(English not provided) ... as the Deputy Premier, responsible for Public Works and Services and, frankly, as a beneficiary under the claim, I have concerns. We all remember, Mr. Speaker, that we started off with estimates of about $600 million. That was revised to $350 million. Now that has been cut in half again. It is not getting any cheaper to build anything. I think we need to be asking ourselves and also the federal government some serious questions. (Translation ends)
... the last 24 hours to look at the numbers. I see that the federal government has set aside about $30 million of the $150 million to set up their own operations in Nunavut. That means we will only have $120 million to work with. I am also concerned that it looks like some of the decisions the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs and the federal government have taken will result in more money being used up for administration and less on delivering results. If that amount of money is already being cut, that does not seem to be a wise thing to do.
In my view, Mr. Speaker, to answer the Member's question, we need a few more days to look at the issue in a calm manner and put our energy into getting some clarification of what it all means. I also think that we, as Members of the House, as elected Members, have to be prepared to be leaders and we cannot be content with just taking scraps off the table and trying to build only half the dream that Nunavut is. Thank you.
--- Applause
