Bob Bromley

I’d like to recognize Ms. Amanda Mallon, outgoing president of the NWT Teachers’ Association, and Mr. Jean-Francois Des Lauriers of the Public Service Alliance of Canada.

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

Unanimous consent granted.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you for those comments, Mr. Minister. I don’t really disagree with any of them, except that I wouldn’t throw out history like that. I think we need to make use of the information we’ve got in the past.

I’d also like to point out we’ve done things in a rush here. We’ve got to get in gear. I disagree that we have to rush things, given that we have this $25 million unexpected surplus, which is about what we had anticipated in the reductions this year. So I don’t quite see the hurry that the Premier’s in.

My question is for the Minister of Finance. Given that our estimate of operating surplus at $44 million has risen now to $69 million — that’s a $25 million difference — and we’ve firmed up the Building Canada Fund…. I think we’re $12 million to $15 million this year and then $35 million per year. Given that our intent, laid out before that, was to have a net savings of $30 million a year, considerably less than the sum of these, do these affect the budget? Do these affect the perspectives? Is there a little more opportunity for doing things a little differently?

I understood the Premier’s...

Again, thank you for those remarks, and I appreciate hearing those things are happening. Again, we need a really comprehensive response. What authority does the Minister have? As Ms. Bisaro pointed out, this response is required from every department and agency in the Northwest Territories, and in fact, we need the help of industry and residents as well. What authority does this Minister have, over at least those other government departments, to get some mandatory action on this issue, for a net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up on my Member’s statement this afternoon and ask the Minister of ENR, who I believe is responsible for a response to climate change, what exactly he is doing to address climate change given that we are recognizing increasingly that there is a strong element of time and the need for immediate and comprehensive response.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This shortage of oil was forecast, but it’s happening now.

Mr. Speaker, both of these issues are upon us. The 16th Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories will decide our future. The opportunity, the responsibility, the requirement for immediate, comprehensive and effective action is ours. In light of the facts and today’s communications, we cannot deny that we are fully aware of these issues. History will record our response to these critical challenges. The time for action is now. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to talk to you, our Premier, MLAs and all people of the Northwest Territories. I am gravely concerned that this budget does not address some crucial issues.

As the Premier said on CBC this morning, we have to start taking actions to secure the future. Unfortunately, this government does not appear to have a good grasp of the key issues we face today. In a nutshell, government planning and budgeting must recognize and respond to the full implications of climate change and the rising costs and uncertain availability of oil. Almost daily, between reports of catastrophic...

Mr. Speaker, there are some things I like in this budget, and a number of them were emphasized in the highlights of the budget by the Minister of Finance last week: $3.1 million for nurses in small communities, $500,000 extra for the arts and culture programs. I like the land-use planning focus and policy development on water and some of the renewable energy initiatives. However, many of these — and all of the highlights, essentially — add up to about 6 per cent of the budget and really don’t reflect the degree of change that I think we need.

I have concerns regarding the lack of a cohesive and...

I acknowledge that I'm really dense on this stuff, but let me just read the sentence again: The GNWT intends to realign $135 million in expenditures with $75 million to be reallocated to those spending priorities. What is the difference between “realign” and “reallocate?”