Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, and I would like to follow up on my Member’s statement and see if I can get some clarity as to the department’s policies.

I would like to first ask the Minister, what is the policy of Education, Culture and Employment, the department and/or the Minister around communicating public information to MLAs, either the MLA themselves or their staff? Thank you.

Thanks, Mr. Chair, and thanks to my colleagues for your indulgence in letting me finish off my list.

I wanted to just say that at the outset I think the Minister misunderstood what I was saying about the hydro. I know that the business case that we did before was for a different project. I think my concern is that we haven’t done preliminary analysis to determine that there’s a valid reason to go ahead with a detailed business case. The term throwing good money after bad kind of comes to my mind. I just wanted to get that out of the way.

My other point that I want to make on the hydro is that I...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We would like to consider Tabled Document 22-17(5), opening comments or general comments on the budget. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that we report progress.

---Carried

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. The Minister mentioned, in answer to one of my previous questions, that the budget is now before us and that we will be deliberating the budget, and I heard a suggestion that there can’t be changes to the budget. So if there was a motion to come to this House, and the motion stated that 25 percent of our resource revenues for this ‘14-15 budget and onwards should go to the Heritage Fund, will the Minister take that as the will of the House and adopt the budget that way? Thank you.

I understand the Minister is saying that one side proposes and this side disposes. Understood, but there has been an awful lot of conversation about resource revenues over the last year, and there has been a lot of information to the Minister and to Cabinet. There was public consultation. There was a motion passed in this House last June. I want to say that… Well, I’ll say what I said in my statement, that that input was ignored.

I’d like to ask the Minister how he can justify the cost of the consultation, and I can’t remember how many thousands it was but it was a goodly amount of money –...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I have to start off by saying go, Brendan, go!

I would like to congratulate the Finance Minister on the 2014-15 budget he presented yesterday. It’s the culmination of many, many man and woman hours of work across the government, and I look forward to debating the budget in the coming weeks. But there were disappointments in the budget, most notably the lack of any significant new revenues again, and that only 5 percent of our brand new resource revenues will go to the Heritage Fund. It’s not like the Finance Minister and his Cabinet colleagues were never advised that 5...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. The 2014-2015 budget address states that there will be “a reallocation of $1.8 million in 2014-2015” to implement junior kindergarten in the “smallest NWT communities.” Please provide the following information:

a breakdown, by department, showing from where the reallocated $1.8 million will come;

if reallocated funds will come from ECE, from which line of the department budget the reallocated funds will come and the amount for that budget line; and

if reallocated funds will come from education...

The Minister has gone to my next question. I was going to presume that he was going to consult again and I’m glad to hear that he will, but I guess my question goes to – and I think it’s one that residents are asking as well – if you’re going to consult again next year, whether it be on the budget or whether it be on some other financial matter, will you take the views of the residents of the NWT into account when you develop the ‘15-16 budget? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Finance. I would like to follow up on my Member’s statement and ask him some questions about the amount of money that is not going into the Heritage Fund.

My first question to the Minister is a question that I asked in my statement. I’d like to know from the Minister, where was the opportunity for Regular Members to take part in a vote to determine how much of the budget – the 5 percent, 25 percent, whatever – how much of our resource revenues for this year’s budget would be going into the Heritage Fund. Thank you.