Jane Groenewegen

Mr. Speaker, the Premier is not telling the entire story, and he is misleading the House.

Interjection.

Well, Mr. Speaker, I'd be interested in knowing who approved the loan guarantees, because let’s be very clear: I was never part of a decision to approve a loan guarantee.

Under the Financial Administration Act, when a loan guarantee is put in place or is increased, there is an obligation to notify Members, but I don't ever recall voting on the increase to the loan guarantee. So somebody must have been acting on our behalf in the interests of the government and in the public interest to have approved those. I'd like to know who that was. Thank you.

I was previously directing my questions to the Premier on the Deh Cho Bridge. Maybe I should be directing them to the Minister of Transportation.

My questions are with respect to the $9 million loan guarantee we put in place. Were we privy to what the $9 million to date was actually spent on? Did we have a role to play in approving what that initial $9 million to date was spent on?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I just want to be clear. Is there something yet for our government to sign off with respect to these schedules, which are the appendices to the concession agreement? Do we still have requirements to officially sign something off? If that is the case, who would be signing those off on behalf of our government?

Mr. Speaker, I'd be most interested in knowing when that might happen, because as the Premier knows, we will all be leaving here shortly.

Speaking of leaving here, Friday is February 22. The 22nd was the day by which the legal counsel for the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation was supposed to have “dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s,” as has been referred to a number of times. I'd like to know if the Premier has had any kind of update on the status of that review that's been ongoing. If he wouldn't mind throwing in when we can get that other piece at the same time, that would be great.

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to thank Mr. Krutko for bringing up Motion 5. I know this has been a concern of the diesel communities for some time now. The rates for power in their communities are structured on a community-by-community basis. I also empathize with the cumbersome process when there is a general re-application and the extreme amount of study and work that it takes just to keep the community-by-community–based rates current.

Hay River is not a community that is serviced by diesel anymore so, as Members of this House who are from communities that are on hydro, we’re being called upon to...

Mr. Speaker, it’s my pleasure today as well to recognize my constituents from Hay River South: deputy warden of the SMCC, Quinn Groenehyde, who received the Corrections Exemplary Service Award; and his wife, Jenny, who is an educator in Hay River.

Also, as Minister Lafferty said, Correctional Officer Anthony Beck, who has today received a lifesaving award, and his wife, Lynn Beck, who is also an educator in Hay River. Welcome to the House.

Mr. Speaker, I am an elected Member of this House. I've been here since the 14th Assembly. If I am not aware of the fact…. And it was — let’s be honest — two weeks ago tomorrow that we actually got a copy of the concession agreement. This is a $160 million project. I didn't know, until we got the concession agreement two weeks ago, that our government was in fact indemnifying, guaranteeing — call it whatever you want — a $160 million loan. I didn't know that. I’m a Member of this Legislative Assembly and I didn't know. How could the public possibly say whether or not they support this project...

Mr. Speaker, in a previous answer to a question, the Premier basically threw out the challenge to have an open debate about the Deh Cho Bridge project. That’s like inviting us to a duel, you know, with no gun.

We’re absolutely bound by confidentiality; we can’t say anything. Here we are now — the poor suckers who got to read the concession agreement — and we’re sitting here trying to ask questions in the public interest, but we are bound by confidentiality because of the restrictions that were put on us. We cannot be transparent and open with the people of the Northwest Territories, who are...

Mr. Speaker, my point of order is the fact that the Premier is misleading the House. He says that the banks are on the hook for this $160 million. You know, let’s be honest. The Territorial government is on the hook for this, and I have the concession agreement to prove it. Thank you.