Michael Miltenberger

We’d be pleased to sit down with the Member and any of the leaders from his constituency, from the communities, to talk about some of the pressing issues that may be out there. We recognize there are resource development initiatives throughout the area and we’d be happy to come to a table to have that discussion. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don’t believe there are any regulatory impediments. The big impediment would be just access to sufficient resources. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we’d be happy to have the initial discussions and we’d be more than willing to look to map out exactly the role of these positions and what they would do and the impact and the possible need in other parts of the Territory with an eye towards seeing what could be possible by the next business planning process. Thank you.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, we’ve exerted our political and moral authority for sure on the water. We’ve spent a significant amount of money with the Water Strategy. We are looking at a land use framework. We are very concerned with environmental protection on an ongoing basis as it comes to contaminated sites and in those types of areas. So we have a very clear and vested interest in those areas. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, reducing our consumption, reusing materials and recycling waste products are ways that we can all help reduce our impact on the environment. When we do this, we use fewer natural resources and less energy, which reduces greenhouse gas emissions and saves money.

Given the opportunity, NWT residents willingly reduce consumption and participate in recycling programs. This is evident in our highly successful Beverage Container Program, with over 100 million

containers returned to date. While we have had some successes, residents are looking to the Government of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to refer as well to some principles, building principles, that were approved by Caucus, Caucus at Blatchford Lake and released to the public where we talk about effective communication as a double-edged sword. For consensus government to work, all Members must agree to respect the confidentiality of information before it is properly made public. Similarly, Members should acknowledge the fact that information was shared in confidence once it has been released.

Mr. Speaker, the point is, properly made public, we’re talking about a lot of other...

That broad policy issue and debate and discussion, I think, has to take place as a Legislature, to lay out whatever specific conventions or protocols that we need to have agreed to, to address the concerns raised by the Member. I know at this point we are doing our planning collectively, looking at June 2011 as the date up to which we could make substantive decisions, but after that we’re planning, recognizing that we’ll be moving into an election year. As a Cabinet, we’ve picked that particular date as a target for us that we’re working back from, recognizing that we’re going to be into a...

As we look at this $15 million, the other point to keep in mind is that it’s significantly self-liquidating through the tolls and all the other arrangements that have been signed as part of this deal. But going forward, because of this debt and other debt that we’ve agreed to accumulate as part of the current economic downturn, we are going to be going down in our borrowing limit. In 2011-12, available borrowing capacity will shrink to about $85 million. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That deals with a specific program area under the mandate of the Minister of Public Works and Services. I want to defer that question to him.

Mr. Speaker, we have an understanding that we have confidential briefings with committee. We share information. It should be respected. The Member is clearly aware that there are processes and negotiations underway. This information was shared last night, yesterday morning and Tuesday night. My point of privilege is that by disclosing the specifics, the scenarios and all the various things that we are trying to talk about as we try to resolve this issue are bringing forward into a public forum, from a confidential forum, information that was agreed to be kept confidential until we concluded...