Tom Beaulieu

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]

Mr. Speaker, today I wish to talk about elders in Fort Resolution and Lutselk'e that have their adult children and adult grandchildren living with them. In a lot of cases these children are providing a service to the elders in the area of health care, home care and other basic services elders are no longer able to do.

Mr. Speaker, because of the support provided by the elders’ grandchildren and children, it essentially absolves the GNWT of their responsibilities. Many of these services, even things as simple as taking medication, are...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a committee motion. I move that this committee strongly recommends that the Premier of the Northwest Territories take immediate action to seek federal authority for a temporary increase to the territorial borrowing authority limit for a 10-year period rather than the five-year period as is currently contemplated.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I want to go back to the 35-year loan. I am going to have to assume that the rate on the 35-year term must have been a very good rate in order for the government to support the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation from signing a loan that has one huge long term in it. I’ve been told by the deputy that’s maybe industry standard, but if we go back to using a scenario of a mortgage right now, today a two-year mortgage is 2.7 but a five-year mortgage is 5.2 roughly . So, you know, as the term gets longer, the interest rate usually gets larger so that the lender is...

I wasn’t provided with the details of a loan. I don’t think we were provided the details of the loan, or I don’t recall seeing the details of the loan. Actually, I would like to see the documents that have put us in this position, because this is putting the government into long-term debt with no possibilities in there at all for any explorations of any terms.

Earlier on in response to the general comments from the committee here, the Premier indicated that this was like a mortgage, in a sense. Now, in a mortgage you get terms, one year, two years, five years, 10 if you want, whatever, but...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I, too, don’t feel that this bridge, never felt that this bridge was a benefit to anyone that I represent in this Legislative Assembly. However, from the very outset I initially believed that this government was in for the amount that was guaranteed to the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation in the concession agreement of something in the neighbourhood of $9 million to $10 million. I initially believed that. I didn’t know at the very beginning, in October 2007 when I was elected and there was discussion on the Deh Cho Bridge, that this government had guaranteed the loan of $165...

Will the Minister commit to further working with the Minister responsible for Seniors with the specific mandate of looking at revising all of the seniors support programs?

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Today I talked about unofficial home care services provided by adult children and grandchildren who live with elders. In many of the small communities it’s quite common for elders to have their adult children and grandchildren living with them. The government needs to recognize and acknowledge and do all it can to support this important community situation.

I have questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Will the Minister agree to review the current seniors fuel subsidy program and policy so that it properly takes into account the services...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I make the motion because I don’t view this debt as something that appears to be a regular type of debt. It seems that our other debt we’re able to move on it quickly if we choose to do so. We use our infrastructure money surpluses in order to reduce our overall debt. At the end of the year, we always have the option to put money into our debt if we wish to do so.

This Deh Cho Bridge debt is not the same. We can’t pay it down. If we pay it down then we’re going to pay penalties. The 35-year term, like I indicated in my earlier statement, at 3.17 percent is fairly...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, if 3.17 percent is buying some certainty for the GNWT for the long term, I’m okay with that. I think that’s actually not a bad interest rate even in today’s standards. So I guess my only question is that my fears now are not so much. I mean, I have fears about the cost. That’s something I have already talked about. My fears are the impacts; the impact of removing the short-term dispensation from the federal government for five years. When that gets removed and if this government is not in a position at that point to be able to assume the roughly -- I...

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to speak about capital dollars for Lutselk’e. We are coming to the end of another fiscal year and the community of Lutselk’e is once again in danger of losing out on accessing capital funding for another year; much needed funding for infrastructure and long-overdue municipal projects.

The community has a capital plan. They have identified the projects that are a priority. Unfortunately, because of inflexible policies within the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs and the process of getting much...