Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the Prime Minister has said clearly buckle up. And if nothing comes, is it the government's plan to start strategizing to build this type of educational funding into our current and future plans? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, would the Minister be very clear to this House that there is no appeal period; it's simply a whine, complain, and lick your wounds process? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to return to the question I was asking earlier here. And I'm concerned about natural justice when we have five bidders, four have been disqualified, and ends up with only one. It's not about the fact that the individual company got it. It's about the process, Mr. Speaker.

So my questions now are directed to the Minister responsible for procurement Services asking about particularly around natural justice. Where is the fairness in having an appeal process that doesn't allow the individuals to actually appeal the contract that the government refuses to consider them...

Mr. Speaker, in the standard we use for hiring process, if there was a competition and the job ends up finding one winner and there's an appeal period, no one's technically awarded the job until that appeal period is going. Why is this so much different given the fact that it's the exact same concept except we award millions of dollars and we put millions of dollars at risk during the appeal period that we could end up paying for it twice in theory? Thank you.

It's up to the Spooker. Mr. Spooker, I too wish to say hello to and acknowledge my cousin from the Deh Cho, Michael Nadli. I was a former Member with -- or he was a former Member with me, or we were Members at the same time, however you want to put it. I know he's very passionate about the Deh Cho process, and I'm convinced that if anyone can help bring that process home to a completion, it will be him. Thank you very much for his hard work and care. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So as a collective, let's say it this way, we have Jordan's Principle money being lost and a number of students being impacted; we have teachers, assistants being impacted; and we have inclusive schooling in general at risk here. Does the Minister have the numbers of how many students are impacted by these financial, we'll say, changes that are at risk? And if she does have them, can she share them with the Members of the House? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recently, a number of us were at a Yellowknife Catholic School Board meeting and they talked about their ability to, say, continue this year because they had, in essence, protected Jordan's Principle money, and that was simply by happenstance that they had a contract in place so the cuts didn't affect them directly. But they're recently quoted in the news of saying basically their funding is at risk if not -- yeah, their funding's at risk, a future risk. And knowing that the government is moving forward on wanting to spend current year money on Jordan's Principle money...

So, Mr. Speaker, it seems clear there is no appeal period. There's a 'let's complain and whine period', but there's no appeal period. So, Mr. Speaker, if there's an error in the review process, the bidder, this unsuccessful bidder, is the one that ultimately gets punished. So how can we fix that, that their bid has an appeal period that's actually an appeal period where it gets reviewed with the eye that maybe an error was made and considered in the fulsome ability that it was worthy to submit and have the chance? And if it's still found wanting, that's okay too, Mr. Speaker. Where is that...

Mr. Speaker, these are very complicated processes and waiting a week or two does not change the ultimate outcome of this. Mr. Speaker, I am going to ask the Minister would she be willing to go back and revisit this process because if a contract eventually identifies the successful bidder, we should allow the people who want to appeal at least a reasonable amount of time to put their case to say maybe an error was made in awarding the process but yet only courts will solve that problem, and we could have a full transparency process if the Minister is willing to investigate this and see if she...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, recently there was a proposal for housing that had gone out and been awarded. Dozens upon dozens of people pulled the contract to look at it, and it boiled down to five people presented a bid and ultimately four out of the five were disqualified for that housing bid and hence there was one that remained. Now, I'm not here about saying one bid should matter over the other, and I'm not picking a bid or a winner, but the fact remains is that after the bid was awarded there's a thing called an appeal period. But the bid continues to be awarded to the one...