Does the committee agree that consideration of Minister's Statement 54-15(3) is concluded?

Agreed. Thank you. If there is no other business in front of the committee, I will rise and report progress.

Can I get the report of Committee of the Whole? Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Do we have a seconder? The honourable Member for North Slave, Mr. Zoe. A motion is on the floor. The motion is in order, it is non-debatable. All those in favour? Opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

Item 21, third reading of bills. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Deh Cho, that Bill 13, Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 2004-2005, be read for the third time. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. A motion is on the floor. The motion is in order. To the motion. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise in opposition to this bill, I will be voting against it.

Mr. Speaker, it is not too often that I oppose this kind of legislation. Mr. Speaker, this is brought before us, in fact on the recommendation of the Commissioner, and it is a serious piece of legislation for this committee, for this Legislature. But there are elements of this bill that I believe must be challenged. As I have done during debate in Committee of the Whole of this spending appropriation act, I want to take this final opportunity to air my objections.

Mr. Speaker, this is a bill for approximately $16 million in spending. Let's be clear; $11 million of this has already been committed under the authority that Cabinet has under the special warrant category. So really the decision before this Assembly in third reading is that we are being asked for permission on only about $5 million worth of miscellaneous projects. Two-thirds of this bill, the $11 million before us, are only as information items, things that have already been committed to and are outside this Assembly's influence. The balance of these items, the $5 million that is technically called "not previously authorized" are not trivial projects, Mr. Speaker, don't let me give you that impression. Rather, they do cover a number of things that will have some influence and some impact especially in the smaller communities. They range from everything from assistance to the community of Fort Smith to assist with problems that it encountered because of a land slide this summer, to buying employees houses. There is quite a range of things in there, and again I don't want to trivialize them. But I think that there are aspects of this bill that deserve to be challenged and I hope that I will be able to make myself clear over the next few minutes, Mr. Speaker.

I should explain, for people who are watching, for a special warrant there is generally a provision there that allows the Cabinet under emergency and unanticipated expenses to create allocations and provide for the normal course of business. I think they are a necessary part of the authority that Cabinet should have. But in this bill the government is taking steps that while they may be legal, are not acceptable and are not responsible given our tight financial situation, Mr. Speaker, and I believe that they also violate the overall spirit of consensus in this Assembly.

Mr. Speaker, we have a bill that authorizes $16 million in spending and leaves us with only $1 million in our supplementary reserve. We still have five months left to go in this government. The reserve is there for emergencies, things that are truly unanticipated. So if we have another crises in the Northwest Territories, say an outbreak of a disease such as we had earlier this year and we needed extra money to go in and spend for it -- I think it was a meningitis outbreak -- if we have another school collapse or something where we need to go in and make some emergency repairs, if there is an environmental disaster of some kind, we will have $1 million left to do something with and then we are going to have to go into debt. Just debt.

I don't think that is a responsible way for us to have managed this supplementary reserve fund this year, especially in the face of the things that we are told were allocated.

---Applause

You know, Mr. Speaker, in the face of all this spending we have a $20 million cutback that we're struggling to implement and it's going to be coming off programs such as health, education and justice and other pressing needs. So on one hand we have a Cabinet that's ready to put our entire supplementary reserve on the line, and yet we're instructed to withdraw $20 million from current budgets. This is something that has been well advertised and well promoted about our fiscal situation, Mr. Speaker. This is not responsible spending and I oppose it.

Further, Mr. Speaker, is a particular issue of the $6.6 million black hole that this government presented us with for the security upgrade at the Yellowknife Airport. The government has given in to the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority's order to upgrade our airport, but has left this economy with a $6.6 million question mark as to how to pay for it. We've been told by CATSA that even a superficial review of the comparative costs that other airports have to absorb is secret. Why can't our Assembly at least have some say and some information about this expenditure?

---Applause

The Department of Transportation in particular, Mr. Speaker, has let us down. Obviously it had many months, I think about 10 months -- at least according to the information that was provided in committee the other day, -- to plan the renovations, do the drawings, call tenders, but it didn't have time, obviously, to plan the cost factor; the consequences of taking $6.6 million out of the travelling public's pocket. That is not responsible and it's not acceptable and it's one of the reasons I'm voting against this.

Because it's the kind of inaction that on this side of the House I don't want to tolerate any more from this government. I'm sending a signal.

---Applause

Mr. Speaker, I believe in a good security system for the travelling public in Canada. I believe Northerners are prepared to pay a share of it, but I object to being handed an open-ended invoice with no plan and, therefore, no confidence in how we're going to implement this.

On a more fundamental issue, Mr. Speaker, related to this security business, all legislators must be on guard when independent security agencies can dictate conditions to government. It is a genuine concern, not only for our airport situation, but what is going to be next? All in the name of security? I don't want to treat it with any kind of triviality, Mr. Speaker, but my guard goes up when I'm told to do something by another agency, another level of government. When I don't have a say in how that is done, I think I have a duty to act on behalf of my constituents, and that's what I'm doing today. Cabinet on this one has clearly let us down and this is not acceptable.

Mr. Speaker, we're proud of our consensus system. We hold it up as a model for Canada and the Commonwealth, but it takes hard work and careful attention to make it work. It starts to break down, I believe, when Cabinet exercises its authorities in ways that erode our committee system and in the ability of each MLA to represent the interests of our constituents. I say that Cabinet in this bill has run roughshod over that consensus mandate and has forgotten its duty to act and think on behalf of all the people of the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, my opposition today is a signal to the government that I want them to think and act more responsibly and more prudently. We have three years to go in this Assembly and I want the government to change the way it does business with the Members on this side of the House. My opposition is also a message to my constituents, the people of the riding of Great Slave, that I'm taking a strong stand on behalf of their interests. I want them to know that I'm doing what I believe is right in order for us to have a government that we can all have confidence in, that we can trust, and that we can rely on. Mr. Speaker, thank you, and I would like to request a recorded vote on this bill. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Braden. To the motion. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I echo the sentiments of my colleague Mr. Braden, Member for Great Slave...

---Applause

...on the lack of consultation on behalf of the government in this expenditure of $3.4 million. Basically, Mr. Speaker, what amounts to a black hole, as Mr. Braden referred to it as, but we don't know what this is going to cost us, we don't know where we're going to get the money from and, Mr. Speaker, it's very irresponsible of the government to put forth a plan when they have no plan, Mr. Speaker.

This bill has $16 million in spending and $11 million of that, Mr. Speaker, is already spent. I've thought long and hard about whether or not I would vote in favour of this bill or vote against it, Mr. Speaker, and I just wanted to mention the reasons why I'm going to vote in favour of this bill. Mr. Speaker, I'm going to vote in favour of this bill -- as much as I'm going to have to hold my nose when I do so -- but, Mr. Speaker, it's for my colleagues here that I'm going to vote in favour of this because, as I see it, the government will pick on us. They will go after especially some of the Members' projects in their ridings and, Mr. Speaker...

Mr. Ramsay, could you stick to the motion, please? To the motion.

Mr. Speaker, just out of fear of retribution I am going to vote in favour of this bill today and because the government will try to blame this side of the House when something has to get cut here or something has to get cut there...

Did somebody call a point of order? Mr. Ramsay, I would caution you to stick to the motion.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will stick to the bill. I think it goes back to an accountability factor, Mr. Speaker, and to be quite honest with you I think in this instance the government has shown a lack of accountability, not only to the Regular Members for lack of consultation with them, but to the public. The public deserves better. This is an expenditure of $3.4 million right now and $6.6 million into the future. I think the public deserves better, Mr. Speaker, and I think the Regular Members deserve better and I would put the government on notice that we are going to be watching what happens.

Again, I really do appreciate Mr. Braden's conviction on standing up and voting against this bill, but I think the price would be too much to pay if we do vote against it. So I'm going to vote in favour of it today but, again, I express my extreme displeasure with the way this has all come about. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. To the motion. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Seeing as this is going to be a recorded vote, I'd like to just state my position on this. I am going to join Mr. Braden...

Ms. Lee. The mike is maybe not picking up here a bit, but I will...To the motion, Ms. Lee.

Thank you very much. I thought I was being ordered...

---Laughter

...ordered out even before I've said anything. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Seeing as this is going to be a recorded vote, I just wanted to state my position on this. I will be voting along with Mr. Braden against this bill in protest for some of the items that are in this bill. Mr. Speaker, I just want to state very strongly that I don't want to impute motive on anything, but I really think the Members on that side are taking it for granted that we will just pass and we will stamp this supplementary bill because we always have. I don't think there were any in history where the supplementary budget bill was defeated. Certainly we wouldn't want that to happen, but at the same time I think it's really important that the government understands that this is a consensus government and that means that we should all have a say in how we spend money and how we do our policies and law-making. The last time we met

as an Assembly was in June. In July, we don't usually have meetings, but through the end of August and September we had committee meetings, so there was lots of time to advise us on some of the items, especially on the airport spending.

Mr. Speaker, all through the summer, people out there were telling us about what was going on in this bill before we were privy to this. I don't think that is fair. There is a lot of money being spent and we should have a say in that.

I have made my objections known clearly about another spending item on this bill and that has to do with the second legal aid clinic. I want to make it clear, for the record, once again, I support the second office, but the way it was done is in line with how everything else is done; we are always the last to know.

I can also tell you there are at least three reviews that will come out after we leave the House. This is related. I am objecting. I am voting against this bill because of the way it's being presented and there is a trend here.

The internal review on Justice is going to come out after we get out of there. The review on the...

Ms. Lee, I would caution you. We are not debating the merits of the bill. We are debating the motion, so stick to the motion, please.