Floyd Roland

Mr. Speaker, the area of climate change, as the Member stated, is one that we had a discussion on, driven by the Council of the Federation of Ministers and Premiers. The Premier of British Columbia had hosted that climate change conference. We made a presentation on climate adaptation for the Northwest Territories. As the Member pointed out in his Member’s statement, we are feeling front and centre — although last week we seemed to be back into the days of cold weather in the North.

We have put forward a position that the country needs to recognize as we’re front line on the changes that are...

Mr. Speaker, along with the fiscal environment we find ourselves in, we also need to look at revenue options. As I stated earlier, we are looking at a number of those options. A carbon tax is one of those on a list that we would have to come back to this Assembly with to see if there’s support for bringing something like that forward.

We have done a number of things. Past governments have, for example, replaced old appliances with more efficient appliances, the way we build our homes, the construction techniques that we use for public infrastructure, as well as some of our own transportation infrastructure. Mr. Speaker, I use the example of mitigating the impact of permafrost. We are putting SM insulation underneath tarmac in a number of our facilities across the North. We are trying to take those types of steps.

Other factors, Mr. Speaker: we have even initiated some work to be undertaken by Ministers within this government...

No, Mr. Chairman, I’ll deal with it from here.

Mr. Speaker, the contingency is part of the overall construction contract, and that would be through the loan the Bridge Corporation would be getting.

I haven’t been a party to any discussions on guaranteeing a loan beyond the $9 million guarantee we have in place. There is, however, a commitment, as the Members know, that above and beyond the operational money that goes into the ferry and ice crossing, the government did commit another $2 million a year so the tolls could remain acceptable and within the limits established in the Act.

Mr. Speaker, this agreement that has to be worked out has two levels of negotiations that need to be done. One is a framework agreement; following that a funding agreement. In the very near future they’ll be able to sign the framework agreement, and we’ll have an idea following that on the funding arrangement that will flow from that agreement.

Mr. Speaker, we have been working with the federal government on a very similar plan to what the Nunavut government has just announced. It’s a combination of the Building Canada Fund and the municipal gas tax rebate that’s going to communities. We’ve been negotiating, and we’ll be signing an agreement in the very near future as well.

Mr. Chairman, I could save my comments ’til Members have had a chance to speak to this, and then I can wrap up at the end — if that’s okay with the Members.

As the Member highlighted in her Member’s statement, the concession agreement talked about a maximum of $5 million equity. The Bridge Corporation could have come in lower than that, and we could have, in fact, as a government, looked at it if they had a dollar value. Of course, that would severely affect their rate of return. But there was a maximum — not a minimum — set, as the Member stated.