Michael Miltenberger

If I can use a military term: we are going to be all hands on deck for when the Water Strategy is tabled in this House. We’ve got things underway to make sure that we are at the tables. The bilateral negotiations, I think, are very critical and will give us the vehicle and the opportunity to make the concern about the impact. I would suggest, in fact, that the natural flow of the Peace ceased to really exist when the Bennett Dam went in and the Peace-Athabasca Delta, for the most part, was dramatically impacted and it’s never really recovered. We want to deal with integrated watershed...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following two documents entitled Supplementary Estimates No. 1, 2010-2011 (Operations Expenditures) and “Supplementary Estimates No. 3, 2010-2011 (Infrastructure Expenditures).

Mr. Speaker, the Water Strategy looks at the whole hydrological cycle, our water concerns in the Northwest Territories, our water concerns within the Mackenzie River Basin Watershed. It’s been achieved through extensive consultation and involvement with the aboriginal governments. It lays out all the elements that we want to make sure we have addressed when we talk about water issues, be it development in the Northwest Territories or dealing with transboundary issues. It’s going to be an absolutely critical piece of work, which is why we have invested so much time and money, to give us that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re aware of the proposed Site C project. The work has been underway for, actually, a number of years and they’re moving through their environmental process. We have been registered on their list of concerned parties. I agree with the Member that there are things we have to pay close attention to. We have a call scheduled with the Minister from B.C., the Environment Minister, to discuss some of the concerns. For example, there are a lot of downstream issues.

For us, as a jurisdiction, we have yet to conclude our bilateral agreement with B.C. under the Mackenzie River...

Mr. Speaker, I believe that this is a topic that is before Caucus. As we look at gathering in August, an opportunity to come to an agreement as a Legislature on any related issues would be the appropriate venue. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Floyd Roland will be absent from the House today and tomorrow to attend the Northern Premiers’ Conference in Whitehorse. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, The Government of the Northwest Territories has responsibility that covers 360 degrees of the compass. We have to allocate money. We have legal responsibilities, mandated responsibilities. We have responsibilities that are there by choice and by need. Our challenge is going to be, as we do for every business planning process, to make those choices. There is discussion in the House that the Member for Kam Lake pointed out. We have many challenges ahead of us, unmet needs, pressures to contain our costs and control our expenditures at the same time, trying to look at revenues but...

Mr. Speaker, we’re going to be challenged with our core services, like the Member has talked about, the basic medical services in communities. We’re going to be challenged with supplementary health. What we are trying to do is reprofile some finding. We are looking at putting in on a supplementary program some income testing to assist us to do that to control the costs, to be able to provide the service to all Northerners, including the working poor that currently aren’t included. At the same time, recognizing, as we look in our budgets and we look at our strategic initiatives and the work in...

Clearly we’ve engaged fully in this process with the Regular Members and this Legislature has gathered around the table as Caucus and we will continue to do that through the life of this Assembly and we’ll be looking to sort out and agree on those particular issues that will be binding on us all.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We, I believe, commenced similar related discussions when we all gathered at Blachford. That issue was discussed and the recognition that the June session, 2011, probably will be the last substantive session of this government, of this Assembly and the recognition of the period that the Member talks about. Those discussions, I believe, have already been broached. Thank you.