Thank you. Minister Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, we spent a number of hours with both the Standing Committee on Priorities and Planning and EDI committee late last week and provided a presentation to committee on the requirement of the $2.5 million that you see in the supp before us today. As I mentioned to Regular Members and the committees, the money that we’re requesting is to do the due diligence. I know there have been some estimates on what the highway will cost, but if we don’t go out and do the geotechnical work and the baseline, find out that baseline information, we’re not going to get an adequate picture of what we’re potentially getting ourselves into and we need to do that work.

We’re not going blindly, as some Members have suggested, into this project. In fact, we are coming back looking for this money so that we can do that analysis, we can get the work done and we can put our best foot forward, get the environmental assessment done so that the project is at a point where as a government we can work with the feds and pursue this project. It’s a great project; it’s a project that’s going to connect the highway system in this country from coast to coast to coast. It’s something that is a priority of this government. We intend on pursuing it and it may concern some Members that we’re moving aggressively, but this is a moving project.

We have got to hit some timelines, we have got to do the work and nothing happens if you don’t go after it and get after it. I think that’s something I’d like to see happen, is us get out and get after this project. We’ve spent some time, I know Cabinet was up in the Beaufort-Delta and spent some time with the leadership up there. People are excited about this project in the Beaufort-Delta. It’s exciting from a number of perspectives. It’s going to reduce the cost of living in a community like Tuktoyaktuk.

It’s going to potentially lead to further exploration both onshore and offshore for both oil and gas. It’s a project that we need to continue to support and move forward.

I guess I was a little bit concerned – and I can understand and appreciate some of the concern that Members had – people are saying we’re rushing into this, we don’t know what the cost is. But if we don’t get out and do this work, we won’t know answers to those questions. So that’s what this is all about. This is a project that has national significance and it’s an opportunity for our government to show its maturation and step up to the plate. We have a ready and willing partner in the federal government.

Some Members say that there’s a cap of $150 million. We don’t know that. We have yet to hammer out the financial arrangements, as they’ll unfold at a later date. We still have to negotiate that with the federal government, but first and foremost we have to get the project to a point where we can have those type of negotiations with the federal government and we’re going to pursue that.

This is $2.5 million on potentially an estimated $250 million project. So its work we need to do, it`s work that would be required and I hope Members see this project for what it is. It’s a nation-building project, it’s a territory-building project and it is an opportunity for this territory to show its maturity and partner with the federal government to deliver a project like this. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Ramsay. Next on the list I have Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just have a few comments here in terms of the supp as a whole. It’s relatively minor in that there are only four items, I think, on here. Most of them are in and out, but we do have one very significant item and that is the request for the work to be done on the Inuvik-Tuk highway.

I’ll back up a bit. I was pleased, actually, to see that in this supplementary appropriation for capital, although its number three, it’s a relatively minor amount in terms of the number of projects that money is being asked for, a large amount, in my mind, in terms of $2.5 million for the Inuvik-Tuk highway. But I think Minister Miltenberger mentioned yesterday that he’s looking for the time when I’ll be happy with what the Finance department puts in front of me. This certainly, in my mind, is progress, positive progress. We’ve only had three supplementary appropriations for capital and this one is down from what I think I’ve usually seen.

So I just wanted to make some general comments. I have some specific comments on this particular project under Transportation, but I’ll keep those until we get there. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Miltenberger, no comment? Thank you. General comments. Mr. Bromley.

Thank you. Pretty much in line with the comments we’ve heard to date, Madam Chair, or to this moment. So I’ll just say that certainly the big item here, the Inuvik-Tuk highway proposed expenditure of $2.5 million, the big thing for me here is process. Although I have other fundamental concerns, which I’ll get into in the detail, this is clearly fundamental work that needs to be done, and we must have known about it for some time now and to be brought forward at the last minute and expect it to take priority when we have, in our current fiscal situation, so many priorities that are already being shelved without debate is unacceptable to me. So that’s a major process flaw here. But regardless of that, there are many, many fundamental issues that I have with this proposed expenditure for this fiscal year of which we have six weeks remaining and I will get to those in the detail. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. No comment from the Minister? Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I respect the Member’s opinion. I don’t necessarily agree with some of what the Member has said.

For him to say that there’s no debate, there is debate, this is the first step along the way, the second step along the way. So there’s ample opportunity for us to debate this $2.5 million right here today. Also for the Member to say it’s last minute, it does seem like it’s moving along quickly. It’s a big project. It’s something we support from the federal government on: $150 million. There aren’t any other substantial, huge projects going on. The Deh Cho Bridge will be concluded this fall, but other than that we’re wrapping things up on the Inuvik school. We need projects, we need jobs, we need economic activity, and this, Madam Chair, does that in spades.

Again, things move quickly. We had the election in October, we had Christmas break, we got back. On a project this size if we want to see construction start next winter, we have to move, we have to get the environmental assessment complete and we have to iron out the details with the federal government to see this project and the opportunities and benefits it will bring to the residents of this territory this coming winter. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Ramsay. General comments. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The funding that we’re going to be debating has to do a lot with the timing of the supp for the infrastructure.

I have not heard one member in our community say they oppose the highway, the Mackenzie Valley Highway. We all actually support it. It’s the way that the funding is coming about to continue the work, as Mr. Ramsay has indicated, for the people of the Northwest Territories.

Also, the federal government has signalled this project as a priority through their budget. They’re saying we have $150 million and we’re starting to understand that it’s a 25/75 partnership and that it may not at the end of the day be 25/75. It might be a 50/50. So what we on our side are willing to risk, chance, is that if it does pan out to be that it’s going to cost more than $250 million or $260 million then are we willing to borrow more money? Ask us to maybe have our projects delayed for a year or two in our communities? That’s the risk.

We know there’s work that needs to get done up there. Start working. It’s a significant project. What we’ve been told is that we have to look at this project because it means work next year, which is understandable. The timing here is not really the best for us. They`ve got $2.5 million by the end of March. That gives us what, six weeks? Eight weeks? That’s the thing that we’re looking at.

I think we have learned a lot from the previous government on the Deh Cho Bridge. That bridge isn’t even done yet but we have learned and we are still learning. For some of the provinces or the federal government this project is small. This is peanuts to them. I know the Alberta government put a lot of bridges up. They use lots of money. They put roads, also, in areas. They even pave them. Sometimes you don’t even know they’ve got paved roads. I’m in the Sahtu; I don’t even know what a road is.

I guess for us, for myself – I should speak for myself – this project has the Government of Canada’s radar. We’re on their radar right now. They’re only capping $150 million. Unless our Premier and our Cabinet can go there and ask for more money and say make it a real 25/75, because you know what? We’re going to start digging into our infrastructure dollars and it’s looking like a 50/50 partnership. There’s no guarantee that this Cabinet is going to do that. The federal government is going to say we told you $150 million, that’s it. You make up the rest. That’s something we have to think about.

I know this project is close to the hearts of the people up in Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk. As much as the Sahtu wants roads, they want their roads too, so much that they got the Prime Minister to make it a priority within the Northern Strategy. Tell Flaherty to find the money; we’re going to help them build it.

It’s the timing of this how this supp is coming through. It’s how this project is being looked at right now. It’s almost to the point where it’s a done deal. I think that we need to build the Mackenzie Valley

Highway. I need to say that I hope that this supports the Northwest Territories. I’ll ask specific questions on the Inuvik-Tuk road. I think that the Dempster Highway certainly can use this money to pave that road. Dusty as hell, the Dempster Highway. We’re not even paving it. I’m sorry for my language. There are people that use that road and they don’t even pave that road.

Are we dancing to the Prime Minister’s tune? I think this road here will cost more than what I heard from the Minister. Mark my words; it is going to cost more. I just don’t know if we’re going to pay it. I hope that Mr. Ramsay goes to Ottawa and says we need more. I’m not too sure how that’s going to work. I really don’t know the consequence of us making that decision today.

I know people up in Tuk and Inuvik need work. I support them. There are some good people up there, hard workers. They need to get on with this road here. Same with Inuvik. It’s not our fault that the oil and gas economy is down in that area. I don’t know the specifics on that, why they’re not working as much as they used to work in that area. Like any other regions, they’re also starving for economic development in their communities. They would certainly love to see a $2.5 million project go ahead in their communities. We’re just not that lucky.

I’m going to leave some specifics to the detail. I’m hoping that the Assembly here has some good thoughts as to how we continue to move on this project. The timing is not great. That’s the thing that bothers me. Like I said, the majority of Members support the Mackenzie Valley Highway so much that we gave money in the last Assembly to specifically Inuvik and Tuk. Other projects in our communities also need some attention. That probably goes through the normal business plans.

I know Mr. Harper is monitoring our discussions. I hope he’s listening too. We should honour and he should honour. If he says 25/75, the Harper government should honour that formula and not get out of it and say it’s only $150 million we’re going to give you, you deal with the rest if it’s more than what we think it’s going to cost. That’s what Mr. Ramsay is saying. We need more money. Now we know what it’s going to cost us but we need more money to access funding. I hope we haven’t closed the doors on our discussions with Mr. Harper or the people of the Northwest Territories will pay. Somehow they will pay.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate the Member’s comments. Just if I could speak to some of the major points he’s made.

The federal government, Ottawa, sees the Tuk-Inuvik highway as a first step to the completion of the Mackenzie Highway. That’s very clear to us. The timing piece is important. Since we’ve been elected and we’ve had this discussion, we were elected in October and we picked a government in the middle of October, we had a capital session in December. We were also in significant discussions with the federal government about the borrowing limit and our ability to in fact engage in any kind of investment in infrastructure at all, including this project. We were not in a position at that point to say anything definitively because we had not advanced those discussions to the point where we as a government were confident that we had the commitment of the federal government to work with us and recognize our need for a borrowing limit increase.

Since December we had that discussion and we’ve had the meetings. The Premier met with the Prime Minister. I’ve been in discussions with Minister Flaherty. We do have that comfort. We do have it verbally and in writing. So we made the decision at that point that we could move on this. We don’t want to miss a year. The first available time to come back to this Assembly is where we are right now. We scheduled meetings with the committees prior to this to let them know what was happening to do the technical briefings and all the reviews. We, within a fairly compressed timeframe of this new government, have made, I believe, all the right steps to keep everybody fully engaged.

We need to do this work. We need to have a Class C or B estimate so that we can have a clear number collectively that we can look at and make a decision on how much it’s going to cost. As Mr. Ramsay indicated, we also at that point will have a discussion with the federal government based on that number and to see what the split is going to be. Those are all critical pieces. We have made every effort to do this. We, I believe, have made a strong case. We don’t want to lose a year. We have 1,300 days left. This project, in order for us to make an informed decision we need that work. The final decision will come before the House. It’s not going to be Cabinet sitting upstairs in the office just signing a deal. We’re going to have to be able to make the case to this Assembly and to the public and to the people that we’re going to spend X amount of public dollars and we’re going to spend it on this project, and this is how we’re going to manage it, and this is how we’re going to be able to finance it, and this is our portion and this is what the federal portion is going to be. We have to be able to make that case to the people but we can’t do that until we do this work.

Once again, Madam Chair, I’ll ask the Minister, who is much more intimately involved in this process, if he’d like to make any further comments.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I thank the Finance Minister for that. At committee last week there were a number of questions about decision points and I think some Members were under the impression that by approving the $2.5 million we’re saying yes to the, well, if it ends up being $250 million, but that’s not the case. I can’t reiterate that enough. We are not at that point. We need to get to a point, as the Finance Minister said, where we can make an informed decision on whether we can afford it, what it’s going to cost us, and those discussions will happen in this Assembly with the Members of this House. That’s how this project will move along.

When I was at committee on Friday I gave the committee my assurances that every step of the way this is a big project. You’re looking at a $250 million estimate. It’s a big, big project and we need to be working through this project together. We need to be supporting one another and working with one another to ensure that the project does get completed and we can maximize the benefits to residents here in the Northwest Territories and people in the Northwest Territories. That’s what I intend to do and I look for that support from the Regular Members to allow us to go out and do this initial due diligence, the work that has to be done up front. As a government we have to invest some of these dollars so that we know exactly what we’re getting ourselves into and whether or not we want to get into it. It’s the price you would pay for progress.

We have to progress. If we were to backtrack on this and waste a year and lose a year, it’s just not something I think we should be even entertaining. I think we need to find this money, get the work done and move forward. Get some things accomplished here. This project is in an area where they need the jobs, they need the opportunities, and it would be welcome economic activity in that region of our territory.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. General comments. Next on the list I have Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. Next on my list I have Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Just some general comments about how our government miraculously finds money for the Inuvik-Tuk highway and Betty House and the millions of dollars. I’ve been here seeking some certainty and funding for Highway No. 7 time and time and time again, yet the capital budget shows nothing for Highway No. 7. I don’t know how else to make the case that we have to spend money there. I am concerned that our priority of the Inuvik-Tuk highway will cost a reduction of any future capital

dollars for Highway No. 7. I’m not too sure how we’re going to manage it and I just wanted to get it on the record that we have to seriously consider it.

A couple things that are not making sense on this project is that they’re asking for $2.5 million for geotechnical work, potentially another $2.5 million for geotechnical work next year, and now they’re saying they want to begin construction next fall. That’s impossible to do. I’m not too sure what the plan is there for the Inuvik-Tuk highway. It just doesn’t make sense. Yes, they do the geotechnical. The geotechnical has to be done, so we have to do $2.5 million this year and the next year. My concern is that should the borrowing limit, if and when it does get increased – and I’m just going to throw out a number because I’m not too sure if we can borrow up to another $300 million – that we’re going to use half or maybe more of that towards the Inuvik-Tuk highway and then we do have other projects.

You know, I made the case this week to highlight and get attention for Highway No. 7. That will be first on the red flag list, but there are other projects in other constituencies that have capital demands that are just as important. How are we going to work towards this planning of future increase of our borrowing limit? That kind of concerns me.

I think the Members have been saying that. I think the biggest concern is giving approval to the first $2.5 million puts us in a situation where we cannot back down from the future of the project. I think that’s an immediate concern. My concern is projects throughout the whole Northwest Territories and how accessible we can be towards any increase in the capital plan.

They speak about the certainty of the federal government giving us $150 million. I’m not too sure, but nobody’s been able to confirm that it is in the federal government’s budget. It was certainly in the budget speech, but did it translate into the budget? I don’t know if they’ve given us any portion of that $150 million yet and will it be in this upcoming federal budget as well. Those are the questions that I have not yet heard answered, and I certainly would like to hear them answered as we move forward.

I know that the window of opportunity for geotechnical work is narrow and small. I don’t know if you’ll spend the whole $2.5 million that they’re requesting in the next six weeks. Maybe the Minister can assure me or us that that’s the case, or are they just kind of asking for $2.5 million and are only going to spend $1 million.

The reality of the situation is that they should actually ask what they can have the capacity to do and not just grab untold millions of dollars. Because that’s my issue, is that if they’re just going to grab $2.5 million because they think they need it, and I think I need it for Highway No. 7, so why can’t I

grab a million or two dollars? Their reasoning is really on shaky ground and is causing me concern, Madam Chair. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Madam Chair. In regard to the process with the borrowing limit, once the number is clear, we will be coming forward with a suggested plan of action that will see us laying out over the next four years the steps we have to take to be able to access and put to use strategically the borrowing limit, some of the money in the borrowing limit. Keeping in mind one of the big things holding us back right now is we have to be able to provide half of the funding for capital out of our own savings coming from our operations. Right now we don’t have those savings accrued and we will have to accrue those savings over the next couple of years so that, in fact, in year three and four we can lay out a much more ambitious and affordable capital plan that will see us with the accrued savings and be able to make use of the borrowing limit, keeping in mind we also have to pay that back.

That commitment is there. That will come before the House through the due process and through all the various committees. Once that information is clear and by the time we gather for the budget session in May/June, that information, that plan will have been through, I hope, Cabinet and committee, because the number will be clear.

The other part of the strategy, of course, is the plan to try to put the federal money to use first. In order to do that we need to have the frontend work done, the environmental assessment and this other geotechnical work that will allow us to demonstrate that there is a project and that we’ve addressed the issues, the geotechnical issues, the permafrost issues, the environmental concerns that may be there, the access to granular material, all those types of things. This is a critical investment, and once again, no deal will be signed or agreed to before it comes back to this House where we can lay it out chapter and verse what the cost is and what’s affordable and is it, in our mind, doable. Is the split fair and clear and if it’s over what is being initial estimate, is the federal government prepared to move those or all the discussion items that have been brought back to this House? In terms of the commitment to the $2.5 million, I will ask Minister Ramsay if he will speak to that issue, as well, about the need for the money over the next six weeks. Thank you.

Thank you. Minister Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Chair. It is my understanding that the work, the geotechnical and environmental work, much of that is easily done during winter months, which would

require the work to be concluded prior to May. If we are looking for additional funding next fiscal year, some of that work would get done almost immediately on the heels of the work that is going to be done with the $2.5 million in this supp in an attempt to get the environmental assessment complete so that we can get to the details of the agreement with the federal government. I know the Member said some of this sounds like it is on shaky ground, but we are trying to do what we can so that we are on very solid ground. I think the work that is going to be done, geotechnical and environmental work, is work that is going to be integral to the entire project, obviously, so we need to get that work done.

We do have the $150 million commitment that was in the throne speech. We have the government’s word that they want to be our partner in constructing a highway from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk. They committed $150 million, but as the Finance Minister alluded to, we are a ways away from negotiating exactly what the deal is going to end up looking like. That will happen in due course, but from now until then, we have to ensure that we put our best foot forward and do the work that we need to do so that we can be at a point where we can come to the table with that EA and be able to hopefully construct a road between Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Ramsay. Next I have Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to start by commending the Premier and Cabinet on the speed of following through on our priorities for the 17th Assembly. This project has

been highlighted as one of our main priorities for this government. There is a time frame that we have for working up in the Mackenzie Delta/ Beaufort-Delta and that is between January and mid-April. If we are talking about holding this project until next year, by the time we get this stage of work done, it will be wasting two years of our term. I don’t think that we could put these sorts of major projects on hold just over $250 million. The day before yesterday we spent $2.3 million to a good cause similar to this.

In the Mackenzie Delta right now there is very limited work. We have six major construction companies that are sitting idle right now. There is just keeping ice roads open, maintaining highways. Our people need work. Right now we have people going to the Sahtu. They have $60 million worth of work over the next three years.

Another priority for this government is our economic expense for the territory. Now it just troubles me that to put all of these major priorities on hold over $2.5 million. It is kind of disturbing me right now. Any major project, you have to do your due

diligence. That is one thing our government is trying to do here. I am in full support of this.

As I mentioned, we have a short time frame. We have about two months to get this work completed. By the fall we will have all of our information that we need for this work to proceed. Hopefully we can move this forward and support our people in the territory. They need a strong economic territory. That is one thing I believe this government, if we all pull together, we could achieve that for people of the Northwest Territories. Mahsi.