Daryl Dolynny

From the findings we received today here from the Minister for the ’13-14 fiscal year, can the Minister indicate what was the breakdown of the amount of the additional assessment of dollars recovered for both tobacco and fuel tax?

Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Continuing on with general comments, I have Mr. Bouchard.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Here is the bill of goods. According to public documents, DOT clearly knew the potential for arsenic-rich hotspots with the Queen’s report for the Highway No. 4 bypass and yet they did not do any baseline sampling. Why? Who knows?

Can the Minister clearly articulate what real precautions took place with this road construction and what is this government’s liability to the arsenic exposure to these contractors? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. We have a little bit of time left on the clock. Mr. Moses. Thank you. Moving on with general comments, I have Ms. Bisaro.

Mr. Speaker, the second report I tabled was an April 16, 2014, Giant Mine Working Group Public Report. On page 3, “Erika Nyyssonen (GNWT-ENR) noted that DOT, at the time, had been made aware of the Queens Soils results, and their vicinity to the highway realignment activities.”

Clearly, the department was aware of the province of arsenic in the area. So, can the Minister indicate to the House, why there was no baseline soil sampling for the potential of arsenic done by DOT before the construction of the Highway No. 4 bypass? Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Next on my list I have Mr. Moses for general comments.

We fail to look at the complete picture of the state of this government’s debt load and must not only consider direct debt but also debt guarantees, contingent liabilities, contractual commitments and unplanned program obligations. Sadly, while most jurisdictions in North America are looking at ways of debt reduction or enacting laws for expenditure, this administration has been doing the exact opposite and is spending each and every one of us into a corner. The people deserve answers.

So, with the Finance Minister’s budget dialogues coming to a community near you, I challenge the people of the...

Thank you. I do concur with the Minister. It’s always exciting news to hear that a project is going ahead of schedule, but I want to zone in a little bit on what was just said. The Minister mentions that money is spent for work done, and quite frankly, I think Members on this side of the House were led to believe that not all the work was done last season for various reasons, but again, this was the first year the group was building a road in a very trying environment, but there wasn’t all those milestones being met. So the work was not completely done so there would have been money lapsed...

Thank you, committee. With that, I will ask Ms. Bisaro what is the wish of committee.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the Minister bringing forward the capital estimates for 2015-2016. Of course, I want to keep my comments as general as I can. I will base my dialogue on the presentation that I just had here.