Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As much as I am somewhat flabbergasted by the amount of money that we have to approve here, I can see that these costs are ones that we don’t have a heck of a lot of control over. I am somewhat concerned when I look at the information we were given on the utilization of the supplementary reserve. Of the over $6 million that the Health department got in their supplementary reserve fund, $2.3 million went to Stanton Hospital and $2.3 million went to the Beaufort-Delta Health and Social Services Authority as one-time funding. That concerns me. That is a pretty healthy...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess I just have to express my dismay at the amount of money that we’re spending on the Territorial Power Subsidy Program. I know our power rates are high, but it’s a huge amount of money that we’re giving away. This supp is for $1.2 million and when I look at the reserve that was allocated to FMB, another $225,000 went into the Territorial Power Subsidy Program. So it’s like $1.5 million over and above what we budgeted that’s going in there. So I don’t really have a question. Again, I think this is more a comment against this particular program, which we have to...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am not sure where this question should be asked so I will ask it here and hopefully it is alright. We discussed during a review of business plans that the infrastructure, the way our infrastructure is determined within the government was being looked at, was being evaluated. Public Works and Services and the Housing Corporation were looking at possibly setting up an infrastructure department. I just wondered if there had been any progress on that initiative or the revamping of that structure since November when we talked about it. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I guess I would like some clarification on the motion. If Mr. Ramsay’s understanding is that this is referencing laptops, that is not my understanding. It is talking only about the use of BlackBerries in standing and special committees. Laptops would only be…Oh, it does say laptops. I beg your pardon. I was thinking it was only for staff.

I do have a problem with laptops in committees, because I think committee work requires our minds even more, perhaps, than the House. There is not as much…I don’t think we have as much room for laptops and so on. At this point, I am...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is good to hear. I am really pleased to hear that both MACA and the Minister of Finance are looking to see if we can’t assist my residents on this project. I would just ask the Minister whether or not he would be willing to sit down with the City of Yellowknife and myself and the Minister of MACA to try and determine what could be done and how fast it could be done. Thank you.

Thank you to the Minister for that response. I understand that details are probably not known yet. The federal government is not known for their speed on providing detail. I guess I would like to know if the Minister knows from the general comments that were part of the federal budget whether or not if a project is shovel ready -- to use the federal term -- by the summer of 2009 whether or not that would speed up access to funds from this Infrastructure Stimulus Fund.

Mr. Speaker, it’s my pleasure today to recognize Mr. Stuart Hamre, who is working as a Page for us this last couple of weeks and probably will be with us for another couple of weeks yet. Thank you, Stuart, for doing the good job you’re doing.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will just ask for clarification from the Minister. When it says next year, does that mean implementation in 2010-11? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just a quick question. I’d like to know whether or not this motion is going to inhibit the use of laptops by committee staff since we’ve taken out that second paragraph.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I, as a Member of the Rules committee, have debated this motion and the consideration of what motion to bring forward within the committee. I do support the motion. I have some reservations. I am willing to go forward with this at the moment especially because it is a trial and it’s going to be a trial period. I think we need to see whether or not it’s going to work.

I have my reservations because I am concerned that it will be a distraction for some Members to work on the computer instead of paying attention to the work before the Committee of the Whole, whatever that...