David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don’t believe any Minister or northern Premier can thwart the free speech and a privilege that we have here as Members of this House. I would like to ask the Premier if he could find out who made that decision and why it was made. If we are going to be censored and there is going to be a gatekeeper on press releases that committees make, we should know about that, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The last government had a history of avoidance and not including Regular Members in the decision-making process. I’d like to ask the Premier how is this government going to be different and how are they going to engage Regular Members in the decision-making process so that consensus government and the spirit and intent of consensus government is not continually eroded? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That was quite a lengthy answer for a yes or no question. Again, I’d like to ask the Premier what…Okay, first I’m going to ask him again: Is there a list of priority projects for the Building Canada Fund? Yes or no.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On this list, is there a regional balance in terms of projects that’s going to the federal government? Can the Minister comment on that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess that wasn’t the answer to the question that I was looking for. Again, I’d like to ask the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs what is on the list and how did the government arrive at making those items that are on that list a priority? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to discuss an issue that I spoke of on Wednesday, November 28th, in which I was questioning the Minister of Transportation on the Building Canada Fund. During the last federal budget, an announcement was made of a $33 billion infrastructure plan known as the Building Canada Fund. The Government of the Northwest Territories will certainly be able to subscribe to this fund over the coming years and will need to start identifying projects that qualify for this federal funding.

As returning Members will know, I have stood up in this House numerous times over...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I won’t take up too much more time. I just wanted to say I really enjoyed listening to my colleagues speak about the sessional statement and what their priorities are for this government and the coming four years. There are a few other issues that I just wanted to touch on that I believe this government has to pay attention to. The first one is the migrant worker issue. We’ve got over 3,000 migrant workers in the Northwest Territories that take with them over $300 million out of our territory every year, annually, and $300 million is a lot of money that circulated...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to welcome you, Mr. Chairman, to your role as chair of Committee of the Whole. Speaking to the Premier’s sessional statement, I’ve got a number of areas that I wanted to cover. First and foremost, I’m very happy to be back here and happy to be back in my role as a Regular Member of this House. I’m also looking forward to my role as the chair of the Economic Development and Infrastructure committee and the role that I’ll play in hopefully steering the decisions of the government.

I think, for me, and a lot of folks have worked with me in the past, my...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I agree with the Minister; things like this are an important function of government. We should be reaching out and doing what we can for businesses and the tourism sector in the Northwest Territories to expand business opportunities. What I would like to ask is, who is writing the report and are we paying for the report to be produced? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, sources I have outside of this building would indicate that the Kam Lake bypass road, the Yellowknife bypass road is not on a list. It is not on that Building Canada list. So I take issue with the Minister not saying that. There are competing priorities; yes, there are. That is a priority here in the city of Yellowknife. It belongs on that list. It is not on the list. I want to know why it is not on that list, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.