David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As well, I am not talking about what is going to happen in the future or what is happening right now. I would like to know what is happening right now, too, but this period of time, Mr. Speaker, if we didn’t have adequate services for inmates that were at that centre, which would appear to be the case, I would like to know about that. I would like, again, to get a commitment from the Minister that he is going to include that period of time, April 1, 2009, to March 31, 2010, and if he wants to throw in what is happening today and going forward for psychiatric services in...

Mr. Speaker, what I am trying to do is come up with some idea of what services are provided to inmates in that centre for that period of time. Mr. Speaker, if they are without a clinical psychologist and the department would apparently... It looks like they spent $20,000 on a contract to one psychiatrist. Is that the limit of psychiatric services that were provided to inmates at the North Slave Correctional Centre for that period of time? I would like to ask the Minister again that question. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In February of last year I made a statement in this House in relation to the Government of the Northwest Territories contracting practices. Today I’d like to follow up on that statement.

The number I cited last year of roughly $53 million being handed out through sole-sourced means has gone up by nearly $5 million, to $58 million in the government’s latest contract registry.

Going through the latest contract registry leads me to the same conclusions I made last year: one, we have an addiction to consultants; two, our staff are taking on too much contract management and...

Mr. Speaker, I am going to have to certainly take a longer look at the timeline and how this all happened, but that is pretty alarming if the contract is between Ruskin and the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation and not the government. We supposedly took over that. Mr. Speaker, have the assets of the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation been transferred over to the Government of the Northwest Territories and when did that happen? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have some more questions following up on my Member’s statement today. The other mission in the contracts report over $5,000 is the contract between the Government of the Northwest Territories and Ruskin to build the Deh Cho Bridge, Mr. Speaker. It is not every day that the government signs a sole-source contract for over $92 million. I would like to ask the Minister of Transportation where that contract is and how come it is not in the registry. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, what it appears like to me is that for that period of time there wasn’t a clinical psychologist and it would appear that the department spent $20,000 on a contract to one psychiatrist. Mr. Speaker, we are having repeat violent offenders walking out of that facility, recommitting crimes in our Territory. Mr. Speaker, I want to know how it is possible without a clinical psychologist that the Department of Justice could only spend $20,000 on services to inmates at North Slave Correctional Centre. That is what it looks like, Mr. Speaker. Where is the evidence of any other psychiatric...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Getting back to my Member’s statement and I suppose I could ask questions to any one of my colleagues across the floor on the contract registry, but I am going to zero in, if I could, on one item in particular that just is not in that contract registry, Mr. Speaker. It is something that I brought up in this House time and time again and that is the lack of psychiatric services at North Slave Correctional Centre. Mr. Speaker, looking at the contract registry that goes from April 1, 2009, to March 31, 2010, if you look at the Department of Justice, apparently they had a...

My understanding is that in the provinces and territories the Attorney General or deputy minister of Justice must give consent to an application. I’d like to ask the Minister of Justice if under his watch that status has ever been given to an offender here in the Northwest Territories.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve got questions today for the Minister of Justice. Recently and over the last few years there’s been some high-profile cases of repeat violent offenders getting light sentences even after 16, 17, 18 violent crimes. I’d like to ask the Minister of Justice if he’s aware of what constitutes becoming or getting the status of a dangerous offender.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister of Justice if we cannot review cases where individuals have been incarcerated, as I mentioned earlier, 15, 16, 17, 18 times for violent offences, if we cannot review files of that nature in an effort to try to get dangerous offender status on those offenders if they reoffend.