Daryl Dolynny

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the deputy minister responding, but from that response I have a hard time figuring out exactly where these planes will be located. We heard Fort Smith at the Fire Centre. We’ve heard maybe Yellowknife. We’ve heard many other bases throughout the Northwest Territories. There was some mention that this would possibly go to an operator base, whether or not it would be RFP’d or not I didn’t quite hear that and that there would be an operations and maintenance contract associated with that, again not knowing if this would be an RFP type scenario. So I might want...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just a couple of questions I have with respect to the air tanker fleet again. Because it is on this page, I want to ask a little bit more specific in detail how does the department plan to amortize this equipment when it indeed comes into our fleet. I know this year, I think there’s a smaller amount that’s going into the capital budget, and I know at the end I think the Minister did throw a number around of $30 million. How will that $30 million be amortized on our books as we deal with public accounts?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too rise today here. I’d like to thank our mover of the motion, Mr. Bromley, and Mrs. Groenewegen for seconding it.

You know, the Avens concern is nothing new to this House and I’m glad today we’re having a chance to finally discuss its importance. The crux of it is, the motion is very detailed but the motion raises the important issue of critical and a crisis that is pending. That crisis is that many of us in this room are reaching that critical age, some sooner than others, so I am hoping that this resonates loud and clear for those that are closer to that threshold...

Thank you. The Minister and I both know they have more pending GNWT safety lawsuits before the courts, and I know asking him questions on them will just entice a response of no comment, so I won’t ask him. But I will ask him this: Why, Mr. Minister, why, why didn’t you just implement a proper safety program and why is there so much pushback and resistance from upper management? Thank you.

Thank you. The Minister is, indeed, right; it is a very complex issue and, interestingly enough, for a workforce of over 5,000 employees, the GNWT does not have a safety department, no apparent safety program, no safety manual, no training and no contractor management system.

Can the Minister inform the House by what tools or divine intervention, how does the GNWT support our Occupational Health and Safety Policy, our so-called safety program and, of course, our missing contractor management system? Thank you.

Which brings me back to my original question today: With a working industry of over 5,000 employees, the GNWT, led by our senior management, appears to consider safety as an optional program with little or no regard for respecting or obeying our own laws.

The reality is, the GNWT should pay very careful attention to the courts, as the law applies as equally to deputy heads as it applies to the GNWT as a whole. With a number more cases pending in the courts, I fear these lessons of ignorance will become a more transparent reminder of each potential guilty verdict.

Mr. Speaker, being irresponsible...

Thank you. So, again, I appreciate the Minister mentioning a letter. I wish I could have, but unfortunately, I’m under the convention I’m not allowed to talk about correspondence that committee receives. So I’m glad that this letter has now been mentioned by the Minister.

The letter in question did give some reassurance and I’ll underline that word that Conair would work with any northern contractor, but again, what safeguards do northern contractors have or any specific caveat that would reassure business owners here that Conair will work in conjunction with northern providers to provide the...

The reason why I asked that question is because, according to our policy, I believe airplane or air fleet is not indicated, I believe, in our Financial Administration Act, and so I needed to know clarity given best practices in public accounting standards. We can ask that question when we get to Public Accounts, but I’ll need to know that number specifically when we get there.

With respect to the fleet itself, when the fleet does arrive in the Northwest Territories, do we have any indication where this fleet will be located primarily from an operational base standpoint?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I’d like to welcome the Minister and the department here today. I do appreciate over the course of the better part of the year, I know the Minister has been diligent on providing much of the technical and financial assessment to committee in preparation for today. I do appreciate a lot of the background. But for a lot of people tuning in, this is a lot of new information and we’re going to be throwing a lot of technical data here at them. With that said, I think we need to go through a bit of an exercise, because I think we are embarking on a new format when it comes to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to table the Territorial Court of the Northwest Territories Action 2013-000272, between Her Majesty the Queen and the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories as represented by the Department of Transportation of the Government of the Northwest Territories, Grizzly Marine Services Limited and Bill Prodromidis.