Jane Groenewegen

Can the Minister tell me: what was the date of the letter? I don’t have the letter of intent or the letter that’s been referred to interchangeably as the contract or letter of intent or letter of award. I don’t have that letter in front of me. What’s the date on that letter?

The letter of award that we’re talking about includes money that is yet to be voted on in this appropriation bill that’s before us right now. I’d like to ask Minister Miltenberger if he could clarify that. As far as I know, we haven’t voted on the Department of Education, Culture and Employment appropriation yet for this next phase of the Inuvik schools replacement, yet the letter of award includes that.

Let’s just suppose for a minute that it is legally binding. Isn’t there anything that comes from the FMB or from the Cabinet that would indicate a record of decision that would allow PWS to...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The wish of the committee today is to continue with the Northwest Territories Capital Estimates ’09–10 and carry on where we left off yesterday on the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. Thank you.

With respect to this negotiated contract, we have learned that a letter of award…. Well, first of all, when I asked the Minister of Education, he said the contract had been awarded. Then we found out that the contract had been awarded but it was just a letter of intent and that the actual contract had yet to be signed. I said: is it legally binding? They said: no; in fact we have secured a legal opinion to the contrary — that, in fact, the letter to Dowland Contracting is a legally binding document.

I would like to know on whose authority the deputy minister of Public Works was acting under in...

Mr. Chairman, I move that we report progress.

Motion carried.

Mr. Speaker, my questions today are about the negotiated contract for the construction of the replacement of the two schools in Inuvik. There are land claims in place with respect to negotiated contracts in various regions in the Northwest Territories. In the Inuvik region those land claims extend to include the interests of the Gwich’in people. I would like to know if the Cabinet, when negotiating this contract, requested a legal opinion on any obligation they may have to the Gwich’in for a negotiated contract of this nature in Inuvik.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Minister of Finance has kindly offered to provide some additional information on this matter before us right now, so I have a motion, if it could be distributed.

Thank you. Does the Minister know if the Inuvialuit beneficial shareholders benefit directly from any IRC business interests?

Thank you very much. I would appreciate that. Again, just to process: when I asked about Ministers providing letters of support for negotiated contracts in their communities — and Ministers getting involved in discussions about capital projects in their communities at all, I suppose, negotiated or otherwise — it was kind of alluded to that I should know, having been in Cabinet, that there is a process. Something that’s a bit curious to me is that if a Minister provides a letter of support to Cabinet for a negotiated contract for a project in their community, does that Minister then leave the...

Now, supposing that this particular appropriation under ECE gets approval in this House, then the next step will be to draw up and finalize a contract with the party to whom the letter of intent was sent.

I was trying to get at whether there was a significant amount of time between when the letter of intent was sent and when we were talking about this in the House. Then I was going to suggest that perhaps it could have just waited rather than get us into this quasi, possibly legally binding, agreement. But I see there’ve been several months in between: August, September, October — three months...