Jane Groenewegen

Thank you. Okay, so I understand that. So they didn’t look at the northern content piece of the southern bidder’s proposal, but then the northern proponent appealed the evaluation and there is an opportunity, there is a vehicle to do that. Why was the contract awarded while the appeal process was still in play? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The motion is in order.

---Carried

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Northwest Territories has a unique program to help senior citizens and disabled persons in our communities. The Senior Citizens and Disabled Persons Property Tax Relief Act provides for tax exemption for eligible individuals to assist with their needs and help them remain in their own homes as long as possible. This well-intentioned law came into force in 1988 and the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs has been reviewing it throughout the better part of my political career. A review and amendments to this act are long overdue.

Currently the act...

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Minister Lafferty.

Thank you, Ms. Iatridis. Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Mr. Lafferty.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Lafferty.

Thank you. We’ll have a brief break and we’ll commence with that. Thank you.

---SHORT RECESS

I’d like to call Committee of the Whole to order. Yesterday we were considering the main estimates of the 2012-2013 budget. We left off on the Department of Public Works and Services on page 7-17. What is the wish of committee today? Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you. The details of this are starting to sound more and more like, as my colleague Mr. Moses suggested, that we need a little disclosure on this, because we as MLAs, and residents of the NWT who are bidding on contracts, need to have confidence that their proposals are being treated in a fair manner and this seems to have a few anomalies which would indicate to the contrary.

So along with my colleague Mr. Moses, I would like to ask the Minister if he will provide a full briefing for us on this side of the House on how this went wrong. Obviously something went wrong. The proponent from the...