Michael Miltenberger

To the best of my knowledge, yes, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Speaker, the simple answer that I know of is that we just don’t have that kind of money, nor are we in a position to borrow that kind of money when you look at all the other competing interests we have, the reduction exercises we’re going through, the revenue option exercises we’re going through. That would be the main issue.

I do want to say that I’ve heard the Member’s concerns. Clearly, we’re committed to moving on the idea and concept of a heritage fund. We intend to come forward with information that would allow us to have that debate and discussion and hopefully get that structured...

Initially we’re looking at the kind of arrangement that could be made on resource royalty sharing. There’s the infrastructure option that was put forward by the Premier on behalf of the Premier and Cabinet. The issue of an equity position was not really strongly considered, mainly because there were other things at play, and our own fiscal situation doesn’t give us a lot of free capital to get things done.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the Member’s comments about the process. To try to address some of the issues that we’ve now talked about, I would just like, for the record, to note, if I could — it’ll take me about 30 seconds — that the Deh Cho, between 2009–2010 and up to 2011–2012, will be getting, according to this, $20.806 million; Hay River riding, $74.320 million; Inuvik Twin Lakes, $138.225 million; Mackenzie Delta, $2.745 million; Monfwi, $7.295 million; Nahendeh, $10.3 million; Nunakput, $12.360 million; Sahtu, $49.976 million; Thebacha, $28.610 million; Tu Nedhe, $7.365...

No.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just to reaffirm, the issue of the evaluation process will be dealt with as we come forward with a full package of recommended changes that are going to be brought forward by the infrastructure committee.

The issue of equity among communities and regions is, of course, one of concern. We want to ensure that we are trying to meet the needs in a fair way. I would like to point out that we do have a $28 million infrastructure agreement and contribution to the communities that’s done on a base plus formula. It now gives communities a significant amount of money that they’ve...

Last year was for a portion of that $115 million.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have with me Ms. Margaret Melhorn, the deputy minister of Finance and FMB; Mr. Michael Aumond, deputy minister of Public Works and Services; and Mr. Russ Neudorf, deputy minister of Transportation.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It’s within the appropriation.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to present the Capital Estimates 2009–2010 of the Government of the Northwest Territories. These estimates outline appropriations for infrastructure investments of $247.616 million in the 2009–2010 fiscal year.

In early 2008 a review was undertaken on the GNWT’s capital planning process. The review identified many challenges faced by the government in planning and delivering capital projects such as the limited resources and capacity to address existing needs, projects costing more than originally estimated; the heated western Canadian economy, which is...