Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In regards to Stanton, the plan, as we will lay out tonight in detail, is going to be for a new hospital with the old hospital being designated for some other use in the coming years.
In regard to the $28 million for communities, what we have done is protected that money from any reductions, recognizing that it is a critical need and that as we manage our money and look at balancing our expenditures and revenues, that’s one area that was deemed to be in need of protection. I appreciate the Member’s comments both about the planning studies and the extended care facility planned for somewhere in Yellowknife.
In regards to the schools in the list, or the better job on schools, in my recollection, in my time there have been cycles where there have been years of schools being fixed and now we’re in a health centre renovation phase, plus trying to do housing, plus trying to do some schools, and we have, as I would remind Members, a $3 billion infrastructure deficit and the total budget this year, I think, with carry- overs and such was $300 million.
So, we’re all
challenged to try to meet the demand as best we can. The challenge for housing, of course, as Minister McLeod has pointed out numerous times, I think they’ve taken out over $6 million so far out of the CMHC funding and that number’s going to get bigger faster in the coming years.
With the issue of too much emphasis on roads, we pointed out, I think, when we’ve met previously, that there are options being looked at as a way to free up more cash in the capital plan through the Build Canada and deal with the roads differently where a lot of the work is basic ongoing maintenance and upgrades. So, we’ve touched on that with committee and will continue to have that discussion.
The cost of power is too high, we appreciate that. That was one of the big reasons we put the $29 million down, that we didn’t want to see an additional 20-something percent increase. We agree, as well, that we in Yellowknife need to pick up our distribution capacity, which is one of the reasons why we’re looking at an expression of interest for one
megawatt, five megawatts and 10 megawatts of wind and/or solar in Yellowknife in the Snare system. We’re also doing a resiliency study and we’re revisiting some of our transmission options just to see if there are any other opportunities and we’re going to continue to invest in the thermal communities, as well, to look at the price of power. Once again, that’s going to require strategic investments and the borrowing of money in a manageable, carefully thought out way to allow us to address some of those pressing issues.
The issue of the support for the Simpson Health Centre, I appreciate the Member’s comments as I am sure does the Member for Nahendeh. So, that would conclude my response. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.