[A-List] (no subject)

[a-list-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

N.W.T. "promises" pipeline "readiness" office in Hay River by
     end of March
From: "Macdonald Stainsby" <mstainsby@xxxxxxxxx>
To: rad-green@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
User-Agent: SquirrelMail/1.4.2
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
X-Priority: 3
Importance: Normal


N.W.T. promises pipeline office in Hay River by end of March
WebPosted Mar 8 2005 08:07 AM MST
CBC News
http://north.cbc.ca

YELLOWKNIFE - The N.W.T. government says it is set to open its pipeline
readiness office in Hay River by the end of the month. The new office will
co-ordinate the territorial government's response to the Mackenzie Gas
Project.
Hay River

Hay River
But Kam Lake MLA Dave Ramsay says the office is two years overdue and he
wants to know what happened to the $850,000 the government set aside last
year for the project.

In the legislature on Monday, Ramsay demanded to know where that money was
spent and how many people would be assigned to work in the office. "I feel
strongly that the government is lagging behind, I feel that this is
probably two years overdue," he said.

The government, said Ramsay, should have opened the office years ago
considering the importance of the pipeline project.

"The government, in my mind, is lacking some foresight and leadership and
seems to be letting bureaucracy get in the way of finally opening up this
office. As regular members we've still not heard specifically which
positions, government-wide, are dedicated to the pipeline project. To me,
this government seems like they're asleep at the switch."

Resources Minister Brendan Bell says his department has already hired some
people and it is going through a process to hire others. He said the
office is set to open before the end of the month.

"It's hard for me to disagree that we shouldn't have been able to move on
this more quickly. We have seen this development coming for some time. All
I can say is that we are responding now, we're moving very quickly to
ensure the office is up and running by the end of March," Bell told the
assembly.

Bell says about 20 territorial government employees in various departments
and location will be assigned full-time to the pipeline file.

The office will have a budget of about $2 million per year.

--
Macdonald Stainsby
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green
In the contradiction lies the hope.
--Brecht.