Thank you. Mr. Minister.
Debates of May 16th, 1996
Topics
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 462
The Chair John Ningark
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 462
Jim Antoine Nahendeh
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The pricetag for this facility is high, but if you look around the Nunavut area and you look at what types of structures have been put in place by our government as well as the feds, you are going to start seeing that there have been some big price tags for different facilities, like in Pangnirtung and so forth. The design here requires this amount of money. Again, this facility was designed to provide wharfing facilities for the community. Whether the tank farm goes ahead or not, they still need this type of facility. I don't know what else I can add to that.
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 462
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. I'll be calling for a break in a few minutes. Mr. Steen.
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 462
The Chair Vince Steen
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My question to the Minister is in relation to privatization that this government is supposed to be working towards. Mr. Chairman, I would like to point out that in all other major communities where we have shipping, like Hay River, Inuvik and Tuk -- Tuk is a very large staging area -- private enterprise supplies their own docking facilities. My question here is why are we building docking facilities for private enterprise when, if they see the need for it, they build it anyway. Why are we forking out money when we are suggesting that everything else should be privatized, they do it better than us? So why are we doing it? Why are we doing this when maybe private enterprise should be doing it? Obviously, the main user of this terminal is going to be the shipping companies, so I don't understand why we don't privatize the thing and just let industry build it themselves instead of us doing it.
I would also like to point out that the federal government has been walking away from building ports and mooring facilities unless they have harbour authorities or port authorities which would then allow them to collect and charge for the use of these facilities. We seem to be about 50 years behind the feds in this case. We should maybe follow their example. I wonder if the Minister could respond to that.
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 462
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Minister.
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 462
Jim Antoine Nahendeh
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The honourable Member makes some good points, but I would
like to get into the area where the feds have been funding port facilities, moorings and so forth in Canada and in the North. In the Nunavut area, they have been doing that for some time now. They've invested a lot of money in building up the area here and they continue to do that. They need to do that through joint arrangements with this government. There's the strategic transportation improvement agreement, which this department has signed with Transport Canada, which provides Transport Canada to continue to help develop docks, wharfs and moorings in the Eastern Arctic. They will continue to do this. We're spending some of our money, half of the money comes from the federal government, they still provide us with the funds to provide facilities into the Eastern Arctic. This is where most of this funding is going. There are requests by communities. When I did my tour in the Baffin and Keewatin, the communities were still asking for more docking facilities and wharfs. They require this in some areas. This government is going to continue to do this as long as we have cost sharing arrangements with the federal government. Thank you.
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 463
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. I'll call for a break after Mr. Steen. Mr. Steen.
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 463
Vince Steen Nunakput
Mr. Chairman, I agree with the Minister. Most of the small communities require docking facilities. They are normally supplied free of charge. We are talking about a resupply terminal which is entirely different. I believe this facility is designed for staging of materials and equipment as well as for servicing the little community of Rankin Inlet. If you take into consideration that Rankin Inlet's population is 2,500, this is a major facility for such a small community. It must be designed for staging and resupply. Does the Minister have a plan in place where we implement user-pay? Are the companies who will be using these facilities be paying to use them? I will be working towards this.
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 463
The Chair John Ningark
I will allow the honourable Minister to respond and then we'll take a break. Honourable Minister.
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 463
Jim Antoine Nahendeh
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The department has not looked at user-pay for docking facilities in the East. The department is trying to lower the cost of goods coming into that part of the country. By implementing user-fees -- I'm thinking out loud, we haven't discussed this within the department -- this would probably jack up the price some more. We're going to have to take a look at this. We'll take your question as a suggestion to see if there's any way to apply user-fees in these facilities. Thank you.
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 463
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. We'll take a five minute break.
--- SHORT RECESS
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 463
The Chair Vince Steen
I will call the committee back to order. We were on total region, Keewatin, and I had Mr. Henry and Mr. Krutko. I would just like to remind Members that if we are going to proceed with this thing, I am concerned about going through the budget process without proper consultation and allowing for questions. I am also concerned that the questions have to have a point to them. We can only expect so much clarification out of the Minister and out of his witnesses before we start repeating ourselves. I am also concerned that we are going through a budget without giving due time and process for the questioning. As we go further and further, there tends to be a possibility that Members will pass the numbers just for the sake of getting the thing over with. With those two things in mind, I would ask the committee to keep the questions to a point and if we are just questioning for the sake of questioning, we shouldn't be doing it. I will call on Mr. Henry.
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 463
Seamus Henry Yellowknife South
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have two short comments. I want to make it clear that the tanker moorings are gone. The federal government is contributing $500,000 of this year's $1.05 million. I sat in Caucus a week and a half ago and listened to the Members speak about the federal government's contribution to Nunavut and how small it was; here we have the federal government contribution to infrastructure and there seems to be a desire not to accept it. The Minister has slated that this project would go ahead regardless of tank farms. That is good enough for me. I just wish, Mr. Chairman, that if someone is really opposed to it, they would make a motion. If not, I would move that we would proceed to total region.
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 463
Some Hon. Members
Hear! Hear!
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 463
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 463
Seamus Henry Yellowknife South
Mr. Chairman, those were comments. I believe Mr. Krutko wanted to speak afterwards. I would like him to have his word and maybe we can go after that.
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 463
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 463
David Krutko Mackenzie Delta
As chairman of the Resource Management and Development committee, we did have this debate internally and it didn't come out to being this active. We didn't realize there was this much of a problem. If you look at the other facilities that are being built -- such as the Iqaluit project for $1.42 million, the facility in Pangnirtung of $2.205 million -- if you look at the price range of the final product, it isn't a major item. I think because money has already been allocated to the project for the preparation to get to this stage and it is federal dollars that we are spending -- which is something we should take advantage of -- we didn't have a problem with it in committee, so I recommend that we proceed.
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 463
Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
--- Agreed
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 463
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 463
Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
--- Agreed
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 463
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 463
Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
--- Agreed
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 464
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 464
Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
--- Agreed