Bob Bromley

Of course, there’s probably nothing I could do to prevent the Minister from sticking to his guns. It’s just, you know, a very irresponsible position to take, decision to make.

The best example I can think of is the youth centres, for example, that we are training our youth to have absolutely no respect for the natural world and their future when we build youth centres that you can see daylight under the doors, and don’t have porches and some of the very basic principles of energy conservation, not to mention the high costs associated with that and the lack of ability to pursue other options...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wanted to mention again the issue of building codes and our lack of requiring such codes when we transfer this funding to communities. It’s perhaps a sensitive situation in a way, but we have these high standards for ourselves and with that we enjoy the returns and the benefits that that brings. Our operational costs are going down, we’re now saving millions of dollars per year and yet we’re not providing our communities with that same opportunity by requiring that level of building standard.

Now, I recognize that we are, in the longer term, requiring communities to come...

I appreciate those comments from the Minister. I didn’t want to ignore completely, either, the efforts we are making in another division here, asset management, which we approved, but during which we’re making significant investments with very reasonable payback times, and I think those are good investments. Those are showing the payback times and whatnot. I think we had some 40 projects in that area. I’m very supportive of getting that work done. There’s at least another 400 of those that we could all come up with, should the resources permit. So I’m very supportive of that approach. Thank...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’d like to start with the access road to Dettah. I’m wondering if the Minister could provide me with an update on what is being achieved this year and what the budget will cover for next year. Thank you.

Thanks again for those comments. I recognize it’s difficult to commit at this point and I am happy to see work is being done at this point. I hope we do go forward with that opportunity.

It’s shocking, of course, that nearly 20 percent of our earned income in the NWT economy is paid to people who don’t pay taxes in the NWT. I recognize that the MOU between the government and the diamond mines is working on that to base workers here in the North and that there is some effort to look at immigration to sort of help in an indirect way, however, tools do exist that can help us recover some of the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up on my Member’s statement, my questions are for the Minister of Finance. Yesterday the Premier was asked about the current state of devolution negotiations and gave answers describing their status. Completion of a deal will take some time, and meanwhile, the revenues owed to our citizens for the sale of our resources go uncollected. Many Members have called for a resource tax as a desirable interim measure. Will the Minister commit to bringing forward a proposal for the increase of revenues through resource rents as part of his package of recommendations in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Neudorf.

I appreciate the Minister’s comments on that. Indeed there has been a change in leadership in all parties involved, I think, over the course so far and I really do appreciate this department working with the community of Dettah and other partners in getting this going. It sounds like there are some good efficiencies to be had there.

I know there’s been some research done, I think, or perhaps it’s just being done on the impact of climate change and I’ve never been able to determine the real objectives of it on Highway No. 3 so that we can improve how we do rehabilitation of that and so on. I’m...

That sounds like wonderful news. Just to confirm, we’re talking about restructuring the Dettah road to the point where we can responsibly chipseal it. Is that correct?