R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I mentioned yesterday that I had over half a dozen business owners and representatives in my office discussing procurement. This was one of the major themes that we discussed, so I'm going to sit down with the Minister and bring up some of those specific examples so I can show him what I mean about value for money. I guess I would like to know: when can we expect this review to be completed and presented to the House? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I have a feeling that the procurement committee might hate me by the end of this Assembly. I am going to switch around my questions here. I am going to jump to the third one that I provided to the Minister. So, the increase has resulted in many government purchases not going to RFP, which means that, small businesses, not only do they not have a chance to bid on these, they do not even know these are going out. Purchases might be being made based on friendships, you know: the person in the government, his buddy might own a store, and that is where they get these purchases from. When you are...

Mr. Speaker, our Premier has stated that the dreams of Northerners are dying. If that's the case, then to many residents, the answers this House received yesterday on questions of government procurement must have sounded like hammer strikes, each one driving yet another nail deeper into the coffin of those dreams.

Despite the fact that four Members of this House, all Members of the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment, raised concerns about government procurement, the Minister of Infrastructure denied the existence of any problems. This stance is based in part on his claim...

He mentioned value for money. That is the other thing I am concerned about. The public is not aware of these purchases. We do not know what is going on, and the public often is the one pointing out if we are not getting good value for money. You know, there are a lot of people out there who pay attention to what we do. I suppose, since they are still determining the terms of reference, how is this committee going to ensure that we are getting value for money? What is the plan going forward?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Early in the life of this Assembly, the Department of Finance raised the solesource procurement threshold for goods and services to $10,000 and $25,000 respectively. This means that those GNWT employees with the appropriate purchasing authority can purchase an item worth less than $10,000 without going to RFP and have no reporting on that spending. I have had some constituents who support this increase, but I have also had some who are very concerned with it. This has been raised in the House numerous times by multiple MLAs. My first question is: it was my understanding...

Thank you, Mr. Testart. There is a motion to report progress. The motion is in order and non-debatable. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

I will rise and report progress.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm just going to forgo the rest of my questions. I know the Minister can't offer opinions, but, you know what, it's the government, maybe there's a policy about it. What would it take for the department to realize that there is a problem? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

People always say to me, "We voted for change. What happened?" I'm tired of saying, "We're working on it." I'm starting to say, "Let's wait another year and a half," because answers like this are ridiculous. Mr. Speaker, I mention the disrespect shown to small businesses by the government. I've seen some of the correspondence sent by the representatives of the GNWT to businesses regarding procurement, and I've heard stories from business owners. Businesses are treated like children and subordinates. The government acts like business exists to serve them, not the other way around. So will this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to recognize a couple of the Pages from Hay River North who have been here with us this week, Ms. Madison Beck and Mr. Ricther Ignacio. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Minister's Statement 1-18(3), North Slave Correctional Complex Inmate Concerns; Minister's Statement 19-18(3), Aurora College Foundational Review Process; and Tabled Document 63-18(3), Main Estimates 2018-2019. I would like to report progress. Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of the Committee of the Whole be concurred with.