David Krutko

I’d like to call Committee of the Whole to order. In Committee of the Whole we have Committee Report 5-16(6). What is the wish of the committee? Mrs. Groenewegen.

A motion is on the floor to report progress. The motion is not debatable.

---Carried

The information that the Minister provided definitely doesn’t illustrate the picture he’s trying to portray here. There’s been five years of negotiated contracts with the Housing Corporation expending over $12 million in capital investment. Only $800,000 was expended in five years in my riding. Out of that, $9.67 million went to companies outside of my riding. That’s the point I’m trying to get at. We have negotiated contracts, policies and procedures, we have sole-sourced, we have a whole bunch of opportunities we have to use. So I’d like to ask the Minister why is your department not using...

Mr. Speaker, I think the message we’re trying to send here to the Ministers and the different departments is that we want you to not only meet but we want you to beat those numbers from last year and get more summer students into the public workforce. I’d like to ask the Minister when did you start planning to hire summer students, and more importantly, what are we doing by way of promoting those opportunities so the students are aware that those opportunities are out there.

Question is being called.

---Carried

Does the committee agree that this concludes Committee Report 5-16(6)?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Contracts are a means to develop economic growth in our communities, but more importantly, government infrastructure such as housing, replacement of schools and public facilities. Mr. Speaker, I’ve asked through a written question in this House how many negotiated contracts were let in my riding, the Mackenzie Delta, for the last five years. Surprisingly, it was $876,000 in five years.

Mr. Speaker, out of a total capital investment of almost $12 million, $9.6 million was expended to contractors from outside my constituency.

Mr. Speaker, economic development is a key...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister of ITI, Mr. McLeod. It’s in regard to the position that he holds in regard to the area of Industry, Tourism and Investment. I think that a lot of times we lose sight that we do have subsidiaries out there, regardless if it’s through the Business Credit Corporation. In my riding we have the Fort McPherson Canvas Shop, which, again, gives younger people the opportunity to get training, but more importantly, get their first jobs.

Also, the other area in which the Minister is responsible is the area of tourism, in which a lot of...

Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Committee Report 5-16(6), Report on the Review of the 2009-2010 Annual Report of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of the Northwest Territories, and would like to report progress with three motions being adopted, and that Committee Report 5-16(6) is concluded. Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of Committee of the Whole be concurred with.

Question is being called.

---Carried

Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you. Again, this Minister and his department totally disregards the policies and procedures of this government when it comes to negotiating contracts, sole-sourced contracts, contracting guidelines we have in place for government projects, government capital to be expended in communities. There are support letters given by the MLA, there are support letters given by the bands, the municipal governments, but yet this government totally refuses to acknowledge that. Those are efforts by community governments to show that they need these opportunities to build capacity in their communities...