Bob Bromley

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, your committee would like to report progress. Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of Committee of the Whole be concurred with.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my last question for the Minister is really about the really good suggestions and incredible amount of thinking and thoughtful drafting of options to be pursued by the Minister. Certainly the progressive taxation was one of them. I think there was some mention of fees. I assume that the Minister has developed a perspective on those in response to the overwhelming comments from the public on those suggestions. Thank you.

I was more interested in the Minister’s perspectives on the divisive, racially divisive, culturally divisive proposals that she has coming forward. I would welcome any further comments she might have on that.

It was noted at a recent public meeting that the representatives of the NWT Pharmaceutical Association have repeatedly offered to meet with the Minister and her department to share their knowledge and experience in any considerations of changes to the supp health program. The department was also invited to attend the annual general meeting of this association. In both cases the department...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Weledeh resident Chief Eddie Sangris from Dettah. I’d also like to give special recognition to my elder, Mr. Ed Jeske. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I won’t bother correcting the Minister again on the number of interveners we have. Given that 2018 is the earliest we can envision an operating pipeline and given the ridiculous degree to which this government has hitched its star to this project, what plan is there to proceed with economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable economic development that will benefit our people in the meantime?

That’s an interesting and complicated response. I’d like to explore that a little further, but I’m wondering if it does not serve us to examine the assumptions that are being made on the largest infrastructure project ever conceived for the Northwest Territories and become informed and probe those as this side of the House does for any assumptions that the government comes up with in order to be responsible to our public and to be able to make informed opinions. Obviously the timing of this, there are convolutions to it that are difficult to discuss in this format. I’m wondering how we will...

Further, income on its own is not a good measure of an individual’s or a family’s ability to pay. Families must also juggle housing challenges, higher cost of living in some areas, unequal access to income, other health issues and debts.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, I hear little from the Minister about how she is reducing costs and increasing efficiencies for supplementary health. Pharmaceuticals are acknowledged as a big part of the bill, yet we are still awaiting action on bulk purchasing and other opportunities to manage these costs further. I have heard nothing yet about how we will encourage or...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will reluctantly be supporting this supplementary appropriation bill. It’s really more expensive not to proceed with this than to proceed, which is a sad state of affairs. This situation speaks to some serious management questions that beg for investigation and for some attention to make sure that any corrections that are needed are realized. I think the political decisions that got us into this situation also require further investigation and an objective look, again with an eye to plugging any process gaps that exist, and we know they do.

Clearly, there...

I’d say one assumption that I think would be worthy of some probing is the assumption that, well, OVRL notes, Imperial Oil notes that natural gas production from shale gas in both Canada and the U.S. is going up. Of course, that’s what has depressed gas prices now. I think that’s a well-established fact. Yet they say that these economic conditions will still be favourable for the project. I would think that would be an obvious one to pursue.

Sort of fundamental to this is there was nothing confidential required to consider this question. Why did the government not come to the Regular MLAs and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of ITI and I want to refer to a couple of tabled documents from yesterday, a letter from Imperial Oil updating their economic feasibility to the Mackenzie Gas Project, a letter from Lawson Lundell in which the GNWT declines the opportunity to cross-examine Imperial Oil’s witness at a couple of hearings along with the rest of the public. The economic feasibility update notes that the start-up for the MGP would be 2018 at the earliest, about nine years from now. I am wondering why the government has decided not to participate in that...