Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that consideration of Tabled Document 248-17(5), Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 1, 2015-2016, be now concluded and that Tabled Document 248-17(5) be reported and recommended as ready for further consideration in formal session through the form of an appropriation bill. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am going to move away from fracking for a little bit today, and I have some questions for the Minister of Finance. I would like to ask the Minister some questions about a statement he made last week about our borrowing limit. The Minister, in his statement, made two comments about what this new borrowing limit, this increase of $500 million will do for us. He said it would give us “increased flexibility to invest,” and “in consultation with Members of the Legislative Assembly.”

To date, we haven’t heard from the Minister, as Regular Members. We haven’t heard any...

Thanks, Madam Chair, and thanks to the Minister. I appreciate the fact that it is federal money, but just because it is federal money it doesn’t mean that we should spend it on something that isn’t really necessary.

So, if we have a report already, what is it that we are monitoring? Can I get an explanation of the work? Was the report done on a period of work that is now completed and we are doing further work that is being measured and monitored? It’s not clear to me why we are still continuing to spend money when a report has been done. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Any mining operation is fraught with risk, financial risk for the company, environmental risk for the residents, social risk for communities and so on. Any company starting a development must weigh the risks to benefits to determine if they should proceed with their development.

Development of oil and gas operations is not dissimilar. There are many of the same inherent risks; but when extracting unconventional oil and gas, the risks are greatly increased. That may not be a big deal for a multinational company with deep financial pockets, but it is a big deal for the...

That’s all I have on airports. I do have a question on highways. Thank you.

Thank you Madam Chair. I have a question here around the funding to repair surface depression on runway 10-28 at the Yellowknife Airport. It’s $3 million. Quite often we get funding from the federal government from Transport Canada in order to assist with repairs and extension and so on of our runways. I would like to know whether or not there’s any federal funding that will offset this expenditure of the $3 million. Thank you.

Thanks, Madam Chair, and thanks to Mr. Kalgutkar. It doesn’t explain to me, though, why this program is being moved. Does it mean that there is no longer a Child and Family Resource Program? I need to understand if it’s only partially being moved, if the program still exists within ECE, or if the whole program now is defunct and it’s become part of the Healthy Family Program. If that’s the case, have the goals of the Healthy Family Program changed with the addition of the Child and Family Resource Program? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I will just make a few brief remarks. I think there were a lot of remarks yesterday as we discussed this page and these expenditures. Members have a lot of concerns, one of which is that this should have come through with the budget that we passed not even two months ago. Maybe it was more than two months. We have yet to see a plan for how the government is going to reshape our communications complement of staff. Those are just two things and I think that, as Members, we feel that this is something that should have been funded through the regular appropriations process...

Thank you Madam Chair. We would like to start with Tabled Document 248-17(5), the supplementary estimates document and then I think in this order: Bill 37, Committee Report 15-17(5), Bill 44, Committee Report 16-17(5), Bill 47 and Committee Report 17-17(5), time permitting. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to make a motion. In accordance with Rule 50(a), I move that we continue to sit beyond our normal hour of daily adjournment to continue consideration of Bill 44, Hospital Insurance and Health and Social Services Administration Act.