Bob Bromley

That’s all I have, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just have a couple of questions on the Stanton Territorial Hospital Renewal Project. First of all, I appreciate that the Minister will not privatize medical services. Of course, committee insisted that during the development of the P3 policy that if we ever contemplated hospital renovations as a P3, we would certainly not be open to privatization of medical services. Of course, as I understand it, the P3 project has something to do in its title with maintenance. I think it’s construction, operation and maintenance or something like that, not operations. That’s the...

Thanks for that information. I assume the last year is just patching up things that need to be patched up and might deal with things that might come up, but I’d welcome any further information on that. Actually, that’s really it.

Like I said, I would welcome any more comments there. I did want to appreciate that the Hay River facility is happening. I know they lost a facility with the demolition of their previous hospital, and the Minister has been hearing us talk about long-term care beds, and here’s an example outside of Yellowknife where there is action happening, as I mentioned earlier, as...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to table a letter from ENR to the chair of the Wek’eezhii Land and Water Board, entitled “Response to Board Requests for Comments – Ekati Reclamation Security.” Mahsi.

Thank you. From what I hear anecdotally from constituents and those involved, there is a chill in the ranks of ECE surrounding any acknowledgements of difficulty with the implementation of this program, and this goes for the regions.

What direction has the Minister and his senior staff given to regional staff on procedures for dealing with complaints about Junior Kindergarten from ECE workers and the public?

Thanks to the Minister for that response. My last question is: Will there be another opportunity for committee input once the bids or tenders are made to participate in the final decision on this project?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for Minister Lafferty, ECE. The Minister has often said that there are no complaints regarding the implementation of Junior Kindergarten in the Northwest Territories. In contrast to this, I am told that ECE staff are not allowed to take complaints about Junior Kindergarten and that there are indeed serious issues that need to be addressed and are looking for a responsible party. Issues raised by my colleague from Mackenzie Delta certainly seem to confirm this disconnect.

Does the Minister have a clear process for registering and responding to...

I would certainly hope it would be maintained and operated for a significant number of years. What I’m looking for is who is going to maintain and operate the hospital and for how many years before this public infrastructure returns to the public.

The bridge was certainly a P3 project and it was a failed P3 project and it cost us a lot to get out of that and we did it then as a project of public government. I wasn’t aware that we are obligated for projects over $50 million to use a P3 policy. I thought it provided the opportunity to allow us to look at P3s. So, that’s quite a finesse by Cabinet, so maybe I would like to just get confirmation of that if I could. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Minister of Finance has indicated that if the bids come in high that we would not go forward, or possibly not go forward with a P3, and if our borrowing limit requests come in, we might have some capacity to do it ourselves and do that. Is the Minister aware of that and supportive of that situation? Thank you.