David Ramsay

I believe that was the same question I asked the previous government, whether or not I could get a copy of that contract. I believe at the time the answer was no and it would remain no.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the contract that exists with Ruskin, again, it is not a fixed price contract. When there are change orders, some of those change orders are the responsibility of the owner, in this case the Government of the Northwest Territories, and we would certainly work with the contractor on a schedule and on costs, and we’ve been doing that all along.

Again, in March of this year it became apparent that the contractor would not be able to complete the project by November. So we had to look at different strategies to allow us to get that accomplished, and the option that we...

Thank you. I believe some of that work has been done in conjunction with the Territorial Farmer’s Association, a group that I’ve had the opportunity to meet with, and I’d be more than happy to try to get that information for the Member and put that together for him.

We also have this Community Gardens Program and I mentioned this earlier in this session in relation to a question that I was asked I believe by one of the other Regular Members. When I was down in Fort Simpson recently, we ran into two young university students who are working for ITI delivering the Community Garden Program, and...

Mr. Speaker, I have been quite clear in answering other questions from other Members yesterday. I will say it again. Going forward, this money has helped us negotiate our way out of a myriad of claims, construction claims on the project. We are going to work together with the contractor to see the project get completed this fall. I am not sure if the Member would prefer that we throw our hands up, we fight with the contractor, we go to court for years and years to come, we spend untold hundreds of thousands if not a million dollars-plus on legal fees and we don’t have a bridge open this fall...

Mr. Speaker, we have a team of lawyers that have been working on the contractual obligations, what our responsibility is going forward. I know the Member continually wants to go back to decisions that were made by the previous government. I have said it yesterday and I will say it again today, decisions that I have made since I became Minister last fall are decisions that I take responsibility for, I am accountable for. With our best advice and the options that were presented to us, we are doing the best for the taxpayer here in the NWT to get this project finished. We will continue to work...

Mr. Speaker, we have incredible resource potential in our territory, and with it, significant opportunity for economic growth. But to truly have a diversified economy that provides all communities and regions with opportunities and choices, we need more than just resource development. Today I would like to talk to you about the Sustainable Economic Development Strategy.

This Assembly has indicated that we need to grow our economy carefully and sustainably. MLAs have identified a comprehensive, sustainable economic development strategy as a priority.

Mr. Speaker, economic conditions in the NWT...

Thank you, Madam Chair. We have had a great deal of success working with industry in the Sahtu when it comes to winter roads. We’re looking forward to continuing that partnership with industry as the resource is developed in the Sahtu. We are also looking for more opportunities to partner with industry. There is potentially a lot more opportunity when it comes to winter roads in the development of winter roads in the Sahtu. Potentially, the opportunity I think will also exist for all-weather roads once the resource is developed and it’s more proven up. I do believe there is a tremendous...

I may not be able to supply the contract in its entirety to the Member, but what I would put out there is, perhaps, we can get the details. They don’t have to be exactly specific, but when it comes to costs and who is responsible for what, I believe certainly the Member and the public both deserve to know that. We can’t produce the contract itself but perhaps we can get some of the details on how the contract works so that both the Member and the public would have a better understanding of why we’re in the position we’re in today. I think that may be a worthwhile exercise and I’ll endeavour to...

Thank you. The Member keeps talking about a contract from 2010. That was a contract signed by a previous government and I would not be in a position to respond to a decision of the previous government, but there were a number of questions asked in this House in 2010 and I don’t believe the Member asked any of those questions at that time. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, many of the decisions the Member talks about were decisions of previous governments and, yes, some people ask questions and some remain silent when decisions are made by government, and that happens. We got to the position we’re in today. The original budget was $165 million. During the life of the 16th Assembly there was a decision to put another $15 million into the project. Late last year, because of a year-long delay, there was another $10 million decision, and today we’re faced with the $7.2 million to $9.5 million ask of government, to see the completion of...