Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Tomorrow never comes, they say. But in the area of the work and evaluation and keeping a check on the impacts within the GNWT, it's full cost recovery and it’s adjusted on a very regular basis to ensure that we are getting everything from the government facilities that are out there that are using the service.

On the community side, for supply of fuel to the community, individuals, that would be done regularly, but one of the things we do is look at the stabilization fund. Once we start to see it creep up in that area, we would make a decision as to whether we would...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, of the 70 positions, 45 are not identified as Hay River. Mrs. Groenewegen is obviously including the casual positions into that equation. What we have counted as 70 positions are full-time positions. Either they have persons working there or vacant positions. In our numbers it is approximately 27 that Hay River is losing out of this scenario.

While I won’t go into what discussions Ministers had around the table, the scenarios that were brought forward by each Minister and the department were discussed. Concerns were raised either requesting the...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, again in the example the Member has brought up around the school and its facilities, when it comes to washrooms and the water facilities, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment would have to establish the project. The work that would be required to either renovate the existing facility or once they’ve identified what work needs to be done, we would become involved in doing a bit of the feasibility work where is it worth renovating or is it time to get into a new facility. Once that work is done and goes through the capital planning process...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The vision adopted by the Assembly last May begins with the word self-reliant. The vision that leads off the Northern Strategy framework uses this phrase in its first sentence. Self-reliance means that we look to ourselves first to tackle our challenges and to improve our lives and our communities. If the NWT is truly to achieve our vision of self-reliance for individuals, families, communities and as a territory, we need the right tools and we need the resources.

There is much work to be done. With adequate financial resources, our job will be made easier and our...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that facility is one that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment uses to deliver its programs in that community and region. What was done and undertaken was a review through the fire marshal’s office and, on that recommendation, we’ve moved in this area. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we can’t commit to continue using the facility unless we get the okay from the fire marshal’s office. So with the fire marshal’s recommendation, the facility can’t be used beyond 2006. That’s why we’ve undertaken this next step, working with Education, Culture and Employment, and we can look at the reports to see what options might be out there. But with the preliminary work that has been done, this avenue was chosen because it’s the most cost-effective way to move. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the initial work was done as far back as about 2002, when the fire marshal was looking at that facility. There is a meeting coming up on Monday, between Public Works and Services and Education, Culture and Employment, to review what the necessary steps will have to be. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, based on the recommendations we received and the code upgrades that have been required, we’d have to do a cost-benefit analysis. That’s why the direction has been, at this point, to look at relocating, and that’s what the meeting is going to be about; to see what needs to be done to make sure that the department can continue to operate in the community and in the region.

With respect to the facility ongoing, again, we haven’t identified the cost of doing a total upgrade on that to see if it is a usable space. The government’s initial move, looking at the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think we again, as a government, can demonstrate the fact that it is across the board and the cost of living impacts on the health of residents. There are a number of factors that we’ve looked at, as a government, in trying to wrestle with the shortage of housing across the Northwest Territories, and the Housing Corporation has undergone an initiative to try to bridge that gap to a certain degree. Members of this House have put a motion on the floor to decrease the core need, and all of that requires much more money than we have right now, and we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think the government can demonstrate, on many fronts, that we’re interested in keeping the cost of living down through many of our subsidy programs. So this would be another one that we’d look at. I guess the big feature of this would be the fact that as we look at programs, is what the cost would be on the revenues of the government. Thank you.