Michael Miltenberger

Legislative Assembly photo

Roles

In the Legislative Assembly

Elsewhere

Crucial Fact

  • His favourite word was going.
Historical Information Michael Miltenberger is no longer a member of the Legislative Assembly.

Last in the Legislative Assembly November 2015, as MLA for Thebacha

Lost his last election, in 2015, with 39% of the vote.

Statements in the House

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters September 28th, 2015

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the Member’s comments. In regards to the issue of lack of community energy projects, I think there’s a number that have been put in, either in the community or through NTPC, if I could refer to Colville Lake, for example, or Lutselk’e, where we’ve got power purchase agreements. We spent hundreds of thousands of dollars taking a look at Deline. We’ve got biomass, albeit in our own buildings for the most part.

We’ve promoted and are

helping build an industry now.

I appreciate there’s a need to do more. We have an expression of interest coming out, for example, for one megawatt, five megawatt, 10 megawatts of wind and/or solar in Yellowknife in the Snare system to see what the marketplace is telling us. So, I appreciate that the Member would like us to do more, and we are going to come forward. There are some big ticket items that we’re going to have to manage. For example, putting in wind up between Inuvik and Tuk, which would probably be in the $50 million range to do nine megawatts of power could have a dramatic impact on diesel consumption.

So, it’s not

that there’s a shortage of projects, it’s more of a shortage of adequate resources to do them all.

The issue of the roads, I would suggest that if you had the Wrigley to Norman Wells portion of the road built, that would be a single great decreaser of the cost of living up in the Sahtu. That type of connection is critical, I think. We have the same kind of challenge going through the Tlicho and then the road into the mines that would help prolong the mine life and add considerably to the continued economic good fortune when it comes to the diamond mines. So we would have to manage those as well.

There’s a briefing on Stanton tonight at the rise of the House.

But clearly, it’s a $350 million project that’s

going to proceed.

It’s going to get a new hospital. It’s

all good news. There’s going to be increased services. It’s going to demonstrate to you that it’s going to come in on budget

and on time the way it’s

structured.

So, we’ll spend the time that committee

needs on that tonight.

The issue of child care, daycare, those types of things, that is a discussion to be had again.

There’s

no money in the budget. The agreement, when we did the capital plan, was to make it as status quo as possible, recognizing that this is a very unique circumstance for the first time where the outgoing Assembly is doing the capital plan for the incoming Assembly for the first year, just because of the late date of the election and the need to make sure we don’t lose the building season. So, we’ve done our best to honour that direction, to keep it as status quo as possible.

The college campus, I agree, has been on the books for a long time. One of the discussions that has already come up is with the old Stanton Hospital, what’s going to be the use for that, and we have to look at all options and that’s a building that’s still going to have some life left to it. One of the considerations may be that Yellowknife college campus is a potential.

The new school for Detah, we’ll make note of that and I appreciate, and I haven’t been there for a while but I have been to the school, it has seen better years. I appreciate the comments on Sissons and the comments on schools in Nahendeh. Thank you.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters September 28th, 2015

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have with me Sandy Kalgutkar, deputy secretary to the FMB; Mr. Paul Guy, deputy minister, Public Works and Services; and Mr. Russ Neudorf, deputy minister of Transportation.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters September 28th, 2015

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters September 28th, 2015

I am here to present the Capital Estimates, 2016-2017 of the Government of the Northwest Territories. These estimates represent $292 million in appropriations

for government and $28 million for community infrastructure investments in the 2016-2017 fiscal year.

These estimates do not include appropriations for housing infrastructure proposed by the NWT Housing Corporation in 2016-2017, totalling $22 million. The appropriation for these investments will be sought during review of the 2016-2017 Main Estimates by the 18th Legislative Assembly. The NWT Housing Corporation’s proposed 2016-2017 Capital Plan, however, has been included in the estimates document as an information item for review and comment.

Including the proposed housing investment, the total planned infrastructure investment in 2016-2017 will be $342 million.

Major highlights of these estimates include:

• $91 million to seek appropriation authority to

record the Mackenzie Valley Fibre Link Project on the GNWT’s balance sheet;

• $69 million for highways and winter roads across

the NWT. This includes funding for the Inuvik- Tuktoyaktuk Highway and the first bundle of highway projects submitted under the new Building Canada Plan;

• $60 million for health facility replacements,

renovations and information system upgrades, including funding required for the renovation of the Stanton Territorial Hospital project;

• $28 million to continue to contribute to

community infrastructure needs;

• $20 million to begin replacing the current air

tanker fleet that support forest fire operations.

Members have expressed concerns over the lack of funding allocated to NWT schools in government capital plans. In response to these concerns, these estimates include $400,000 to provide planning study funding for the J.H. Sissons and Mildred Hall school renovations in Yellowknife.

Looking ahead, the GNWT is facing the difficult challenge of maintaining existing assets, improving housing stock and meeting legislative requirements unless steps are taken to free up fiscal resources.

Regardless of this challenge, the GNWT will continue to ensure our limited capital funding is used to support the territory’s essential infrastructure base so that programs and services can continue to be delivered, aim to make investments in strategic infrastructure that will better position the territory and all of Canada to maximize economic opportunities of the North, and to look at options to mitigate the impact of climate change.

I am prepared to review the details of the 2016-2017 Capital Estimates document. Thank you.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters September 28th, 2015

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Tabled Document 281-17(5): Northwest Territories Capital Estimates, 2016-2017 Tabled Document 282-17(5): GNWT Response To Committee Report 16-17(5): Report On The Review Of The 2013-2014 Public Accounts September 28th, 2015

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents, entitled “Northwest Territorial Capital Estimates, 2016-2017” and “GNWT Response to CR 16-17(5): Report on the Review of the 2013-

2014 Public Accounts.”

Question 883-17(5): Impact Of Fiscal Restraint Policy On Public Service September 28th, 2015

We have over 5,000 employees. Our human resources costs are the single biggest costs in the government.

As we look at ensuring our revenues and expenditures stay in sync, we are looking at all options where the money is spent. One of the ways we can make sure that we can protect programs and services and still manage the money on a go-forward basis.

Question 883-17(5): Impact Of Fiscal Restraint Policy On Public Service September 28th, 2015

We, as the government, are looking at how we make sure that our revenues and expenditures, on a going forward

basis, stay the same, that our expenditures do not exceed our revenues and that we don’t start borrowing money for programs that we anticipate and plan for what has been determined and demonstrated to be a flat economy with revenues going down. So, we have an obligation as we look to making sure that the 18th Assembly is provided with

the best information possible, to pull together all that information for the consideration of the 18th Assembly.

I want to point o

ut that it’s anticipated at this juncture,

given the lateness of this election, that we would be looking at an interim appropriation to allow the incoming Legislative Assembly the full time it needs to decide the path forward. Thank you.

Question 883-17(5): Impact Of Fiscal Restraint Policy On Public Service September 28th, 2015

Once again let me state for the record that the Member is getting way ahead of himself on these questions. There is no

thing that’s going to be decided by this

government. There is transition planning in a whole range of areas that is going to be done.

As the Premier indicated in his statement, balancing our revenues and expenditures is a challenge of this government and will carry on as a challenge to the next government. When I do my fiscal update tomorrow, I will be making that same declaration. All we are doing is getting our transition documents ready and there will be no decisions made in the life of this government about what the 18th Assembly

may decide to do in their wisdom. Thank you.

Question 883-17(5): Impact Of Fiscal Restraint Policy On Public Service September 28th, 2015

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is getting way ahead of himself on this particular issue. There is going to be no budget that’s done by this government. The only budget we’re dealing with is the capital plan budget before the House, and what we will be providing is a transitional document that encompasses a whole range of activities that Members are aware of, and the incoming government and Assembly then will make their own determination once they get their briefings. The fiscal forecasts, the issues and challenges before them and opportunities and decisions will be made to exactly what steps the 18th Assembly will take at that juncture. Thank you.