Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Again I’d have to refer to the Minister of Finance as to that level of detail and if it’s been shared. I’m not familiar with it. I’ll go to Ms. Melhorn as to some additional information. I guess I’d have to refer to again the Minister of Finance and his staff to see if that is a meeting that can be arranged to provide that if it hasn’t been on that basis. The simple fact is the Member is saying he does not trust what he’s being presented.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Next on my list is Bob Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I wanted to follow up on my colleague Mr. Ramsay’s discovery that this scour rock was inappropriate and apparently this has been recognized. I’m wondering who put it there and if there is a claim against them. This is the first I’ve heard of it.

I guess while I’m at it, what other things haven’t we heard about in terms of deficiencies? This would be a good time to bring that forward rather than using a crowbar or blunt-handled axe handle to try and get it out of the Ministers. This would be a good time to hear about the things we haven’t heard about it terms of the deficiencies and what we’re doing and what the costs are associated with that.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I didn’t realize anybody would be looking at that level of detail. Some of the deficiencies that we have recorded are scour rock. There is also compaction that is an issue. There is also some -- I don’t know what level we want to get into -- concern over a couple of bolt holes that are now oblong that should be round. There is about a total of $4 million that are calculated for deficiencies and that is the $4 million that is being carried over. Most of the deficiencies or other deficiencies are considered to be minor.

There is some information that we’re working towards for final closure that has allowed us to not close the books or sign off until we have all the information. Some of that stuff is still coming forward from the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation. Some of the deficiencies have been dealt with. Some we are working on. Some we are just waiting for information to close them off.

Thanks to the Minister for those comments. So in my little pea brain, the scour rocks, if they’re meant to protect the piers and they don’t it would ultimately be a safety issue. Is that a

correct impression? I guess it’s particularly the safety issues which ultimately everything with this bridge seems to be, I think.

We’re developing a piece of infrastructure over a large river in an extreme environment. Are there any other safety issues that we should know about? I keep hearing about the quality of the bores and stuff like this. The Minister is looking into that. Is there anything else we should be aware of on that?

Mr. Chairman, most of the information regarding the deficiencies are all relatively minor. We certainly can assure the Members that we’ll do a complete assessment. That is being done right now as we speak with the new companies that we have involved. They certainly are not going to go out and accept a project that has deficiencies that are serious in nature. We’ve also talked to the companies that have been on the project as a result of some concerns that have been brought forward in the last couple of days. They have reassured us that all repairs that needed to be done were completed and signed off. There are still a couple of smaller things that have to be addressed, including the scour rock. We need to have the scour rock on the south side to be valuated to see how much has been washed away or redone. It was only on the south side that we had the issues. That is going to be resolved over this next year. The work that was done was not paid for and we have a holdback for that portion of the work and for other deficiencies.

Thank you to the Minister for that. I’m really trying to develop some confidence here and I know this Minister knows that full and complete information is best. That’s what helps us develop a good relationship and confidence in the project. I’d appreciate it if that could continue.

I don’t want to pick away at this, but all things are completed and signed off except for and then there’s these exceptions that we always hear. I’m waiting to when we can really say that what we have on the ground is complete and safe and thorough and completed and paid for and we don’t have any liens or complaints against it and so on.

I want to move to the financial side, which is our main issue today. Just looking at the projections we were provided, I mentioned the rose-tinted glasses. I’d just like to read off some of these estimates from year to year. Our projections in O and M, our increases from year to year are in the orders of 1 percent. By the way, this includes everything, forced growth and so on. One percent? Have we ever seen that? Has that ever happened? Two percent, 3 percent. I’ve never seen those figures. I’ve never read about those figures. As it happens, the three years we are currently projecting to be over our debt wall we happen to have the highest revenues projected. This does not develop

confidence. This begs the question: do we know what we are doing here?

I stated earlier I want to know what the implications are. I think the most important thing is for us to know what the implications are as we take on this additional debt. We can’t do that if we’re coming up with these sorts of projections. I don’t care what the formula is. As a biologist I know when we’re looking at projections we look back at least to our past performance and that’s an important part of the projection. So perhaps the Premier or somebody could explain to me how we’re going to come up with better, more accurate projections this week that will give us the context on which we need to go forward.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Ms. Melhorn.

Thank you, Ms. Melhorn. Next on my list is Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I’d just like to follow up on the deputy’s comments in regard to getting comfort from the federal government. I’d like to know when will we have the legal authority from the federal government to be able to have this debt on our books and not have it affect our borrowing limit. I’d like to know when is that going to happen and when can we expect that final decision. And if we don’t get it, what happens if we pass this legislation this week and we don’t have the answer next week, how will this debt be handled on our books?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Premier Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the debt will be handled on our books as we’ve laid out here by accepting that, and the issue of having a letter or the Order-in-Council, as it would be referred to, from Minister Flaherty, my understanding from the staff having discussions between Finance Canada and our own finance staff here that his department is working on the temporary adjustment that will allow us to go beyond that current limit that is set, again, relief from this project. I’ve had that verbally from the Minister of Finance. I put a lot of weight in that and the fact that his staff have followed up in discussions and they’re preparing the documentation to go forward. As for exact dates, I don’t have that with me. We’re continuing to press them for the discussion that could be done. Thank you.

Also, in regard to the temporary adjustment that you’re asking for, I believe the request was for five years. Is that confirmed also, that we’re looking at a five-year adjustment, and after that what happens to the debt after the five-year adjustment has been exceeded? How is that going to be handled on our books?

Mr. Chairman, our request has been for a five-year relief on this. We’re, again as I said, the finance staff from Ottawa and our staff are in discussions. We’re trying to get as much information as possible for what Minister Flaherty is prepared to bring forward to his Cabinet colleagues. Thank you.

My other question was what happens to the remaining whatever’s left over after we basically pay down the debt for the $165 million, after the short time frame we’re looking at, five years? What happens to the debt of the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation on our books after the, sort of, little easement that we’re getting here from the federal government? Where does that debt go?

How is it going to be calculated? Is it going to be added to our borrowing limit, whatever the remaining outstanding balance of that debt is?

Mr. Chairman, as the Members are aware, we’ve, in the last couple of years, had some of the largest capital spending in the history of the Government of the Northwest Territories, and to have that happen requires a large cash flow. It’s when those projects are being done and put into service and finishing the construction that we run into the problem of our debt wall if we did not have relief from the federal government. So with this relief, our cash requirements drop down because we go back to the typical capital plan of the Government of the Northwest Territories which is $75 million. Then our cash demand is down, our debt room as forecasted goes back to in the neighbourhood of $100 million available borrowing capacity of the Government of the Northwest Territories once this relief is done, and the debt remains on our books, but it is manageable because, again, our large capital expenditures go back down to a more normal pattern for the Government of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Can the Minister or the deputy minister of finance tell me exactly what year do we see this changeover...(inaudible)...is what year are we looking at the federal temporary adjustment being concluded so that we then, basically, have to make that decision? Because I think that as we all usually see going into elections and whatnot, it’s usually the year four when most of the capital expenditures are made prior to the election, and in most cases the new government that just came in, it usually takes them two years just to get going. So it will be interesting to see what Legislative Assembly will have to be dealing with this. It’s not going to be the 17th . Is it going to be the 18th Assembly or the end of the 17th Assembly, looking

at the five-year time frame that you’re talking about?

I’ll speak to the first part of that, and Ms. Melhorn can go towards the fiscal strategy that they laid out and presented to Members.

The timelines, as we’ve looked at it, we’re okay in the ’10-11 fiscal year. The ’11-12 year becomes problematic without the relief; ’12-13 becomes an issue, as well. But a five-year relief allows us the flexibility to then get back into a normal pattern, the cash demand is down, there is no impact. But let’s fully recognize that even we, as the 16th Assembly,

when we came into office, without accepting any further debt, we we’re talking about tightening our belts. Every government will have to come up with its own fiscal strategy as a going-forward. Our goal is to ensure that we leave them enough flexibility to be able to manage as they go forward. That’s why

this relief is being sought, and we’ve got that commitment from the federal Minister Flaherty. Thank you.

Thank you, Premier Roland. Ms. Melhorn.

Thank you, Ms. Melhorn. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In regard to the remaining debt for the Bridge Corporation after the five years is paid down, how much debt will remain on the books after this five-year window that we’re looking at? Do we have a calculation on how much debt is going to be depreciated in five years and paid down and how much remaining debt is going to be left for the Deh Cho Bridge going forward?