Yes, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I’m here to present Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2015-2016. This document provides for an increase of $2.1 million to the capital budget.

The most significant items are:

1. $1.5 million to provide the Department of Public

Works and Services a capital appropriation to renovate office space in the YK Centre. This amount is fully offset by a lease inducement provided by the landlord; and

2. $400,000 for the Department of Environment

and Natural Resources to provide funding for the increased costs for the new air tractor fleet due to the current exchange rate between the Canadian and American dollar.

I am prepared to review the details of the supplementary estimates document. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will make it on the record here that we will provide that information. We will be monitoring closely the system designed with checks and balances to ensure compliance and a high level of implementation. We will commit to share that with committee now and on an ongoing basis.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following four documents, entitled “Supplementary

Estimates

(Operations

Expenditures), No. 2, 2015-

2016;” “Supplementary

Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2015-2016

;” a letter dated March 13, 2014, to the

chair of the Standing Committee on Government Operations regarding committee recommendations on Bill 24, An Act to Amend the Liquor Act; and a letter dated September 5, 2014, to the chair, Standing Committee on Government Operations, regarding committee recommendations on Bill 24, An Act to Amend the Liquor Act.

I move we report progress.

---Carried

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Two things: that the commitment has already been made as the claim process runs its course that we would be keeping committee and Members apprised of that.

In regards to the concern of the Member for Nahendeh, whatever comes out of that will negatively impact the next budget. Clearly, we’re going to

agree to this budget. We’re going to go

ahead with that and the incoming Assembly will pick up all the pieces for everything, look at all the challenges. But this project and whatever comes out of that claims process will not be tacked on to the capital plan where all of a sudden we have to carve away projects. It will be part of the broad consideration as we do our business as an Assembly, those of us who are going to be back here. This is just to give the assurance to the Member that it’s not automatically $30 million off the next capital budget. You know, worst case scenario. The hope is, as Minister Beaulieu has indicated, that at the end of the day we may sort this out and handle it with the existing budget, and we will keep Members apprised of that,

but it won’t negatively affect

constituencies and other communities.

We will pull something together that will capture that as per the Member’s request.

I just want to point out that in my mind the final mile piece has always been where the business opportunity is and we would be there to provide support as opposed to going to communities and getting potentially into the telecommunication business. So between the providers that are there, the ISPs, the communities with us playing a support role, we want to make sure that final mile gets implemented. But we will, on that basis, pull together the information for the Member in the life of this Assembly. Thank you.

Some communities’ thinking and capacity is well along, like

Inuvik. I know the community of Deline have their thinking very clear about what they see going forward with their microwave connection and wanting to become the sole provider for the community. Every independent service provider, every ISP will have the capacity to make the case. This is a business enterprise that, yes, communities may choose to pursue themselves or they would support somebody coming in that has the skills that’s prepared to wire or put in the fib

re optic where it’s

necessary and hook up the town for the full service of the fibre optic connection. So, we believe that opportunity is there. We have folks on the ground in the regions, in the communities on the economic development side that will be working with community groups, businesses and regional centres, taking calls, and we are standing ready to work with communities as they look at that final mile piece. Thank you.

One of the partners in the partnership that is putting this line in is going to run a managers course with NorthwestTel and they have all the expertise. It would be a logical assumption to assume that in their business case they would be interested not only in putting the line down the valley but where they already have a presence in communities where there is going to be now access to cutting-edge fibre optic connections, they would be there looking to, I would assume, upgrade all of the communities. They have already upgraded them to satellite; most of them have cell phone connections. This would be a logical service enhancement that they would look at.

You have other companies, like out of Inuvik you have Ice Wireless, for example, that may have interests and I am not sure about any other businesses. We also have our sweetened slate of business support programs available through ITI that could possibly be tapped into if there was some kind of business opportunity that this community wanted to pursue, such as Deline. Thank you.