Michael Miltenberger

We’re turning our attention here as we conclude the capital plan, of course, to planning and being involved in the transition process to identify issues and challenges. As part of that, there will be a proposed legislative agenda, so we are prepared to look at policies that are outdated. We’ve agreed to renew, for example, legislation that we adopted as mirror legislation as part of devolution. This policy, and I agree with the Member, it’s time for it to be looked at and, as he has indicated, formalized in a much more big P way.

The final harvest decisions on an interim basis will be done before the middle of October. We are in discussions now with all the impacted and affected Aboriginal governments, programs and boards, our Department of ENR. So that will be done.

In the longer term, we are hoping to get the Bluenose-East Management Plan up and running finally. I believe now that the conditions are right, where we can get the attention and interest of all affected parties to gather around the table to work on an ongoing, longer-term plan on the Bathurst herd, which is in the most dire straits. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

That issue came up during the Jay pipe hearings. The issue of cumulative impact was a directly contributable effect in terms of fatalities on a regular basis. It’s one that has not been clearly defined. There have been changes made as issues have been raised in terms of the road access, how the road is used, how the traffic flows, the ability of the herd to cross the road. So, there is continuing work as we look at that particular issue. Thank you.

Forecasters are already looking at large-scale global weather models and into forecasts for next year. Forecasters are predicting an El Nino winter, warm with limited precipitation which, depending on the actual outcome, may affect our water levels for next season. It seems that the drought through the NWT will continue.

As such, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, or ENR, will continue to be proactive and ready itself for the next fire season. A debrief of this year’s lesson learned will take place in the fall and public meetings will take place over the winter.

The rollout of...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In regards to the red flag lists, what has happened, the amount of money in the capital plan is varied and we went, most recently, from one hundred and twenty-five back down to seventy-five, which meant that things on the list had to be re-prioritized. You can only do a certain number with $75 million, which is a very small amount of money when you have an overall budget of $1.8 billion and we do have input throughout this process with Regular Members and one of the things where we could point to is the ratio over the money for the Build Canada Plan was switched to put a...

Mr. Speaker, I want to take this opportunity to update Members on our fiscal situation and the challenges that Members of the next Assembly will be facing.

As the 2014-2015 interim Public Accounts that I will table later this session will show, we have achieved our fourth consecutive surplus last year, totalling $120 million. Our departments were diligent in keeping expenditures within budgeted levels. However, this is not enough. The public accounts will also show that our net debt has increased $37 million. This means we continue to rely on short-term debt to pay for our capital expenditures...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’ll respond to some. On the Tsiigehtchic Health Centre, we’ll take note of the Member’s concern suggesting that it be replaced as opposed to repaired.

The issue of housing and building more units, of course, is one that we’re going to struggle with as we put more money in, but a lot of that is going to be eaten up by the cutbacks of CMHC. That’s on the list. We hear that from every community.

I’m going to ask, Mr. Chairman, if Mr. Guy can talk to the Moose Kerr School, and I’ll ask Mr. Neudorf if he could touch on the transportation issues tied to the Tsiigehtchic...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have with me Russ Neudorf, deputy minister of Transportation; Paul Guy, deputy minister of Public Works and Services; and Sandy Kalgutkar, deputy secretary to the FMB. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following two documents, entitled “2014-2015 61st Annual Report: Northwest Territories Liquor Commission” and “2014-2015 61st Annual Report: Northwest Territories Liquor Licensing Board and Liquor Enforcement.” Thank you.

The type of elevation and evolution of the current policy is one where we’re open to discussion. The issue of a piece of legislation versus a formalized policy, there are distinct differences and probably merits to each approach and we’re prepared to have that discussion.