Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise on this occasion to voice my concern with regard to the recent announcements made by the Minister of DIAND applicable to the funding identified for the creation of future Nunavut government infrastructure and the impact his decisions will have on the capital expenditures of this government over the next three years.
Mr. Speaker, my first concern is with regard to the representation this government had at the negotiating table at the time the decisions were made. I understand this government was represented by three persons appointed by the past Legislative Assembly to represent us on the Nunavut Implementation Commission.
At the present time, I am unaware of who these people report to. Have they reported to anyone in the past six months? What are the costs associated these appointments? Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time, I will be asking the Premier to clarify who these people are and what their terms of reference might be.
My second concern is with regard to the disposition of the $150 million identified by the feds for implementation of a Nunavut territory. Mr. Speaker, a large amount of these dollars appears to be identified for the construction of water and sewage systems, as well as for community roads and land development in the Nunavut area.
Currently, this government, through the five-year capital planning process, has also identified amounts totalling $14 million for land development and $17 million for water and sewage facilities applicable to the Nunavut communities.
Mr. Speaker, I have no doubt that some of these community infrastructure programs that these two levels of government expect to create are, in fact, duplicates of each other. Therefore, I believe this Assembly must take this into consideration as we review the main estimates for this fiscal year. I will be asking the Minister of Finance questions in this regard at the appropriate time. Mr. Speaker, I request unanimous consent to finish my statement.