Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The motion has been circulated. The motion is in order. To the motion.

Agreed. Thank you. We’ll do that after a short break.

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Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Ramsay.

I call Committee of the Whole to order. We have a number of matters before us. What is the wish of the committee? Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Minister Ramsay.

From anything that I heard, and I don’t pretend to be a professional or extremely knowledgeable in this area, however, from anything I heard, the time between getting people from the International Airport to the hospitals that are in city centre, basically, was a concern. The time factor, if weather was an issue, the ground transportation, these were all concerns. If there is an alternate landing site for medevacs coming out of the North, will the Minister ensure that he puts his voice forward in promoting something that may well be in the interests of Northerners travelling?

Thank you. Next I have on my list Mr. Yakeleya.

At what point and through what vehicle, by what method do we Members on this side of the House get to be involved in the revision of the procurement policies of this government to ensure that Northerners get the work and get the jobs?

Thank you, Minister Ramsay. Mr. Menicoche.

MR. MENICOCHE:

We approved the capital budget in November for the last few years actually, but still last August they were tendering out a contract to chipseal Highway No. 7, which I was very happy to hear about, but they were tendering it out in July. What’s going on? Why are they tendering it out in July? We gave them approval in November.

So that’s the kind of frustrations that I’d like to bring to the table today, Madam Chair. When it comes to this O and M budget, whatever money is there I want to ask and get a commitment from the Minister of...

One of the features of a standing offer agreement is that it’s in place for a period of time. Can the Minister tell us if standing offer agreements are usually in place for one year or for longer? Because I do appreciate that Mr. Dean has made the department now aware of his equipment, and his capacity and his ability to do this kind of work, but how long before an engineering company can be taken – not taken to task, that’s the wrong word – can be held to account for making sure that they subcontract to northern contractors?