David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As a government we’re spending hundreds of thousands of dollars by the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, and I thank him for the initiatives that the government’s started on trying to attract and retain people here in the Northwest Territories. The government knows how important it is to have people stay here in the Northwest Territories. Like I said earlier, it’s $22,000 per person.

I’d like to ask the Minister again, I didn’t really hear it, she said there are no losers. When there are winners there are losers. Can the Minister stand up in this House today...

The Minister knows full well, she’s the chair of the Strategic Initiatives Committee on the Cost of Living. She knows full well that it’s not a fair comparison to compare the cost of living here in the Northwest Territories to that of southern jurisdictions where, I might add, many people choose to retire in the South. Somebody has to protect the social fabric of our communities and keep families together and keep seniors in the North. I’d like to again ask the Minister how come a survey hasn’t been conducted with the seniors in the Northwest Territories to ask them if proposed changes to the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to join a number of my colleagues today in speaking about the proposed changes to supplementary health benefits. The Minister is very quick to say there will be winners in these proposed changes. There will be, Mr. Speaker, but when someone wins, someone else is bound to lose. If the department and the government want to truly live up to the statement that all families should have fair and equal access to Government of the Northwest Territories funded programs and assist with the cost of uninsured health services, then they are going to have to fully...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

WHEREAS Members of this and previous Assemblies have expressed numerous concerns about the economic viability of the Deh Cho Bridge Project and the far-reaching impacts of this project on the financial well-being of the Northwest Territories;

AND WHEREAS the Deh Cho Bridge Project has been described as a public/private partnership between the Government of the Northwest Territories, the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation and a private builder;

AND WHEREAS the fundamental features of this partnership, including the long-term liabilities and obligations of the Government of the...

There certainly are some parallels here between the government’s participation with the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation and Deze Energy Corporation. We backstopped the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation in the early stages, to the tune of almost $10 million. I’d like to ask the Premier how much investment the Government of the Northwest Territories, through the Power Corporation and the Hydro Corporation, have invested in Deze Energy. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to join my colleagues in asking the Premier some questions on the Taltson Hydroelectric Expansion Project and the government’s involvement with Deze Energy Corp. First of all, I think the question that I’d like to ask the Premier, and I know a number of folks across the Northwest Territories watch the proceedings of the House, I’d like to ask the Premier if he could explain to the public and to the Members of this House exactly how the $700 million or the estimated cost of the expansion and the transmission line is going to be paid for. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to join in on voicing my concern over how the government is handling the Taltson Hydroelectric Expansion Project. Mr. Speaker, this government is currently in the middle of dealing with the $181 million Deh Cho Bridge saga. I would like to think that somewhere along the line Cabinet has learned some valuable lessons when it comes to letting others do our bidding for us we end up holding the bag.

Mr. Speaker, it is little doubt that our participation in the bridge project was ill conceived and it will go down in history as being one of the biggest...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First off I’d like to thank all the Members that have stood up and indicated they will support the motion that we have before us today.

Just to a few of the comments I heard, yes, the Auditor General was too busy to look into the process that allowed the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation and the relationship between the Government of the Northwest Territories and the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation. That was a few years back. We all know much has changed in that time. For example, the contractor of record, ATCON Construction, of which we had a $165 million negotiated contract, is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This motion that comes before us today I believe is very timely. I’ve often stood up in this House and asked for some responsibility and accountability when it comes to this project. I’ve questioned this project since becoming a Member of this House back in 2001.

The deal, and I won’t give a long history lesson here as we talked at length yesterday about this project, but it was signed off three days prior to the last territorial election. This project did make some sense at one point in time when the project in its entirety was self-financing. That wasn’t the case when...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, considering we have a substantial investment of public funds in Deze, I’m just wondering how we account or how we provide oversight as a government to the work of Deze Energy. I’ve been a Member here since 2003 and we’ve talked about power purchase agreements in this House for years and there still aren’t any bankable power purchase agreements that the corporation, the Hydro Corporation, the Power Corp and Deze have entered into with any mine. I’m just wondering, again, when can we expect any movement on power purchase agreements, because it is taking an...