Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have looked at this carefully. There is a process. There are a number of considerations that are there. The public interest is paramount. The value for money must be demonstrable. Appropriate public control and ownership must be preserved. Accountability must be maintained and all processes must be fair, transparent and efficient. We’ve put this project through the rigour, for value, for money, a review, and we looked at it because we are required to under our P3 policy, anything over $50 million, and we are of the opinion that we can demonstrate and have...

Mr. Speaker, first let’s just look at the bridge. Yes, it had some issues as it was built, but it has won, subsequently, all sorts of awards. I have talked to a lot of people about the bridge and I’ve asked them all the same question and there is always the same answer. Given some of the critics about the bridge and the dislike for the bridge and they don’t like how it was done and what it looks like, would you all go back to ferries and ice roads? It’s an unequivocal 100 percent no way. We love being able to go in and out. We love the service and access that the bridge gives us. If you...

Mr. Speaker, from my time in government, it has been my experience that there is no particular construction project that is ironclad and failsafe anywhere. So, are there challenges with the P3? Yes. Are there challenges with other processes? Yes, there are.

We have a management framework for P3s. We have some of the best finance people in the world that are looking at this and they are very, very capable people that have delivered, time and time again, good budgets, that are very knowledgeable. We have the Public Works department that has a lot of skills in terms of overseeing projects, and in...

Mr. Speaker, as a result of devolution, much of the lands and waters of the Northwest Territories are now the responsibility of our government. We had prepared for this eventually by getting our policy house in order through the development of the NWT Water Stewardship Strategy and its action plan. We built these documents collaboratively with our partners, in particular the Aboriginal governments of the NWT. They represent a huge success, and they demonstrate how innovative we are here in the North.

I am very pleased to report another critically important success.

Our post-devolution...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document, entitled “Inter-activity Transfers Exceeding $250,000, April 1 to September 30, 2014.” Thank you.

ENR has a presence in almost every community and we represent and have an interest in working with all the communities and I believe we do that in an effective way. I am not, at this point, prepared to just have a special session because a Member got a suggestion to set up something in Yellowknife, accessible only to the people of Yellowknife. There’s going to be opportunities to look at that in probably in other venues, and I will just confirm that I will go back to the department, but we do have a process already in place that I think covers that issue. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve received the text from the Member who got this suggestion from a constituent. I have sent it to the department. I know that they do meetings in the communities as a matter of course. As well, they look at the staff. I just want to get a better understanding; I am not clear what the Member is talking about. Is he talking about in Yellowknife, some major public gathering? Is he talking about gatherings in every community? The question needs to be refined. But we will definitely be sharing the results of the wrap-up and the debrief and what we see as areas that worked...

I note the Member’s suggestion and will talk about it with the department. I just want to restate that I believe we have a fairly effective system right now. We will be putting a product on the table that will be the result of that work and it will be there and available, and we do make that contact at the community level. Thank you.

We at ENR, as a matter of course, touch base in the communities where there is a need to and they will continue to do that. I have been Minister now for a while, of ENR, and we haven’t quite got to the stage of public sessions that the Member is talking about. I will check and confirm with the department what in fact is being done or being contemplated in Yellowknife if anything out of the ordinary. Thank you.

I would like to point out that one of our areas of interest where we’ve invested a considerable amount of money has, in fact, been on development of our solar strategy and the solar arrays that we’ve put into Simpson, one of the largest in the country up to the point that it was built, and the pilot project that we’re working on in Colville Lake, where we’re putting in a significant amount of solar power with batteries to look at how much we can maximize penetration into that service system so that we can minimize the cost and reliance on diesel. Now, as the technology has improved, and I’ve...