Jane Groenewegen

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.

Thank you. You know, to the public that's listening to this, the semantics here are off. Let’s be very clear: there is a vast difference between approving and being advised of or being notified of. I want to tell you that that's all that was going on for us over here: we were notified of it. We did not approve of it. Let’s be very clear. I mean, just because we were notified of it doesn't mean we agreed with it.

I'd like the Premier to clearly confirm that, in fact, the FMB had the authority to extend the loan guarantee and increase it on the grounds of notification to Members only.

Mr. Speaker, this loan guarantee started off at about $3 million, and it was extended and increased at several different points. I would find it very unusual if a public government could guarantee a loan for something where they did not have any say or control or knowledge of what it was being used for and that they would not be at the table.

Do we want to go from $3 million to $6 million to $9 million? Wouldn't the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation have had to come back to our government and justify an increase in our loan guarantee with what it was that they were spending the money on?

Mr. Speaker, I would like to seek unanimous consent to go back to item 7, oral questions.

Mr. Speaker, is there some requirement on the part of our government to also sign off on those schedules? Who would be signing on behalf of our government? Is there any way to delay that signing-off until we have received some of this information we’re asking for?

I move that we report progress.

Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Premier, and they are in regard to the Deh Cho Bridge project.

At least three working days ago the Premier said he was going to have FMBS pull some numbers together which might give us an idea of what it would cost our government to exit the Deh Cho Bridge agreement. He made reference to having that information “in a couple of days.” I'd like to know how close we are. How is the Premier intending to share that information with us?