David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am going to speak today about the future of our government’s operations. I have spoken previously in this House about the GNWT’s lack of a comprehensive human resource plan or strategy. I believe strongly that, as a government, we need to address the growth and direction of our public service. For the past four years, I have witnessed a steady stream of knee-jerk reactions and ill-conceived position growth. Sure, we are expanding our workforce in the area of health care, teachers and social workers, but that does not explain the growth over a seven-year period of...

Before any agreement is entered into, please let the Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories know what you are doing. Mahsi.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The motion is to report progress. The motion is not debatable. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

Thank you, committee. I will now rise and report progress. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, if I could, some of my colleagues seem to think money does grow on trees here in the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, it doesn’t. We have scarce resources. The Premier negotiates a new formula financing agreement and the first thing he does is run out and try to find a project to spend $2 million plus a year on. How is that being fiscally responsible? I stand here before my colleagues and I am trying my best and I ran on a platform of being fiscally responsible and it means something to me. It does. I am not going to give carte blanche to a project where I don’t know what the...

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

Thank you, committee. Does the committee agree that consideration of Committee Report 3-15(6) is concluded?

Okay, well hey. Some Members are saying we need a bridge, but nobody in government has proven that if we build a bridge, the cost of living is going to go down. My main concern, Mr. Speaker, from my constituents, the city of Yellowknife, the Tlicho communities and the Akaitcho communities, is that the cost of living by building this bridge is going to go up. If you think otherwise, I think you are fooling yourselves, Mr. Speaker. That is the main thing.

---Interjection

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank my colleagues for their support, those that are willing to support the motion. Mr. Speaker, in closing, I will try to keep this brief, but the project has changed and some Members in their arguments are jumping to the fact that this project was discussed. It was discussed four years ago in committee meetings. I attended these committee meetings as a city councillor. That was four years ago, Mr. Speaker. Information has changed. The project has gone from $70 million to $130 million plus.

The other thing that has changed, Mr. Speaker, if I...

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. McLeod.

It was odd and it left a lot of questions unanswered. Mr. Speaker, I can appreciate, I really do appreciate the fact that the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation is in negotiations. Those numbers, those details are secret right now. But what this motion does, Mr. Speaker, is it asks the government, before they enter into any agreement that's going to bind the next government and every government for 35 years after that to spending public funds, it should come back here, it should show us what the potential impact is on the cost of living in Yellowknife, the Tlicho communities and the Akaitcho...