Floyd Roland

Mr. Speaker, with all the questioning and answering on the process for quite a number of years, I thought the members of the public had had enough. The project is in place, construction is happening, trucks are moving, loaders are working, and people are being paid to go to work.

There is also the amount of the discussion we had, as was made by Member Bromley, that the Budget Address.... I guess I could have been here for a lot longer going into much more detail about all the specifics. The fact is, when you take O&M and our capital expenditures, it’s almost $1.3 billion of expenditures. We...

Mr. Speaker, we’ll be willing to look at it. Within the cost-of-living strategic initiatives there are a whole number of areas, and we definitely have to look at how we impact the lives of people in the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, as I have committed to, as we begin our normal business planning process, that input, that back and forth is going to happen. It needs to happen as we proceed. We’ll present that, hear back, and go back and forth on that as we get back into our normal cycle. Not a first-year budget after an election. We’re ready to sit down on that basis.

As well, I’ve sat down with the Ministers to say that we need to get the committees on these initiatives. When the Building Canada Fund package was brought forward, recommendations were made. We looked at some of those changes, and we reacted to...

Mr. Speaker, the area of fuel prices in the Northwest Territories is impacting across the territory, especially in our more remote communities.

The factor of the free market plays a significant role in the larger communities, where private businesses bring the product in and sell it to consumers. We’ve looked at other jurisdictions where they’ve had what would be considered moderate as a potential price control.

The fact is that when you look at the other pieces of legislation out there, it’s not very clear, and it’s not necessarily price control. There may be a delayed impact, but there’s still...

Let’s look at the facts. The record would speak for itself. The Members of this Assembly, and the Member himself, has talked about the fact that the government has grown substantially. It has grown too big. We can pull that out of Hansard. When we target these areas for reduction, and there’s unfortunately some impact there on individuals in jobs and positions, now it’s “Don’t do it.” And if you’re going to have to do it, notify them early. So we did that, but we did it wrong, so — no good. I don’t know what environment I’m in.

We’ve listened to Members. The Member himself raised the issue of a...

I give notice that on Monday, May 26, 2008, I will move that Bill 8, Appropriation Act, 2008–2009, be read for the first time.

Mr. Speaker, what we’ve done in the strategic initiatives is work from the goals and the visions and priorities set by this Legislative Assembly. We can align those and show what area is used in an important piece of investment. Early childhood: is that an investment we should make? Are the Members trying to say that’s not an area? The increased investment we’re putting into health care and social services in the Northwest Territories: is that something we shouldn’t invest in? We can align those with the vision and goals.

Now, some of the strategic initiatives, yes, have been driven by a number...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document entitled Main Estimates 2008–2009, Volumes 1 and 2.

Document 37-16(2), Main Estimates 2008–2009, Volumes 1 and 2, tabled.

One thing I’ve said to all the Ministers who have lead roles on these initiatives is to make contact with standing committees to set up some times to do the presentations and briefings of information we have so we can get some feedback and further work on a number of scenarios. That’s going to be something we’ll need to work out between committees and Cabinet as well.

Mr. Speaker, that issue has come up. I’ve also asked some questions about that and about looking at, as a government, our interpretation of our obligations under our contracts, with the unions as well. Sometimes it’s just our direct interpretation of things. There are a number of cases where there are staff who work in the same area within the same department where one position was targeted; three positions became potentially affected. So we’ve got to look at that.

Again, this scenario has played out in a way where we definitely don’t want to be using the same processes and where we get a clear...