bromley

I appreciate the Minister’s comments. I wish they were relevant to my question.

I guess I would ask him again, national health spending on pharmaceuticals increased about $7 billion between 2005 and 2010. Under the CETA proposed provisions, costs would increase a further 22 percent. Our Ministers have told us these are significant proportions of our costs. We can’t be silent on this.

Will the Premier vigorously communicate to the federal government the negative consequences of such an agreement to our interests and ask that the drug provisions not be allowed, or has he done that already?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Unfortunately, the ever-increasing degree and frequency of impact of federal actions on our territorial interests, and the lack of consultation and respect for our needs requires equally frequent response. Federal trade negotiations which damage our ability to protect our economy are another example of federal disregard for hearing and addressing our concerns.

A specific example is the recently revealed Canada-China Trade Agreement. It provides China with the right to claim damages against any level of government in Canada for decisions and laws that result in a...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate the Minister’s remarks. I understand that, and that’s undoubtedly a contributing factor to these underestimates and part of the point that I was raising. I understand that we’re stepping out here, so we need to bring that into consideration as we make our estimates and so on.

I know from my participation here that we have a record of requests for dollars. Obviously, nickel and diming would not be the right term here because these are very significant amounts of money, but they are cumulative, that have eventually proved to be insufficient for the task at hand. In other words, we were told they would achieve this and they haven’t, and we’ve added and so on. I am very concerned about this project in general, as the House is well aware that this is completely in line with expectations that this cost will escalate and that we are, really, underestimating the...

Thanks to the Minister for those comments. That’s really all the questions I had.

Just on that, obviously, it’s sometimes worth paying a little more for a ground-breaking project towards reducing overall costs for subsequent projects so it might be worth a bit of an investment, or at least a full-cost accounting approach when we do that analysis. That’s all the questions I had.

Thanks to the Minister. I guess I would ask the Minister to commit to investigating that because, obviously, if the rate has gone from 48 to 58 cents, that is not a 6 percent increase and neither is it a 15 percent increase. So I hope the Minister will seek the truth on that.

The Safe Advantage program is meant to be self-funded and independent from the claims budget. It’s a separate budget. However, my understanding is that penalties income is less than rewards paid out. There’s also rewards paid out, not just penalties in the Safe Advantage program. That’s resulting in a deficit. We’re paying...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister responsible for the Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission in follow-up to my statement. MLAs were informed in August of an average 15 percent-plus increase in employee assessment rates. Meanwhile we have a Safe Advantage Program, which is supposed to improve rates of safety performance, yet the rates are skyrocketing. Why are the rates going up? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I totally support the role and authority of the Speaker in this House, that’s yourself. If any of my remarks last week brought that into question, I apologize. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister for those remarks. That was, indeed, my point, is that it hasn’t been put into practicality yet here in the Northwest Territories.

Given that we are choosing to spend $100 million in subsidies for electricity rates, what actions will the Minister take to replace the community electricity systems that we know are really expensive, based on fossil fuels, and make the changes required?

Thank you. I heard the remarks from the Minister and yet the WSCC report issued a couple months ago says 8.7 percent increase in electricity costs this year alone, and I am aware of no new community electricity systems in the life of my time as an MLA. We’re into our sixth year here. So that defies what the Minister is saying. Public consultation is about to get underway on a new Energy Plan, I believe yet to be seen, that will chart the future for energy development in the coming years. The Finance Minister set the rules of its fiscal strategy: no new expenses, deferred infrastructure, paying...