Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’ll keep my comments brief as well. I think one of the few consolidated efforts that this government has put forth over the last several years that I agree with is the consolidation of utilities. I would be curious about the placement of positions as a result of the shift of $30 million-some-odd dollars in utilities going from the various departments to Public Works creating quite an unusual increase in the budget of 65 percent. However, that’s recognizing that’s probably going to be a good thing with commodities such as fuel, when one department can administer, tender, and bring all these costs together. It will probably be an opportunity to reduce costs in small communities such as Lutselk’e.
I’m pleased with the Minister going back to settlement maintainer positions in some of the communities. I felt that it was good to have that position go back into Fort Resolution. I often stand up in the House and indicate how little presence the GNWT has in these communities and how high or how low, I guess it is, the employment rates in these communities are compared to our larger communities where we have quite a large GNWT presence. The position of settlement maintainer is still needed in Lutselk’e. It may not have as many buildings as some of the other communities where there are transfers that occurred. However, it’s a remote community and the only way to get tradesmen in there is usually by air. I think that’s how all the tradesmen travel into a community. We see tradesmen coming and it’s okay for the economy of the community to have workers come in to do things like maintaining the boiler at the school. I know that there were some problems there this year. I think it came really close to the boiler... Well, there were some problems with the boiler. I don’t know the details but I happened to be in the community at that time when it was spewing out a bunch of black smoke and they had a tradesman
come into the community to work on that. So maybe a settlement maintainer position should be looked at also in Lutselk’e. Again, I’m pleased that one went into Fort Resolution.
On another note, I think deferred maintenance, the assessments to determine the amount of maintenance that we didn’t do on all the buildings over the years is very positive. We don’t have the money to address all the deferred maintenance costs, I’m sure. At this rate it’s going to take us 90 years. But, in any event, it’s a good thing that we’re starting to address. It gives the government an opportunity to address the more serious issues created as a result of deferred maintenance. I’m seeing the benefits of this program in both communities, in both schools, and that’s very positive.
The rest of the questions I may have for the Minister as we get into the detail. That’s all I have for now.