David Ramsay

My point is that the hospital is in fact a hospital — it is not an office building; it is not an administrative building; it is a hospital — and it should be used as such. I find when the hospital and its departments make decisions to turn patient lounges — and, I’ve heard recently, the nursery — into office space, that causes me a great deal of concern, Mr. Speaker. The administrative staff should be relocated out of that hospital so the hospital can in fact be a hospital.

I’d like to again ask the Minister what plans she has, and the department has, to address this, so we can take a look at...

Today I'd like to revisit a topic I raised last fall with the former Minister of Health and Social Services, and that is of space utilization at Stanton Territorial Hospital.

After numerous requests to former Ministers, a staffing review and HR plan were going to be developed for Stanton. That work is still in progress, but the early indications would suggest that a lack of work space and delivery of services in cramped spaces is leading to stress in the workplace.

Last year the hospital turned a patient lounge on the surgery ward into office space. Washrooms and patient rooms have also been...

Mr. Speaker, I want to pick up where my colleague Mrs. Groenewegen left in questioning the Premier on the Deh Cho Bridge project.

Now I want to talk about process, if I could. I want to go back to something the Premier said the last time we met in November, and that was that he was going to commit to a review of the process that allowed the Government of the Northwest Territories to sign a concession agreement committing it to a $160 million project three days prior to the Territorial election. As we know, during a transition period, when governments are in transition and there’s an election...

During our last session in November I asked a number of questions pertaining to the Deh Cho Bridge project and how it was that the Government of the Northwest Territories signed off on a concession agreement three days prior to the last Territorial election.

Mr. Speaker, just today, Members received a letter from the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation in response to questions that have been asked about the project. I’d like to thank them very much for their letter and, once again, state for the record that I’m not opposed to a bridge being built across the Mackenzie River. I respect and admire the...

I'm just wondering if the Premier could comment on the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation. I know they’ve had some struggles, and they’ve gotten to where they are today through a lot of hard work, but why has it taken so long for the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation to come up with the $5 million in equity? The foundation of the project, and the benefits, were going to come out of that $5 million, and if it’s not there today, it’s not the same story we were told during the life of the last government.

Mr. Speaker, I wonder if the Premier would be able to tell the Members of the House and the public here in the Northwest Territories: who are the partners in the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation today? Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, the Premier talks about numbers being provided to Members of the last government. That brings me to my next question. Where is the detailed, updated cost-benefit analysis of the project, which Members have never seen? We saw one five years ago when the project was $60 million, but the government has yet to provide this House with a detailed, updated cost-benefit analysis. Where is that?

I would like to thank the Premier for that. I would like to ask the Premier about the review that he’s undertaking. Who is involved in that review? I wonder if the Audit Bureau is involved in that type of review, or is it the Premier’s Office that’s doing that review? Who are the players that are involved in trying to come up with recommendations on that process?

Mr. Speaker, that brings me to the question of where the information is on the project. The updated detailed cost-benefit analysis continues to be as hard to find as accountability and transparency in the process. Also, the concession agreement continues to be elusive. We need to ensure the public has confidence in us to make decisions in the best interests of the Territory.

No one Premier or cabinet should ever be able to commit the G.N.W.T. to this type of expenditure without the approval of the Members of this Legislative Assembly. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, it’s a substantial amount of government public dollars going into a project, and we can’t find out who the partners are. That’s par for the course with the project and with the process, and I think that’s something, again, that’s flawed.

I’m wondering if the Premier could commit to making some type of announcement on who the partners are in that project. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: perhaps the government should take a look, if there’s a guaranteed rate of return there…. And I don’t want to come out and say who that partner is, either. But maybe the Government of the...