David Ramsay

In addition to that, the government has done some work on an office space requirement. It was done by the program review office. Given what you’re spending on leasing office space in this new place… I know the Department of Health has some floors downtown in the Centre Square Mall as well. How is the department involved in any discussions, government-wide, to be a part of the new office building that the government’s proposing be built here in Yellowknife and have any of those discussions taken place? I do believe that there’s some land at Stanton, and I’ve talked about this before. If you...

I guess I am not supposed to say where I saw those numbers, but I saw them yesterday in a committee meeting. It was 27, I believe, in 2004-2005 and there was 56 this past year. That number of 56 has fallen somewhat; to, I believe, 49, as five or six of those individuals have been placed in the Hay River assisted living facility. So the numbers, I know the Minister says they are not going up, just the costs, but if we have gone from 27 to 49 in a span of five years, that is a pretty big increase and I think we need to realize that if there are any of these individuals that we can bring back to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Executive.

Please provide the purpose of the following contracts:

PM 007910

PM 07671

PM 06818

What was the reason for sole sourcing these contacts?

What value was were received as a result of these contracts?

Thank you.

I will take the Premier up on that and give him the name outside of this forum. I wanted to ask the Premier whether or not the Government of the Northwest Territories is monitoring the level of reliance that this government has on consulting services. In my mind, it’s getting worse and whether or not we can try to rein in the spending that this government does in the area of consultants and hiring people to do the work on behalf of the government. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve got some questions today and I guess I’ll give the Minister of Finance, who happens to be the Minister of ENR, a bit of a break and ask my questions to the Premier. It goes back to my Member’s statement from earlier today when I talked about government contracting and the fact that in 2008-2009 the Government of the Northwest Territories sole sourced a total of over $53 million in contracts. In the Department of Executive, for example, out of 39 contracts, 26 of them were sole sourced and some of these to former bureaucrats. I’d like to ask the Premier what...

Can we not come up with a goal of reducing our bad habit of sole-sourcing and our reliance on expensive consultants?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to address the issue of government contracting today. In 2008-2009 we spent upwards of $515 million in contracts. The government’s stated objectives for contracting is to acquire goods and services in a way that enhances suppliers’ access to contracts, encourages competition, reflects fairness, transparency and accountability in the spending of public funds.

Mr. Speaker, over 10 percent of our total procurement, roughly $53 million, was acquired through sole-sourced means. There is little doubt that as a government we need to contract, but from what I have seen...

Mr. Speaker, the Minister talks about groups that are onside, but there are groups that aren’t onside, and I know he says we’re working on it. I’d like to ask the Minister today, how exactly is he working on bringing other groups onside with the decision to ban hunting in that area. Also, how is he going to accommodate the treaty right for aboriginal people to harvest caribou in that zone? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I find it hard to believe that as a government we still don’t have a firm consultation policy when it comes to dealing with aboriginal governments in our Territory, considering half the population here, Mr. Speaker, is of aboriginal descent.

Mr. Speaker, we have a duty to be fair. Successful consultation must include a process and a decision. Today across this country, governments are actively engaged with aboriginal peoples. This engagement undoubtedly includes a degree of accommodation and mitigation. Our government cannot continue to downplay the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am going to speak today on the Bathurst caribou issue. Yellowknife has the largest aboriginal population in our Territory. It is home to over 8,000 aboriginal people. I, therefore, have many constituents that are of aboriginal descent and, given the proximity of the communities of Dettah and Ndilo to the City of Yellowknife, the decision to ban hunting in the North Slave region is having a tremendous impact on some of my constituents.

It is very clear the science on the freefall of the Bathurst herd is compelling, but how do over 100,000 caribou disappear in just over...