Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Madam Chair. We are at work looking at expanding the base budget for fire suppression to make it more reflective of some of the costs. One of the challenges we face with every other jurisdiction is we are now quite routinely, at least the last few years and if you look around the world, like in North and South Carolina, for example, extreme weather events that are coming in. We’ve had some discussions, as a Finance department, about how do we best capture the pressures from extreme weather events that aren’t tied to the routine business that supplementary appropriations are designed...

Thank you, Madam Chair. We did provide some extra information on a go-forward basis. If the request is a comprehensive, very detailed package that will capture all our costs in terms of material, fire crews, aircraft, we can commit to provide that. We can work through the committee before the next fire season, the format, to make sure it captures the needs of committee in terms of accountability and such. We can build that in so it’s not at the level where it is currently. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We as well hope that the Member is never driven to having to unwillingly watch the proceedings on TV to check up on this thing and we intend to honour the commitment that’s laid out here. Thank you.

I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, that Bill 70, Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures), 2016-2017, be read for the second time.

This bill authorizes the Government of the Northwest Territories to make infrastructure expenditures for the 2016-2017 fiscal year. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Member articulately laid out her concern on a previous item similar to this one and we had a good discussion. We agree that we need to try to count better. It’s very difficult to anticipate things like low water, the duration and such, but we are looking at how we can better account for the money and the increasing number of extreme weather expenses that we are being obliged to deal with. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following three documents, entitled “Environment and Natural Resources Strategic Plan 2015-2020,” “Conference of Management Authorities 2014-2015 Annual Report” and “Northwest Territories Species at Risk Committee Annual Report 2014-2015.” Thank you.

As we were dealing with the low water, we were also burdened with a major retrofit of one of the big turbines out at Snare, which is costing in the many millions of dollars. At the same time across the system, if that’s the question, we’ve done things like push for the conclusion in the thermal small communities that the transfer or the completion, sorry, the replacement of existing high use, high cost of sodium vapor lights, streetlights with LED lights. We’ve, of course, worked with the government to put in alternate energy replacements with solar batteries; we’ve concluded the operation in...

I don’t believe it’s unbalanced. Yellowknife also has just about 20,000 people, the majority of establishments and the majority of people in a high, high influx as a territorial centre where folks come in and out of town. So they have way more volumes than anywhere else as well.

Thank you, Madam Chair. As the appropriation for the previous low water surcharge was spent, the Public Utilities Board wanted to know, given the fact that the low water issue was continuing, what was the intention of the government and what was the intention, then, of the Power Corporation to respond? Were we going to raise rates or was there going to be some other accommodation made. We were monitoring the volumes of flows, the needs, the extent of the low water, and we wanted to be as clear as possible and see what was going to happen. So they wanted to know fairly early in June, if my...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t believe anybody is being unfairly targeted. Thank you.