Norman Yakeleya

Mr. Speaker, my question is to the lead Minister on the Energy Coordinating Committee as to his...My apologies, Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Minister of Finance on the budget address in terms of...I don’t know if it was done by accident or mistake as to why the Deline mini-hydro wasn’t mentioned as to why the hydro stuff that we talked about in previous government such as Lutselk’e and Whati. Why wasn’t the mini-hydro for Deline mentioned in terms of continued support from this government?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the last couple days I’ve had some pretty early mornings thinking about how the motion is going to be discussed, and how it’s going to be talked about amongst the 18 MLAs in the House here, and what the interpretations might be in the public in terms of what we are looking at and what we are doing. What are the different analyses of the meetings? What are the interpretations of the meetings? How will this play out in our communities? How will this play out amongst ourselves? Looking to this day as to how it will roll out.

The motion, as I read it, is a...

Certainly, I can argue for a lot of good business in the Northwest Territories that could certainly be welcomed to see this type of Opportunities Fund to come to their availability to talk about jobs, employment. These are home-grown, northern aboriginal people in our regions that would certainly welcome this type of opportunity. My question is, are there any other proposals in play for accessing this Opportunities Fund? If so, what processes are involved that require Regular Members on this side to have some of their consultation, decision, input in terms of this new policy? Certainly, this...

Mr. Speaker, my questions are to the Minister of Finance. The loan that one of the Members was mentioning is with Discovery Air. With our small government and with so many demands that we’ve heard in the last couple of years, especially in the last couple of months, especially in our small communities, why are we willing to risk $34 million on a high-risk loan to a company which indications show through financial reports was close to bankruptcy? Why did we do this?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Part of the requirements, I understand that a society has to be set up to manage and administrate the funds here. My understanding from ITI, the Honourable Robert McLeod, was in terms of the revisions of a policy that would look at...Would the policy look at forming a society as part of the directors? Would you see directors being involved in the input? Can we see some regional input in terms of the society?

Just on the due diligence that was done, due diligence was paid by Discovery Air. This is a loan that I think we should discuss with the Government of the Northwest Territories. This company is located in London, Ontario. The acquisition of loan is to pay out in Quebec. The Calgary helicopter base is closed.

My question to the Minister is, what are we really getting out of this high-risk move in terms of people in the Northwest Territories that see this $34 million bailout, investment, loan, whatever we call it? What are we really getting out of this high-risk move for the people in the...

Mr. Speaker, I, too, would like to make my statement, along with the honourable Members from Mackenzie Delta and Kam Lake, in terms of the optics of this loan being discussed with Discovery Air and in terms of the newspaper that printed the story in our communities in the Sahtu.

This afternoon I was on a call from the grand chief of the Sahtu region and I asked him what his thoughts were on the Discovery Air bailout loan and investment. He said, “Where is the government going? What are they thinking? We said we can use a percentage of that type of dollars in our region to help us with our roads...

There are so many issues addressed to Members of the House in terms of the important issues that are coming up in this session here. I want to put forth in terms of the economic crisis that is happening in Canada, the Northwest Territories and people in our region, that for certain some things that have shifted from our people in our communities and have shifted in other areas that this government sees as a priority.

Lately I have been getting some calls from my region about what is going to happen, what is going to get done in our communities to feel some security by this government in terms...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That was the essence of us having some further discussions. I look forward to a commitment from this Minister to direct his department to start making arrangements with the people in the Sahtu in terms of partnership business proposals, ideas in terms of how can we seek additional dollars to extend these two runways in the region. Because once you do that, you will see enhanced service in terms of aircraft and...

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister commit to all these good reasons why we should have a meeting ASAP?