David Ramsay

I’m going to speak today about the Deh Cho Bridge project.

I’m very concerned that the government is so far into this project that it now can’t even begin to estimate what it would cost for us to get out of it.

Regular Members of the 15th Legislative Assembly passed two motions in this House — one in May of last year and the other in August — demanding an updated economic analysis and some detail on the concession agreement before it was signed.

Mr. Speaker, we had assurances from the Premier that we would have that type of information prior to the government signing off on that project. As we...

Again, I just think somebody has some explaining to do. This has been on the books for a while. There is a fire at that school, they’ve got insurance money, and they’ve got $9.2 million approved in prior years. They think they’re going to move forward with renovations at that school. So they go out and do the work, and it comes back. The Minister says it was $22 million; it was much higher than that, Mr. Chairman. So they were under the assumption that they could start the work this year and it would be included this year. So they go back, and they’re trying to do their work to try to arrive...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to talk a little bit about École St. Joseph and the renovation project.

In prior years we approved $9.2 million, and I see that it’s off the books. It’s not included in the proposed Infrastructure Acquisition Plan. I have some issue with that.

We’ve talked a lot about our acquisition planning process and how that’s messed up. There’s a cabinet committee now struck to try to look into revamping that capital acquisition planning process. I think that’s a good thing. If there was ever a reason why, this is it. I feel quite strongly about this one. Because it’s one...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Chairman, I’ve had a tour of the North Slave Correctional Centre. It’s in my riding. It’s not Bowden and it’s not Drumheller. You know, we’ve gone to more of a holistic approach with Corrections. I don't know if having a fence built around the young offenders unit and the North Slave Correctional Centre is necessary. Somebody might be able to convince me of that at some point, but not today; not when we’re faced with the reductions going on.

I would be interested to hear how many people have escaped from the North Slave Correctional Centre and the young offenders unit, because when...

Mr. Speaker, that wasn’t the path I was going down, but the Premier said it himself. Whether the information is being shared or not — we could debate that for a long time. I have a differing view of things than the Premier does, obviously.

Again, I just wanted to ask the question: are we being clear and consistent with the instructions that are being given to the departments? Are all departments being treated equally on the instructions that are being given to them? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I guess the fact of the matter for me is that we weren’t consulted on that. I listened to the Premier state to my colleague Mr. Menicoche that no instructions had been given in terms of beginning reductions. When he was answering my questions earlier, it was obvious to me that he said that instructions had been given to department heads to begin an exercise where they would see where hiring fit in terms of the strategic plan.

So again, Mr. Speaker, it’s a bit complex. It’s a bit unsettling for me. I’d like the Premier to maybe explain exactly what instructions have been given to...

Mr. Speaker, the government seems to be taking this reduction exercise as a licence to pretty much do what they want. I mean, we haven’t known about this. And again, that gets back to my point: if you’re going to make decisions, especially like that, I mean, let us know.

My last question would be on timing, Mr. Speaker. I think there are a lot of rumours out there in the public service. I’ve heard numbers. I don’t want to throw them around; I don’t want to exacerbate the situation. But there are rumours out there about the number of job losses. I want to ask the Premier: when can the public...

It’s very interesting to hear the Premier say that, because — and I get back to the information sharing here — the first I heard of a case-by-case hiring policy in one department — this is the Department of Health and Social Services, and I’ll single them out — was through a constituent, Mr. Speaker. Now, I’d rather hear from the government that the government has taken that angle and they are going to go on a case-by-case basis.

I’d like to ask the Premier: has the Premier instructed deputy ministers government-wide to only go through hiring on a case-by-case basis? What are they basing their...

Thank you. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the Premier, and I look forward to those discussions whenever they happen.