Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We anticipate that this would be a request for proposals, that there are, we believe, eminently qualified and capable northern businesses that would be very, very interested in a contract like this, and we would anticipate, and we would make sure it’s in the contract that, of course, northern pilots be checked out on these planes that are there. There are existing airline companies up here clearly that have the size and ability, could look and manage the hangar space or provide for that. So we anticipate that there is every reason to believe that there would be a...

I move we report progress.

---Carried

I do, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

We will pull something together that will capture that as per the Member’s request.

I just want to point out that in my mind the final mile piece has always been where the business opportunity is and we would be there to provide support as opposed to going to communities and getting potentially into the telecommunication business. So between the providers that are there, the ISPs, the communities with us playing a support role, we want to make sure that final mile gets implemented. But we will, on that basis, pull together the information for the Member in the life of this Assembly. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we’ve put this document forward for consultation and we’ve extended the consultation period to, I believe, October 19th, at which time we will put it in a box, basically, and we’ll include it with the transition document for consideration in the 18th Assembly, which will include all the feedback we get.

This document is basically post-devolution. The Northwest Territories has taken over the Protected Areas Strategy and has rebranded it and packaged it and is putting is out as a Northern Conservation Action Plan. There is a process that we’re going to continue on with from the...

One of the partners in the partnership that is putting this line in is going to run a managers course with NorthwestTel and they have all the expertise. It would be a logical assumption to assume that in their business case they would be interested not only in putting the line down the valley but where they already have a presence in communities where there is going to be now access to cutting-edge fibre optic connections, they would be there looking to, I would assume, upgrade all of the communities. They have already upgraded them to satellite; most of them have cell phone connections. This...

Mr. Speaker, the core protected or protected areas are those areas that would be permanently withdrawn from industrial commercial development, like the proposed Thaidene Nene area for the federal and territorial footprints of Nahanni Park, part of Wood Buffalo that’s there, Edaezhe and the Ramparts and those types of things. That number all in is at 14 percent.

The other lands where there’s conservation designation, we have a Parks Act, for example, that has six levels of park. Five of those levels of park permit activity, commercial activity, permanent activity, so could include industrial...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’ll respond to some of them and then I’ll ask Mr. Guy to respond to the Woodland Manor and update requested on the health centre and Mr. Neudorf to touch on dredging.

The municipal funding, as we put it out yesterday, has been kept at $28 million, in spite of our attempts to do passive restraints but it’s important to protect that funding.

The issue of building Highway No. 1 to the border and the need to increase widening, I’ll note that as well.

I’ll ask, once again, Mr. Guy to touch on the other schools that possibly need upgrades. The French schools, we’re not in a...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, I do have witnesses.

This is a consensus government that we operate in. There are mandate letters given to each Minister by the Premier. We work closely with committees. We have reviews of business plans. Of course, we are, in effect, a minority government and we serve at the pleasure of the Legislative Assembly. We have numerous checks and balances in terms of making sure that ministerial accountability is upheld.