Daryl Dolynny

Thank you, Mr. Moses. I’d like to turn our attention to Minister Abernethy if he has any witnesses he’d like to bring into the House. Minister Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Back in 1996-97 Main Estimates the government said publicly about the Yellowknife Airport, “The department will explore, for the privatization of regulations, pursue privatization opportunities.” According to my research, it never happened. In 2002 the government is quoted in the Yellowknife Airport governance review, “We also suggested option seven, private sector third party, is not a practical option or alternative.” Again very little rationale was offered. In 2003 in a Yellowknife Airport Stakeholders Panel report to the Minister the quote was: “goal: to explore the...

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Does committee agree?

I will call committee back to order. As I indicated prior to the break, we will be doing Bill 38 and Bill 41 today. With that, I’d like to go to the Minister responsible for the bill, or at least pinch hitting for the bill today, Mr. Abernethy, to see if he has any opening comments on Bill 38. Minister Abernethy.

I’ll leave that question as is. I’m still a bit perplexed doing the math. Given the vacancy rate that we have, the number of positions we have and still, at the end of the day, it appears that there’s money being tied up into vacant, unfilled positions to which, I believe, would have a huge benefit of accessibility should that money be profiled, or re-profiled for cases such as this where we need short-term money, especially near the end of the year when we’re really hitting the odometer reset in less than a month for April 1st. So again, it’s an accounting exercise of large proportion, but I...

Thank you, committee. Does committee agree that consideration of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources is completed?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to start off by saying to my colleagues, what legacy do you want to be remembered by? Of course, we have collectively, as an Assembly, started off this 17th Assembly with some very harmonious and ambitious tasks, projects and objectives. I’m extremely proud to be part of this legacy and I hope that the history will see the 17th as being remembered for the good that it’s brought to the people it serves.

So why do I find myself perplexed at Bill 43, a simple act that amends our borrowing authorization? Clearly, this House has debated much larger topics and those...

Thank you, Ms. Craig. Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister McLeod.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to continue my questions regarding looking at every possibility of re-profiling some of the money that is currently in our departments. Can the department indicate to me, when I use the term “vacant, unfilled positions,” these are jobs that we’ve put money aside for. These are jobs where the government has said, you know what, thank you very much for allowing us to fill these positions. We’re going to set aside money for these positions and these are vacant, unfilled positions.

Can the department indicate to us what happens to that money during the course of...