Bill Braden

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Based on these circumstances, Northstar has requested in writing to the Minister responsible for Human Resources that the matter be independently reviewed and the RFP be reissued. I agree with the owners of Northstar, and my constituents who have been adversely impacted, that this RFP should be reopened and re-bid. The Minister needs to ensure the process is fair and transparent and that this highly valued and effective service will continue for our employees, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

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Mr. Speaker, we know that within our own Employee Assistance Program, the growth in the number of calls for support has increased substantially between 2005 and 2006 and 2006 and 2007, something like a 42 percent increase. This signals that we have got a substantial need here. I wanted to ask the Minister if he has any indication from the people in his department about this, but a concern is that, now that we have lost these resident professionals from the Northstar contract, there is going to be a much greater demand on other parts of our mental health care system because we will not have...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask some questions to the Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Roland. It relates to mental health services and the demands that we are encountering here in the NWT. I was wondering if the Minister could give us a snapshot of the current level or the current demand for mental health services and our capacity to help people to deal with these, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, to what extent is cost a factor in evaluating this kind of service? Do we have any sense of just how much of the value of this contract is going to be staying here in the North as opposed to being in the hands of a southern firm, Mr. Speaker? We know, for instance, from the Northstar folks, because virtually all of their services are supplied by resident contractors, but 92 per cent of the value of the contract stayed in the North. How much are Shepell-fgi's going to, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions this afternoon are for Mr. Dent, the Minister responsible for Human Resources. It concerns the awarding of the employee and family assistance contract earlier this year. Mr. Speaker, given the high quality of service demonstrated by Northstar over the seven years that it had this contract, and given the tremendous increase in the size of the civil service and the growth in the number of requests over these years, and given the intrinsic value of nurturing, protecting and enabling northern grown businesses to stay in business here to keep resident...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to speak on behalf of constituents who are connected with Northstar Counselling and Psychological Services, a local northern Yellowknife business, Mr. Speaker, which, until the first of April of this year, were the providers of the GNWT Employee and Family Assistance Program. They successfully provided this essential service to us for the past seven years with very high employee satisfaction. However, they were unsuccessful when the contract was re-bid earlier this year and lost out to a large multi-national southern contractor Shepell-fgi. I became aware...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We've been undertaking several debates and discussions about the proposed Deh Cho Bridge, and there's an item here, a new initiative proposed, Mr. Chairman, to provide funding for small capital projects in Fort Providence as follows: an ice bridge lite track vehicle for $275,000 and two ice spray pumps for $350,000; a total of $625,000. Mr. Chairman, I'd like to find out what is the requirement to spend this money now if we are potentially going to be looking at a permanent bridge within the next three years maybe. Is it necessary to spend this money now...

Thank you, Madam Chair. There is a line here to provide funding for the GNWT’s portion of the Interim Resource Management Assistance Program. Madam Chair, who and what are we assisting under this program? Thank you.

Madam Chair, I will use up as little air as possible. I move that this committee recommends that the funding for the review of electricity regulation, rates and subsidy programs in the amount of $150,000 under the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, operations expenditures, not previously authorized on page 22, be transferred to the activity Executive offices within the Department of the Executive. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Mr. Chair, one of the initiatives outlined here, it is a new initiative. It is to provide funding for decommissioning and environmental remediation of tank farms in Fort McPherson and Wrigley to the tune of $350,000. I wanted to ask, Mr. Chair, are these funds in any way being secured through the eco-Trust funding or any of these kinds of initiatives from Ottawa, or are they being handled in our regular course of business in managing our tank farms, Mr. Chair?