Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Of course, we’re prepared to work with the Member and, as we indicated in our meetings with the small, rural, remote communities committee, the idea of sitting down with the committee and some of the members from the communities and Association of Communities would help us initiate that process.

I would like to point out, though, that while we managed to keep government expenditures to 2 percent, the money that flowed through the communities was kept at 9 percent in recognition of the fact that there are needs at the community level.

So I take the Member’s concern and...

Work is being done by ENR. The work has been done and supported by the Climate Change Committee and the Ministerial Energy Coordinating Committee as well as Managing This Land when it comes to these various issues of the biomass strategy, moving forward with the technology, the issue, the impact on greenhouse gases, all those are part of the variable that we are considering as we deal with this issue as a government.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On my immediate left I have Margaret Melhorn, deputy minister of Finance; to my immediate right, Mr. Michael Aumond, deputy minister of Public Works and Services; to his immediate right, Mr. Russ Neudorf, deputy minister of Transportation. Thank you.

Yes, there have been millions of dollars voted for this year, in the neighbourhood of $15 million or so, to get us started on the very many projects, both in biomass, wind, possibly geothermal, mini-hydro. There is a whole host of areas that we want to do work. Now it is incumbent upon us to roll out the work plans and the implementation, to get as many of these projects towards the construction stage as possible.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to present Supplementary Appropriation No. 2, 2009-2010 (Infrastructure Expenditures). This document outlines an increase of $69.835 million for operations expenditures, and an increase of $101.669 million for capital investment expenditures in the 2009-2010 fiscal year. To clarify the document, of the $172 million in the total additional appropriation being requested through this supplementary appropriation, $112 million is for the carry-over of funding for infrastructure project, funding for which was approved and lapsed in 2008-2009. The carry-overs in...

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will start with the deputy.

When I look at the list, there is one under new sites at Deline that is attributed to MACA that is referenced. There is a former site of a laundry drycleaner. I wouldn’t be able to speak definitively on that one, but the rest are water treatment plants, the highway maintenance facility, airports, schools, tank farms, I would say that they would be government assets. But I have to commit to get the information on the Deline site.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This money is going to be booked for what we anticipate our liabilities yet to be expensed. The money is not going to…As those liabilities come due, we will draw down this fund. We have, for example, booked the government, as well, over $27 million for Giant Mine that is being…That was done a number of years ago. As this fund is drawn down, then we will deal with those. We agree with the Member that the intent is to do the proper planning so that we can build in these costs into the cost of the development so that there is no further cost to the taxpayer. Thank you.

Yes, Mr. Chairman.