David Ramsay

Again, I just wanted to state again for the record, I am not opposed to the partnerships and I don’t want the Minister to think that I am opposed. However, I think the department needs to learn something. This partnership that we got into with the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation, they never had the required equity. They still don’t have the required equity. It’s cost us as a government nothing but headaches and money, Mr. Chairman. Again, we have to be very careful when it comes to getting into partnerships with folks who don’t have the equity and can’t deliver on the project at the end of the day...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have just a few opening comments on the Department of Transportation. I guess I just want to start off by saying this whole thing with the Deh Cho Bridge, Mr. Minister, is not something that is easy for us to be talking about, easy for myself to be talking about. I have the utmost respect for the Minister and the department. However, we are in this situation. I would expect if the Minister or any of his Cabinet colleagues were on this side of the House and the project was in the status that it’s in, I would expect them to be asking the exact same questions I am...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Thursday, February 18, 2010, I will move the following motion: now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Nahendeh, that the appointments to standing committees of the following Members be revoked: Mrs. Jane Groenewegen, Member for Hay River South, to the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure; Mrs. Jane Groenewegen, Member for Hay River South, to the Standing Committee on Government Operations; Mr. David Krutko, Member for Mackenzie Delta, to the Standing Committee on Social Programs; Mr. Jackie Jacobson...

I’d like to ask the Minister what the government’s plans are in the immediate future for the remainder of that Opportunities Fund. If we’re not making any money from the Opportunities Fund and we’re actually paying an administration fee of 7 percent, what are we doing here? Why don’t we just give the money back if it’s going to be booked against our debt?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It was about a year ago or just over a year ago when I stood up in this House a number of times asking the government questions about the Opportunities Fund and how it was that they came to make a decision to lend $34 million out of that fund. What that did was to raise expectations from around the Territory for other businesses that wanted to get access to some of these dollars for their own pursuits.

I’d like to ask the Minister of Finance, I’ve got a number of questions for him today, but I’d like to ask the Minister why we haven’t made any decisions on the...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On the infrastructure investment strategy, I’m just wondering, given the troubles we’ve had with some partners, you know, and I never have said that we shouldn’t partner with or look for partners where it makes sense. I think if you look at the federal government, the City of Yellowknife, the Municipality of Tuk and some others, I mean, we’ve got some good cases where we’ve gone into partnerships with people who have brought something to the table. Mr. Chairman, I’m wondering if the Department of Transportation has learned anything on the partnership they had with the...

I appreciate the Minister’s response. I guess the last question I’d have is whether or not the Minister understands that, as I said earlier, for a government project which -- let’s not fool ourselves; it has become a government project -- it’s unprecedented for work of this nature on a project like this in this country of Canada to be sole sourced, that this is completely unprecedented, Mr. Speaker, the way this project is moving forward. Unprecedented. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll continue on with these questions. This is obviously, for all intents and purposes, a government project now. We’ve taken it on lock, stock, and barrel by the looks of things. I’d like to ask the Minister, when he talks about contracts that are outstanding, what are we waiting to sign? Are we signing this project management team up to a contract? If that contract hasn’t been signed when is it going to be signed and who is it going to be signed with? I think this is a public government and we’re talking about public funds. The Minister should be able to stand up and...

I apologize if it sounds the same. March 1st is the key date that I wanted to put out there. If the government and the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation knew the problems before March 1st, like I said, it would take 30 days to go to the marketplace, get some pricing for the superstructure. That didn’t happen and now our backs are against the wall. We’re going to negotiate a contract that we obviously won’t be able to get out of. We won’t have any latitude. There’s nobody else bidding on this work. It’s one company. Again, I think given what’s happened with this project and the history of it, at the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a few more questions for the Minister of Transportation pertaining to the Deh Cho Bridge. I listened to the Minister when I was talking about the design earlier. The government has always said that the design was essentially completed. It has been essentially complete for six years now. According to the Minister, most of the components of the redesign and the design work are concluded but not all of the components are concluded. I am wondering if the Minister could elaborate a little bit more. Are we setting ourselves up for more cost overruns on this project...