Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Stanton is new. We are just taking over Stanton now. The other authorities we’ve had for a couple of years, five years, at least five years.

I understand the importance of regional autonomy and I completely get what the Member is saying. I will commit to doing the work. I will commit to working with my colleagues and try to identify positions that may be appropriate to move.

I do express caution. We don’t want to necessarily rip positions out of one community and effect their employment rates in that community just to stick them in another community. We have to look at positions that are coming on line, positions that are maybe new to the Government of the Northwest Territories to make sure that we have a solid balance. But to the...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As indicated in my opening comments, we are taking over health leases in the Northwest Territories. It’s a significant amount of lease space and responsibility.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As far as costs on that, I don’t have the specific details right in front of me, but I can promise to get that to the Member. We could also, because we know what the transportation costs are, and we know what the purchasing costs are, and we know what the criteria are for the communities, we can get the detail on the specific communities as far as what it’s costing us to get the fuel there, which is part of the information we use to determine the price of fuel per community. We can get that information for the Member and committee.

Thank you, Madam Chair. With respect to litigation, individuals looking to bring a lawsuit against somebody tend to throw large nets and try to capture as many people as they can. They’ll write as many names on the list as they can, hoping to catch somebody. We have bonds in place, we have contracts in place and our dealings are with the primaries.

I’ll go to the deputy for some specifics on that, but by way of example, on this particular contract we knew we were doing a teardown on a building and we knew we needed to know what the risks were in that building by way of contaminants such as asbestos and whatnot. The contractor we hired to do the assessment so that we would have the information that we needed to go out for proposal for tender on that project, missed a number of items which, unfortunately, resulted in a couple of the change orders. This isn’t something that happens to us on a regular basis. We usually get pretty solid...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Claims between contractors and their subs could range from a huge, huge variety of situations. A bond is a time-sensitive tool, and if a subcontractor with a legitimate claim fails to take action under the bond on the assumption that the GNWT will intervene for some reason, they may jeopardize their ability to pursue relief provided by the surety. We make sure that the large projects have bonds in place to protect the subs and we make sure that those are adhered to, but individuals have to make sure that they utilize them as well.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We’ll commit to getting a plain-language explanation of this one for the Member and committee as well.

Thanks. If the Member goes to page 7-18, which is asset management, he’ll see that six positions have been taken out of asset management, and if he then turns to page 7-14 he will see that six positions have been added into the directorate. These positions haven’t changed their location, they haven’t changed their job. We’ve changed the reporting relationship. There was a restructuring in the department. It isn’t an addition of positions to Yellowknife in any way, shape or form. The positions existed, the incumbents are still sitting in their seats, they’re still sitting on the same floor and...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Those are Public Works and Services’ assets. So we put more assets into service that year than I think we had initially planned, but I think for some specific details I’ll go to the deputy minister on that.