Thanks to the deputy minister for that clarification. I think we’ve spent almost $10 million to date on this project and we’re now being asked for another $2 million to finish what needs to be done, as the Minister of Transportation would say. I appreciate this is a large project. I appreciate it’s new for us to do an environmental assessment, but I am concerned that it’s almost like we’re, you know, Executive is coming back and kind of picking at us, you know, just a million here or $2 million there. This is the second time in this budget year
that we’re being asked to put money into the Inuvik-Tuk highway. I want to be sure that we’re not throwing good money after bad, I guess, is where I’m at. I don’t yet believe that we have seen the justification for the project in total.
I appreciate the Minister of Transportation’s earlier remarks that there are decision points to come. I think it’s incumbent on each of us as Members to very seriously consider each decision point that we are presented with, and I hope we get lots of them, because it’s been said before and I agree, this is beginning to feel like a bridge project, and I sure as heck don’t want to go there.
The other thing that is concerning me about this particular $2 million request, but also all the requests that are within this supp, is that it is putting us even further in the hole in terms of our supplementary reserve. We will be, if we pass this supp as proposed, almost $10 million in the hole from our supplementary reserve. So that has an impact on our costs as a government because it will require short-term borrowing for us to deal with the ins and outs of our cash flow.
So the fact that we are so much into our supplementary reserve and beyond is in part due – a large part, I think – to this particular project, and there are a few other things, as well, but it’s not something which I recommend us doing as a matter of course, and it’s my understanding from the Finance Minister that going in the hole in our reserve is not something that he wants to do as a matter of course. I felt I needed to comment on it. So that’s all I have. Thank you.