Michael Miltenberger

Mr. Tolley.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the sentiment. The issue is going to be as we look at this supplementary for all the other costs for health, is going to be identifying the funds to make the initial transfer. Thank you.

In regards to bargaining units, this is the one bargaining unit outside the UNW bargaining unit that is currently there for the remainder of employees, plus the NWTTA. Outside of that are the LHOs, which are a separate issue, but the Hay River Health Centre bargaining unit is the only one that is in existence. Thank you.

I just thank the Member for her comments and her rhetorical question.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As the Member will recognize, we have an aging workforce. We have a growing number of employees and the other one that we don’t have a control over is the growing number of referrals that are requiring medical travel. Thank you.

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to return to item 16, notices of motion for first reading of bills.

---Unanimous consent granted.

When a contract is let, there is a process that is initiated from the time depending on what kind of a contract it is, if it’s an FRP, if it’s a tender, if it’s a different kind of contract, there’s a process. There are checks and balance all along the way within the various departments to make sure this is being done by the numbers. The Members stand up in the House and raise issues about specific contracts with veiled and not thinly veiled allegations that there is some type of wrongdoing. We’ve got all the documents here. We’ve laid it all out. Issues in the Legislature are different from...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As the Member pointed out, there’s a history to this project with some considerable trials and tribulations. Our responsibility as a Cabinet and as a government and as a Legislature is to manage our way through this. I’m sitting here as the Minister of Finance. Mr. McLeod, as Mr. Ramsay pointed out, is the Minister of Transportation. And, of course, the Premier is here as well. Collectively as a Cabinet we’re intent on managing our way through this. As Finance Minister I’m accountable in the role that I play and we are here to manage our way through this and we are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The act lays out processes for various departments. Ministers, deputies and all their staff have that information available. There are checks and balances through the system, approval processes required. As well, there are audits done on a regular basis. We table all the reports in the House. When there are concerns raised, they are backtracked to wherever they originated and we make efforts to remedy those situations. Thank you.