David Ramsay

Page 11, Environment and Natural Resources, operations expenditures, special warrants, forest management, $1.980 million.

Clause 7.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Premier. I want to say the Minister responsible for the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation, which would be the Minister of Transportation, but for my arguments today and my questions, I would like to ask the Premier. Getting back to my Member’s statement earlier, nowhere in the Deh Cho Bridge Act does it say that a bridge across the Mackenzie River should be built at any price. What the Deh Cho Bridge Act does is give the government the ability to negotiate, on behalf of the residents of the Northwest Territories, an agreement....

Thank you, Minister Roland. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will be quick on this. Like Mr. Hawkins says, in the absence of information, it’s so difficult to make a decision. I have constituents who are interested in the tourism and industry side of this. I really don’t know what I am turning down if I vote in favour or the motion and turn down $100,000 and the trade mission gets scuttled. I have no idea what I am turning down. It’s not fair to us, as decision-makers, to put us in a position where we have to turn something down not knowing all the details.

So, Mr. Chairman, I don’t know. This is an interesting one, but I am...

Clause 5.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise to speak again today about the Deh Cho Bridge project. In May, Members passed a motion in this House to come clean on what the costs and benefits would be for the proposed Deh Cho Bridge. Mr. Speaker, we had a briefing in July behind closed doors and as protocol would dictate, I can’t publicly discuss what things I learned at this meeting. Mr. Speaker, the fact is, there was nothing new. The public still doesn’t know what the impact is going to be and all we know is that the Deh Cho Bridge project is going ahead. The Premier and government have been quite...

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Minister Roland.

I forgot, Mr. Chairman, how fast government moves. I’m sorry. Pardon me, but something like this you would think would be fairly straightforward, it would be easy to get. They probably already have an itinerary, they know who they’ve talked to, they know who the meetings are with, who invited them, who’s going. Just give us that information. That’s not too much to ask. Three days is a long time to me, Mr. Chairman, to be able to get that information. What are we expected to do, just say it's okay? We don’t have any information, but they promised us some and, yes, it’s okay. It just...

Clause 3.