Tom Beaulieu

Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. In my Member's statement I talked about the cost of living mandate. I have questions for the Premier. I would like to ask the Premier if he agrees that retrofitting homes for energy efficiency would reduce the cost of living for people. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have no further questions.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Well, that is something to work on for me. It has increased quite a bit. I do appreciate that the department has been serious about looking at putting more money into this area because, maybe four or five years ago, it was $300,000, so it has grown quite a bit. It has become something that the communities really find a good program for short-term employment, even training the equipment operators and so on, so it is a very good program. I think that, in the future, the Assembly or the department could look at increasing that amount, maybe even doubling that...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Going back to the local community roads. Further to that, I just got a little side tracked on the capital aspect of it. I have now seen the budget shown to me by one of our honourable colleagues here, so I am okay with the responses. The question on the winter road: I'm asking if this money can be used for a winter road. Could it be used, like, for example, today I spoke of a possible winter road from here to Lutselk'e. Could this type of money be used for a road that links a community to, say, Yellowknife? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, just in relation to the same area, I want to ask the Minister if they have a capital budget access road, which is a larger amount and may have a different objective. I know that this is not the capital. I clearly understand that. I am wondering if there is a capital program, however.

Mr. Chairman, an example that I will go to is that, when they were building the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway, they first built a 17-kilometre access road along the right-of-way. I am wondering, Mr. Chairman, where that type of money sits. Where does that access money sit, in...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, in our review of the business plan in this section, we have identified the Infrastructure staff. It appears as though a lot of the Infrastructure staff are getting close to retirement.

I was wondering if I could ask the Minister what the plan is to try to retain the corporate knowledge as they move forward, if there is a large amount of senior people retiring in the next five years. What is the plan? What is the human resource plan to retain corporate knowledge in this department? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can understand the liability insurance and everything that the government has to do, realize, or have in place when they are building ice roads. Would the Minister consider supporting maybe a local group out of Lutselk'e to be able to construct an ice road that could be used for the community as a test to see how long the ice road would last? I mean, it changes season to season. I realize that. Would the Minister be willing to, again, maybe have his department discuss a possibility of supporting a group in Lutselk'e to construct an ice road from here to...

I believe that they have constructed a winter road in to Lutselk'e in the past. It could be an opportunity to look at it again. I would like to ask the Minister if he would at least take a look at it and maybe have some of the officials who do their ice profiling and whatnot to look at something and have a discussion with the opportunities with such a road with the community.

Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Today, I would like to recognize our interpreters, Mr. Tom Unka, interpreting in Denesuline Chipewyan language, and Maro Sundberg, in Wiilideh Tlicho language. I would also like to recognize two Pages from Wiilideh, Joshua Drygeese and Ben Colas. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That is good news, but I do agree with the Minister that this would probably consume the entire budget with one project. I know that this is what is the mains and our opportunity to discuss the increase in this budget, would it be in that business planning time? I realize that. Still, going along the lines that my request to have a winter road constructed would be a part of capital, so I didn't make the link that it could be a part of O and M. I am wondering if the Minister sees, if that $1.48 million was fully subscribed, if the Minister would be able to, working with...