David Ramsay

That begs the question why anybody would sign a concession agreement with a partner without a design. I am just wondering whose responsibility was that. Why was a concession agreement signed with the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation without a design in place, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Dr. Robert Krushel, who is with us today.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to speak today about the Deh Cho Bridge Project. I listened very clearly to the Minister of Transportation’s statement yesterday in the House, and understandably he has, and continues to, put his positive spin and messaging around this project as he can; this on a project that has and continues to be mired with issues.

The Minister left out some key items from his statement yesterday that I believe the public is owed an explanation to. The project was sold to the public, to Members of this House and to the previous Cabinet, as a fixed price contract with a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister what the contingency plans are should a contractor not be found or a contract not be negotiated by March 1st for the remainder of the work of the Deh Cho Bridge Project. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I just want to start off by saying my reference earlier to the Deh Cho Bridge Project being a gong show is in no way meant to disparage the good work done by the Minister and his staff. I do appreciate that. It’s the project in general. I just wanted to state that for the record.

In my last question to the Minister I asked him what are the potential financial risks to the Government of the Northwest Territories via the Deh Cho Bridge Project. I would like the Minister to answer that question for me. Thank you.

I’d like to ask the Minister, and I think the question that everybody out there has is what will this bridge ultimately cost to have constructed, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have some questions today for the Minister of Transportation and it gets back to my Member’s statement on the Deh Cho Bridge. I just want to start out by saying that I respect and I appreciate the work that both the Minister and his departmental staff are putting in on this project, but I’ve got to ask some fundamental questions here today, Mr. Speaker.

Much has been made about the departure of Atcon from the Deh Cho Bridge Project. The project was sold, like I said in my Member’s statement, to the public, to Members of this House and to the former Cabinet...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister, I know he talked about not having the support here and I talked earlier in my Member’s statement about a motion that I’d like to bring forward at some point in time, but what does the Minister feel that we can do as a government, as a people here in the Northwest Territories, to get that message through to the federal government that we need this project here in the NWT? Thank you.

I thank the Minister for that and it’s interesting that he cites the American experience, because there has been a reluctance here in Canada for the federal government to state that it will create a fiscal environment that would allow the project to be built. I’d like to ask the Minister how is our government lobbying the federal Cabinet to get the Mackenzie Gas Project directly on the front page of their briefing binders on the first thing they look at when they go to Cabinet meetings, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

It will address the federal government’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, to seeing Canada’s North reach its full potential, and a clear expression of Canada’s commitment to Arctic sovereignty. These are lasting legacies that the federal government cannot continue to overlook.