Robert C. McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize Mr. Charlie Furlong from Aklavik, president of the NWT Association of Communities; Clarence Wood, councillor from Inuvik and a member of Inuvik Twin Lakes. I would also like to recognize Mayor Mark Heyck, a man that I've had the opportunity in the past to do a lot of work with; and the rest of the NWT Association of Communities. Although I'm not the Minister responsible anymore, I still support 33 Strong. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife South that Bill 14, Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures), 2017-2018 be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I request a recorded vote.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River South, that Bill 14, Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures), 2017-2018 be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In the future, all reporting will be linked to SAM, which is our financial management system. So departments won't be maintaining separate systems.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, these were raised after some consultation, and we'd heard from the business community that because these hadn't been raised in 20 years, they thought it was time to raise them. The value that it brings to residents is that they will be able to then go out and secure some services right away without going going out for RFP, because that takes up a lot of time and money for $5,000. So this was made at the request of the business community and in consideration of the cost to administer small contracts. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River South, that Bill 11, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), No. 1, 2016-2017, be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to proceed to item number 6, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, that Bill 12, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 2, 2016-2017 be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and, Mr. Speaker, I request a recorded vote.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I too would like to recognize some constituents from Inuvik Twin Lakes. We have Mickey Ipana who I gave a tour of the Assembly for, and we have Eileen Allen who is better known in Inuvik as Bunik. We have Ellen Firth and Marilyn and her daughter, Myria. So welcome to the gallery. We appreciate your patience as we battled through our technical difficulties in the last two hours. Welcome.

I commend some of the Aboriginal governments out there on their desire to try and preserve the herd. To me, that shows a great deal of leadership because they recognize the desperate situation of this particular herd, and I share their concern. As far as the proposed route goes, there may be a couple of possibilities that the Department of Transportation is looking at for a proposed road. Again, it would need to go through an environmental assessment process where they'd be able to hear concerns, especially from those that are quite concerned about the survival of the Bathurst caribou herd.