Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Not recently.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to thank the Member for his comments. I’ve been now in this Chamber with the Member, this is going on our eighth year and I just made note of one of his comments that I put quotation marks around. I never thought I’d hear him say this in the House, and maybe he’ll say I’ve taken it out of context, but I was quite struck by his comment about how we have to be conservative. That’s not something I would normally tie to the Member.

The question I would ask, and we have to ask, is: How do we build the territory, and what investments do we make, and what are...

On a go forward basis, the Member is correct, when you do a renovation as opposed to a new build, there has to be these extra, very critical steps taken to protect the quality of the air, infection control and those types of things. I know this personally, as well, because we just went through that situation at the health centre in Fort Smith. It requires that extra special step which will be done. We will ensure that, of course, we will use all the resources available, including all the human resources available. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I was going to raise the same concern, because I could have the appropriate deputies here to have that fulsome discussion. But in regard to the question, there was no lapsed funding that we can detail to the penny where the funds were spent. Things, start-up costs, there were big-ticket items like the payment for the gravel are two that come to mind. I’d also point out that the first year was the toughest when it came to the amount of culverts and bridges and terrain to cross. So that big piece has been done and on a go forward basis it’s considerably less onerous when...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There has been no final determination as to what is going to transpire or even if there is going to be any layoffs. There are some things being considered as part of the P3 process and what services and what requirements will be in the final agreed to RFP. So when we have that certainly, we will be sharing it with all affected parties as well as all the MLAs. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The one variable that is yet to be finalized, and the Premier mentioned in some of the debate in the House this morning, and that is the conclusion to our request for an increase to our borrowing limit. When you look at the status quo, the debt ceiling, we’ve been working to keep a minimum of $100 million cushion between us and the $800 million borrowing limit. We are now slightly under that $100 million as a result of the latest decision to cushion and absorb the cost of the rate rider for low water on the Snare. For short-term borrowing, we think we can manage within...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am here to present for the committee’s consideration the 2015-16 Capital Estimates of the Government of the Northwest Territories.

The estimates represent $249 million in appropriations for government and $28 million for community infrastructure investments in the 2015-16 fiscal year.

These estimates do not include appropriations for housing infrastructure proposed by the NWT Housing Corporation in 2015-16, totaling $36 million. The appropriation for these investments will be sought during the committee’s review of the 2015-16 Main Estimates. The NWT Housing...

Effective April 2014 there were two additional tax audit positions put into play. It was approved during the business planning process. The regional structure was put in place. One of the new auditors was in Hay River and the other one in Inuvik to complement the manager of tax audit. We talked tax audit positions in Yellowknife. The 2014-15 audit work plan was created based on general risk assessment of the tobacco, petroleum products and payroll tax areas. Training of the new auditors, implementation of the regional structure is a focus for 2014-15, and the work plan the following planned...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Once again, I think the Member for his comments. Some of the items that he has raised, clearly the Ministers of Education, Health and Transportation will be ready to have those detailed discussions.

I understand that the plan is to issue for the Fort Smith Health Centre some RFPs to be issued here sometime in the fall of 2014. I believe that things are proceeding at pace on that one.

As the Member pointed out, there is money put aside or identified, fairly significant money over the next few years for Highway No. 7. The Inuvik-Tuk highway, we’ll once again have that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There were two tobacco tax audits in 2013-14, one in Edmonton and one in Hay River. There were 18 petroleum products tax audits in 2013-14 and all 18 were in Yellowknife. Thank you.