David Ramsay

Mr. Speaker, on an annual basis, 80 percent of all contracts that the Department of Transportation has are tendered. Twenty percent would be negotiated. If the Member wants detail in the past year, I can provide that for him. Thank you.

Certainly, through the Detah access road program that Det’on Cho was involved in, they have proven themselves. I believe this will just benefit Det’on Cho and the Yellowknives Dene tremendously, in that it will give their members more opportunities for employment, for education and for training their own people and advancing their capacity.

As I mentioned, with Giant Mine being on the very doorstep of Chief Drygeese territory, I think having the Giant Mine Liability Fund fund the work of the realignment of Highway No. 4, it’s the very least this government could do to help the Yellowknives Dene...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, it’s Highway No. 4, not 7, and secondly, Mr. Speaker, I know the Member, for having been a Member of this House for the past eight years, I would think that he would know the difference between a sole-sourced contract and a negotiated contract.

Mr. Speaker, if he’s going back in Hansard, I challenge him to find one example of where I stood up as a Member of this House and said one thing negative about a negotiated contract with an Aboriginal company in this territory. I challenge him to find that, Mr. Speaker.

Certainly going forward, Highway No. 7 is a red flag project. It is going to be a priority of this government to try to identify capital dollars to keep that highway maintained at a safe, safe clip.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Certainly I’ve heard the Member on numerous occasions going back to the last session on the need to look at Highway No. 7. As I mentioned back then, and I’ll mention it again today, this government is going to require upwards of $200 million for a complete retrofit of that highway and that’s money that today we just don’t have. Going forward we are going to try to identify capital funds that will get us at least the money that we need on an annual basis to maintain that highway. I think the Member can look forward to that as we go into the next set of business plans...

I see it much differently than the Member, obviously. I don’t see cannibalism. I see capacity building for an Aboriginal development corporation that is going to supply opportunities for jobs, training and development of the workforce there.

I believe that going forward, as I mentioned in response to the previous question, we will be tendering future roadwork in the Yellowknife area. Because this money is coming from the Giant Mine Remediation Funds, this is at the very doorstep of Chief Drygeese territory and nobody asked the Yellowknives Dene for 237,000 tonnes of arsenic trioxide to be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There were two other companies that had expressed interest and the Department of Transportation had written to both of those companies. I believe the Member was copied on both of those letters.

Yes, and I think again as things progress in the Sahtu, government has to realize that we’re going to have to look at capacity there. Not just in transportation but in business development and tourism and other things that are just going to be natural for us to be looking at should the population expand there, should the infrastructure expand there, and opportunities are there. We will have to certainly pay attention to that, and again, on the transportation and having an office in the Sahtu, that is something that we will consider.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As things progress in the Sahtu – and we’re very excited about the prospects that are there – it certainly is something I think that would be in the mix as we look at the opportunities that are there. It’s something that the government certainly should take into consideration and we will do just that.

Mr. Speaker, much like the Member’s press release, I don’t really understand the Member’s question. Thank you.