Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That’s a very significant what if. There’s work underway. We are looking at coming to, we hope, a new and better understanding with the federal government about the borrowing limit. To ask me what would happen if we had to book it, that’s a hypothetical that I think is premature. We are fully confident that we’re going to come up with a resolution to this issue that will allow us to incorporate this, meet the requirements that Finance Canada says we have to meet with the Opportunities Fund as it ties into the overall determination of our borrowing limit as a government.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My apologies, I should have phrased that a little bit differently. If we are going to expect to borrow $64 million and then another $155 million, I guess the way I could phrase it is, if we’re faced with a decision by the federal government, does that impact our ability to borrow any more money? Would it throw a wrench into our plans to borrow any more money for these amounts that the Minister has suggested in his budget address today?

I would have to ask him too many questions of clarification to be able to give him an answer. I don’t know if he’s assuming we’re going to stay at the current rate, if the government puts us back to 500 or if they give us an increase. I’m not sure about some of these other questions. We’re fully expecting to be able to incorporate whatever the final decision is. We’re expecting it will allow us to move forward and not be punished, as it were, with having the Opportunities Fund. We can’t afford a way that’s going to be detrimental to us. We’ve had those discussions already with Canada. It makes no sense. It would be counterproductive to give us some room and then say now add $120 million or $150 million through the Opportunities Fund and

negate all that work. That whole process is geared toward resolving those issues by April.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I made reference to the Tamerlane Ventures venture at the old Pine Point site. I notice today -- I can’t find the page where the Finance Minister referenced it -- he talked about several different potential mining projects but he left Tamerlane off the list.

The Finance Minister also kept making reference to Taltson and the supply of power to the mines and power purchase agreements. I can’t even guess how much money the government has spent running down that road of trying to sell hydro to the diamond mines. The diamond mines have a limited life. We have a small venture south of the lake which could bring amazing employment opportunities to Hay River, and economic activity. I want to know where this government is at. Like I say, it didn’t rank for mention in the budget address today. Where does the government see themselves putting a priority on doing what we can reasonably to assist with getting that project up and off the ground in terms of cost to power?

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It was an oversight. The list of examples wasn’t meant to be exhaustive but it was fairly exhaustive, except for Tamerlane. I do acknowledge that. We could have easily put that in there as another example of a project that has great potential in the South Slave. We’re going to be looking at all those opportunities, as indicated in the budget address again, as we examine the assumptions for Taltson and all the related issues. The Premier will be standing up in the House during the life of this session to speak to the people and speak to this Legislature about the details that are currently being considered.

Hydro power went to Pine Point in the old Cominco days. Tamerlane’s site is so close to where the hydro went and where the road goes, it would seem that with all those kinds of proximity and access to services that this would kind of be a no-brainer in terms of this government lending some support to a project like this which has so much potential for a community like Hay River. As I said, we do appreciate the government infrastructure going in there, but let me tell you, with about 100 jobs on our doorstep right

now, we could absorb vacant housing without any extra expansion. This one seems like it’s pretty straightforward. What is the government proactively doing to see what they can do to assist with getting this project off the ground?

My

understanding is that the resource prices haven’t been high enough for them to proceed much further. We are interested as a government in looking at how we can be as supportive to any number of industries and projects like Tamerlane. I agree with the Member; it’s geographically located very close to the source. It’s on a highway system. It has many things in its favour. When the Premier stands up to speak in the next few weeks, he’ll be tying those together as we revisit the assumptions of the current project as well as what are some of the other factors that are being considered.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have to do a number of things in this area. We have to continue to look at bringing qualified people north to fill jobs that are hard to fill. At the same time, as I indicated to the Member for Tu Nedhe, there are investments being made in the small communities, the $925,000 that was just announced for the Small Community Employment Program, the $350,000 for student employment.

In Aklavik I understand that the affected employees will be given full consideration under the government’s Affected Employee Policy, that there will be a number of different jobs available. We have money in tourism that will hopefully assist in the small communities. We have a fairly significant amount of money being added to the SEED program so that there is money to try to encourage community entrepreneurs, especially in the smaller communities. We’ve just about doubled our Community Harvesters Fund. We’re trying to do a number of things to promote employment in the communities.

As we look at being creative and thinking outside the box, I think there are a number of areas that can be explored, possibly under housing and how to do maintenance in a more coordinated way in small communities. For example, where you have housing, you have municipalities, you have the government, all with significant assets and none with enough money to do the proper job and other opportunities to join forces and look at a collaborative approach at a community level. There would be enough maintenance work to be done that journeymen and apprentices could be hired that are currently now probably flown in from regional centres.

It will work great in a world where you have an economic base to work out of, but in our communities we don’t have that. The job opportunities are not there. I believe there is only the possibility of two people getting some sort of job within the government while the other 12 people are basically out in the cold. I’d like to ask the Minister what exactly are we realistically doing to invest in the people of the Northwest Territories, especially our young people who are going off to graduate from high school and getting post-secondary education only to be told, sorry, we’re spending $1.4 million to hire competition for the same job you’re coming home for. I find that kind of odd that on one hand you’re saying that, while we’re trying to get professionals to work in the Northwest Territories. Excuse me, the Aboriginal people in the Northwest Territories make up less than 30 percent of the workforce in the Government of the

Northwest Territories but they make up over 50-some percent of the population. Yet we have an Affirmative Action Policy and the majority of the people that are being laid off in Aklavik are affirmative action candidates. Affirmative action numbers are going to go down again. I’d like to know from the Minister what exactly we’re going to do to ensure we have retention programs and services in place to retain resident jobs in the Northwest Territories for our residents.

As I’ve indicated, we have to do both. We have a program now where we, as a government, hire graduates on an interim basis, give them an opportunity to get settled and possibly find full-time employment. The Make Your Mark Program is critical. We hear it from businesses that they have trouble recruiting staff, many of them professional or very specialized kind of skills. We’re investing and working with over 40 companies, trying to meet their employment needs by assisting them. We know we have to do both. We’re investing significant amounts of money encouraging students to go out to school. We’re reviewing our Student Financial Assistance Program to make sure that it’s adequate as well.

Again in the budget we talk about sustainable communities. Every job we lose in our community makes that community unsustainable. It depends on capacity in the community, vibrant people working new jobs, dollars staying in our communities, and also ensuring that we have the capacity in those communities. So if we’re going to be laying off people in Joe Greenland who have LNs that basically have the education and training and those people who have been there for some time, I mean, this facility has been functioning for 32 years. There are a lot of people who are working there. I’d like to know what we’re doing, when you talk about sustainable communities, ensuring that those communities are realistically stable and that the government quit staking jobs out of the communities.

I’ve given a fairly extensive list of some of the program areas that are being funded and that support is there. We’re working, as well, with communities. At the same time we also know, as we talk about efficiencies and effectiveness, the issue of long-term care facilities and the fact that they can only be sustained in regional centres. That’s a direction that the government is going in because it’s the most efficient and affordable way to deal with the issue. At the same time we’re adding hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Home Care Program so that in fact we can work better and more effectively in the communities with the families and health centre and home care staff that are going to be hired to help assist in keeping folks, elders, and those with needs in their own communities in their own homes. Thank you.

Thank you Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary Mr. Krutko.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister, I know I requested this some time ago and yet we are almost at the end of the life of this government. We had a meeting with the Minister in regards to finding, in regards to the rural remote communities, of giving us actual cost breakdowns per program in each community, cost per program, number of jobs in those programs and exactly what the cost to operate programs and services are in our communities and the services that are being developed out there. I would like to ask the Minister if he could pull that information together. He has already committed to it, we haven’t received it and we only have a couple of months to go here, so I would like to ask him, can I get that information before the end of this session? Thanks.

I do recollect the discussion around the committee table about that basically geographical tracking information. I had understood it had been provided, but I will check and I will commit to the Member that we will get it to him during the life of this session, as he has requested. Thank you.

Thank you Mr. Miltenberger. Item 10, written questions. Item 11, returns to written questions. Item 12, replies to opening address. Item 13, replies to budget address. Item 14, petitions. Item 15, reports of committees on the review of bills. Item 16, tabling of documents. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to table the Main Estimates, 2011-2012, Government of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.