Jane Groenewegen

Was the amount agreed to in last year’s capital plan and budget for the entire $115 million, or was it for a portion of that?

Okay; I’m going to jump in on this one here. Mr. Miltenberger says we have a very clear price we have agreed to. Is the very clear price we have agreed to the price that was authorized? Was it the dollar amount that was authorized that was approved by this House that somebody — I don’t know; Mr. Roland? — just referred to and said it was approved in last year’s budget? Is it the same amount?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Today we would like to begin work on the Northwest Territories Capital Estimates 2009–10 with the Minister’s opening comments, general comments and then as far into the departments, in order, as we can get within our time limit.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to move that we report progress. Our Members are little down on this side, so I will ask to report progress, please.

I’d like to know how much the contract that has been signed and awarded is for.

This is probably the largest capital project built in the history of our government, barring the Deh Cho Bridge, which is a P3 and a little bit different but an actual project within the purview of this government. To my knowledge this is the largest capital project ever built. Could we get some rationalization for why it was a negotiated contract as opposed to a competitive process? Were other means of procuring this project considered, like breaking it up into smaller pieces? On a negotiated contract, when the process has been described previously as having to meet with the agreement of the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, it is time we get the renovation on the Diamond Jenness Secondary School done. This school is long past its mid-life crises. We need to make this project happen so that the children of Hay River, the students — and a couple of them are right here in the Chamber today — our young people, can have a healthy and safe learning environment and our teachers can have a healthy and safe workplace.

Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement I talked about how the capital plan has been pushed back. I’d like to ask the Minister of Education...

Did the letter of award subject to working out the details also include subject to the approval of this House, and did that letter of intent include a dollar value, and are we capped at that dollar value?

The details that the Minister and the deputy minister referred to that need to be worked out: are there dollar and value issues associated with those details?

So the particular strategic initiative committee on the regionalization of government was not one of the original five? Or was it a subcommittee of one of the original five? Because the ones that the Premier formerly noted — Refocusing Government, Maximizing Opportunities, Building Our Future, Managing This Land — were definitely part of the original five. We were aware of who the ministerial lead would be on those and who else would comprise the rest of those particular initiative committees. So what’s the status of the one on the regionalization of government at this time?