Floyd Roland

I thank Ms. Bisaro for that question. The fact is that it is targeted for a two-year time frame. There is a portion of it that we are looking to reinvest back into those priorities we set as the 15th Legislative Assembly. As we’ve found out, I guess one could say, from past practice, even though we may target for a two-year window, some of the actual results may not prove themselves up for even the time beyond that. But the target is that we have a two-year window to operate in to try to find enough savings as well as the reinvestment portion.

This project has definitely spanned a number of governments. And the processes that were established…. As I am aware, the bridge corporation is looking at doing a public information process in the very near future. I think this may be an opportunity to have a discussion with them to see how much information they would be able to provide and respond to that area and go forward on that basis. As the Government of the Northwest Territories, there is an impact, as I stated, on the amount of equity that's put forward and the rate of return that would go back to the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation.

I have...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would have to agree with the Member on putting more resources where programs are working. As an Assembly, we are going to have to go through the exercise of coming up with some of those key priorities and then try to find the funding to put into those areas, but we are going to have to look at how we do that. There are going to be challenges across the board. We are going to have to reallocate internally, as well. We need to have that discussion. As I committed, we will do that through our business planning process. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, let’s be clear here. The message has gone out, the public’s aware of it. So what censorship happened? The question was asked when this was sent, is this the appropriate avenue to be using this Messenger service that’s available to just GNWT employees? It’s not available to anybody else out there unless you’re a Government of the Northwest Territories employee and you can tap into this. We do have a policy in that area and I’d be prepared to share that with Members and see where that goes. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we will do our job to try to get to every community in the Northwest Territories, and I am prepared to meet with the Member and his community on this issue. It has been a longstanding one. We have arranged, for example, transportation at times if the Housing Corporation or a number of departments have projects. They arrange for a larger source. At times the winter road is built into that area and gravel hauled out. As a government, we are going to have a discussion on the overall package of what we bring forward and those initiatives and priorities....

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I understand this did go out yesterday. It may be on the Legislative Assembly website. Is the question it didn’t go out through the Messenger which goes to every employee’s e-mail? Is that the question? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the lead Minister on the Building Canada Fund has prepared the information for Members and had discussions with them, we’re going to work with our existing arrangement that we have in place. For example, right now the federal government is looking for an announcement, an assignment of a framework that would highlight the first project or two that we’d be prepared to move on, meeting their criteria. We would then, because the money is a seven-year funding agreement, sit down with Members and, as highlighted, we’re intending to go forward with an...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is referencing leveraged areas. Is that debt that we would have on our books through a number of other corporations? We put all of our information together that would impact our fiscal framework. We will put all of the pieces together and be prepared to share that with Members. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What we’ve done to date is work with the federal government on a framework agreement, as Minister McLeod has stated, and working with their criteria, requested departments to look at the plans that we have in place -- that is the 2007-2008 infrastructure plan -- and see what we can work with in looking at our existing financial situation. It has a role in that. We’ve done that work and we’re prepared to work with the federal government in coming up with a couple of key initiatives early on and then work through our normal business planning process. So is there a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we could work at putting that together. That shouldn’t be a problem. One of the things I think we need to look at as an Assembly before we look at a number of situations, I hope that we would set our priorities first and then look at the fiscal environment that we would have to operate in and take those steps. If we go down a path that becomes strictly about numbers, we may not look at opportunities for restructuring or refocusing of how we operate as a government. Thank you.