Daniel McNeely

The driven approach for the P3 public/private partnership initiatives is to incorporate a P3 corporation, which this government has done. On our general tendering process, previous governments have incorporated the BIP policy to allow northern preference in giving that extra advantage to the local seasonal operators of our business community. In the concessionaire agreement that follows as part of the P3 initiative or tenement process, can the Minister confirm whether there's a BIP similar allowance in that concessionary agreement?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I, too, will join the procurement train here and have questions for the appropriate Minister. More specifically, I see the values and the process of procurement only to ensure and build confidence in our private sector, Mr. Speaker, to ensure confidence in our private sector. I can only ask the questions later on to the appropriate Minister more specifically in regards to the P3 process. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The annual budgets of the Government of the Northwest Territories are basically covering two major areas: number one, operations and maintenance; number two, capital spending for upgrades of our continuous infrastructure. Our capital spending helps provide investment certainty for the businesses that operate within our territory, as well as investors.

The Government of the Northwest Territories continues to face many challenges with aging infrastructure, aging assets, building new infrastructure, modernizing our regulatory systems, unforeseen expenditures resulting from the...

Will the Minister share some of the information on the highlights of the process for the P3 tendering process within the RFP?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Earlier I mentioned I was going to be talking about procurement for the P3 projects that this government seems to be leaning more towards in the process of tendering. My question to the Minister of Finance is: can the Minister confirm the GNWT's P3 policy allowance for NWT vendor preference within that policy? Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Following up on my statement, my question today is to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment on the NWT Apprenticeship, Trades and Occupational Certification Strategy.

Can the Minister confirm if there have been any discussions with BHP, the prime contractor for the Stanton Hospital, on efforts to meet the objectives as set out in the strategy? Masi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like the Minister to confirm narrowing it down to four different trades, if that information could be included, third- and fourth-year apprentice individuals for electricians, plumbers, and pipefitters, and also include drywallers as well in the report that he's going to provide. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks for the response from the Minister here. My next question is: in the issuance of the RFP at the beginning of this project, were there targets set to achieve X number of tradespersons within the project?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on the issue of project planning and reviews, both are essential tools to achieving project goals and objectives. Mr. Speaker, the construction of the new Stanton Territorial Hospital, a public/private partnership project. The pre-mortgage construction phase is currently under way and creating a significant amount of benefits.

Capitalizing on these benefits is also essential and expected of this government, Mr. Speaker, more specifically in the area of accumulated apprenticeship hours by the Northern Trades Profession individuals and trainees. The NWT...

I'm glad to hear the departments are working with the other departments on the other side here to try to achieve the goals as set out in the first RFP process during the procurement. My next question is related to hearing the Minister will provide the information: will the Minister also include in the information what was targeted in the request for the RFP and how much it has produced today in terms of apprentice trades accomplishing their hours?