Bob McLeod

We are consulting with the people of the Northwest Territories, and I can send the schedule of all of the consultations to the Member. I have offered and written to committee offering a briefing. I expect that there will be briefings on it. The request was for a written briefing earlier. We provided that. We are also offering a briefing. The Government of Canada, the first question that we raised was we didn't want it to affect our formula financing. That was one of our conditions for signing on. They reassured us it would not impact us on formula financing. Certainly, they also confirmed that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's interesting. The Member and the “MLA for centralization” were talking about higher carbon taxes. We didn't change our position. We weren't just going to roll over and let the federal government impose carbon pricing willynilly. We're here to look after the best interests of the people of the Northwest Territories, so we felt that we negotiated a better position for our territory when it comes to carbon taxes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the fact that the majority of our healthcare funding is provided for through a formula financing arrangement will allow us to have enough money so we don't have to resort to program funding.

On the money from the Healthcare Act, which is on a per capita basis, because of the fact that it's reduced, it went from 6 per cent to 3 per cent. Obviously, that will have some implications but, on a per capita basis, the difference is a little over a million dollars. The targeted funding for home care and for mental health is on a per capita basis, and it's close to...

I should ask the Member if he could tell me how much money we're receiving so that -- how he came to that conclusion.

Maybe I'll just tell him, so he'll know that we are spending $445 million on healthcare. We are receiving, on a per capita basis, funding through the Canadian Health Act. Per capita, we are receiving about $40 million, and the federal government offered targeted funding. Over 10 years the percentage increase on the per capita Canadian healthcare funding was 6 per cent, and it was going to drop to 3 per cent. We had a program called THIF which helped with medical travel. It...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess I will have to clarify what actually happened at the consultation. I was hearing that those who attended from Yellowknife were supportive of a carbon tax, and similarly in Fort Smith. I will have to clarify what exactly came out at those meetings. As I have said, we have written to committee and offered a briefing. At that time, I see it as a start of developing. We will have the results of the consultations by that time.

The Government of Canada has indicated that their federal budget will be out early in February, so I expect probably within the next week or so...

Our government is doing some significant research, looking at the various carbon pricing mechanisms that have been imposed by or have been proposed by the federal government. We are looking to see what kind of models are out there. We are doing modelling to see how it could work. As I've said many times in this House, we have gone out to consult with the people of the Northwest Territories with regard to a new climate change strategy, a new energy strategy. If the Member would prefer to have us impose one on the people of the Northwest Territories, from his Member's statement, that appeared to...

I'm not at liberty to disclose that information; obviously, the Government of Canada is still negotiating with many provinces. The three territories felt that what was offered in a very short period of time for which to respond was sufficient to allow us to accept the deal going forward and felt that as a government, as the three northern territories, we were very diligent in finding ways to become more efficient and effective in delivering our healthcare and consequently we were penalized because we were told, well, you're only spending this much money. I'm not at liberty to disclose the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm pleased to report that we are already doing that. Inuvik holds a renewable energy technology conference on an annual basis, and it's scheduled for the middle of June. Members are welcome to attend. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm pleased to report that our attendance at Mineral Roundup in Vancouver was money very well spent. Our sister territory, Yukon government, was also there in full force with their whole Cabinet and their opposition parties as well promoting mining. The whole government has a stake in the success of mining. A strong mining sector also means revenues for the Government of the Northwest Territories' social programs and other services. Aboriginal government representatives that were there had some very specific questions in the areas of housing, education, and health, and...

This government is committed to economic diversification. Cabinet recently participated at the mineral exploration conference in Vancouver to promote opportunities for exploration and mining. During the last government there was a focus on promoting the Asian tourism market, and we continue to see positive results with an increase of 20,000 tourists from 2011 to 2016. The completion of the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway in 2017 will be a milestone in the Northwest Territories helping to connect communities support a resilient transportation system in the face of climate change and capture...