Just before the question, Mr. Chair, I guess I’m looking at, in terms of this motion here, the fairness. There are some processes, certain ways of getting to the capital. You have to wait for the usual process of going through a business plan and getting the support. There are several projects that seem to have gone out of the usual process to get into the capital budget. I don’t mind. That’s the way things are dealt with in here. We have certain projects in Yellowknife here that got on the books, and they’re spending money here and certainly in the Inuvik region also.
I’ve been to Inuvik; I’ve see MACA’s housing, in terms of their office facility. I’ve seen the building that they work in. I’ve seen some of the employees that had to work under those conditions. I’ve also seen where assets in our small communities are pretty deplorable in terms of safety standards, where they have to live up to it. They have to grin and bear it, say, “Okay; we’ve got no money,” in terms of when you want to do things. Then they scratch their heads and wonder: well, how can we do things in other regions?
For myself there are still a lot of questions I want to think about in terms of the market, in terms of the community. Is this the right thing that the government should go into, protecting our assets? Or should we protect only certain assets within the government: schools, health centres, things like that? Should we continue that or continue working with the different governments in our regions, different community organizations in our cities and towns, and say, “We want to go into a partnership with you. We don’t have the assets. We don’t have the money. Can you do something with us?” Will we take the risk of building a building and owning it? Then we’d have to look after it.
So for myself I certainly see a need for the building, but I’m not too sure or convinced it is the amount that we need to build in Inuvik. There are a few projects that have come to Yellowknife, and I kind of scratched my head and said: how did that get here? How come we’re pouring millions and
millions into downtown Yellowknife when we’re crying for programs and proper offices and health centres in our region, which government should do for our people?
I’m really perplexed in terms of how things move. I do see a need for the communities to take part and be a true partner with this government. So this is not enough information in this short time for me to go forward with the motion. I’m going to abstain on this until I can ask more questions here. I certainly am not happy with what I am hearing from the government in terms of how this came to be, but I also see a need for it. I see people in there. I see a need for it, but I’m not happy with your responses and your answers. The same thing has happened in my region. You have really good answers for us in our region, but your department here in Inuvik…. You have good answers too, but I’m not happy with them.
Let me tell you, I do see a need in Inuvik for this. I do. I’ve been there and I’ve seen it, but I think we’ve got a long way to move in terms of working out what our priorities are. So I’m going to abstain, Mr. Chair, on this motion. I’m not comfortable enough to either go for it or against it.