Bob Bromley

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just referring to the Speaker’s notes here, I see we are taking advantage of some efficiencies. I’m happy to see our General Election costs are anticipated to be only slightly larger than four years ago.

The 11.5 percent increase is obviously quite a bit compared to the departments, but I know there could be some reasons for that. I see about $860,000 of that is for the office of the Chief Electoral Officer for the election, so that’s 40 percent of that. I’m just wondering if there are any comments on what the rest of that is.

One other thing. I appreciated the...

Thanks, Madam Chair. Just on that, and I appreciate that information, we want to be maximizing the benefits to the individuals in our communities who would be accessing this – I know the Minister supports that – for their own education, health and certainly economic development opportunities. As currently planned, are we using the best way of getting this service to each home in the communities that will be serviced by the fibre optic line? I understand that that is typically getting a fibre optic line right to the homes, but I don’t have the technical expertise to carry it beyond that. Has...

Getting ahead of myself, I guess. That’s all I had. Thanks.

I would just like to follow up on my colleague’s questions. My understanding is that industry’s use of the winter roads is a great cost to government and can really beat up the infrastructure. That has certainly been found in every jurisdiction. Is that the experience of this government?

I appreciate that. I think it’s a real opportunity for projects such as Lutselk’e and Whati who would provide both the power and the heating requirements for the community if it became affordable under the reduced fossil fuel prices we are enjoying currently.

Just on the Yellowknife liquefied natural gas plan feasibility study, this seems a bit bizarre to me, but again, I would ask the Minister perhaps include his earlier commitment to examine what the greenhouse gas emissions are for that liquid natural gas as part of that feasibility study. It would be a natural addition to that to make sure...

I think I understand the situation. This is not just to fix the issue that they had in the middle of the runway. This was also planning for the extension of the Inuvik runway. Have I got that right? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate that from the Minister and I will look at the Hansard to see the specifics of that request because there are some areas where that wouldn’t apply, like conventional sources. I appreciate the Minister’s commitment. I guess I’m out of time. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just on the dollars for additional engineering studies related to drainage and permafrost studies on the Inuvik runway, how much have we spent so far on that project, and were these unanticipated dollars or are we just trying to move things forward in the future? Thank you.

I would hope so. Thank you. Hopefully, we’ve learned that we have to get all departments working together, but I appreciate this Minister taking the lead. I have taken the opportunity to discuss wind with Diavik. The experts there say wind, diesel and batteries are cookie cutter now. They are not experimental. We are way behind the eight ball on this. The Power Corp has not touched wind in 40 years. I’m very happy to see the work that’s being done in Colville Lake with this model because this model can work with solar as well. So we are doing solar in Colville, which is appropriate; they don’t...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to follow up on my colleague’s questions and he actually asked most of the questions I had. Would the Minister know how many adults and children we have in care and what the total costs are that this amount is supplementing?