Jane Groenewegen

I would like to know if that is a standard policy of this government now when going to the private sector for design/build or for construction design. With any kind of infrastructure that we are building in the government, is it now mandatory to have an element of energy efficiency built into those projects — a solid policy?

I think I heard the Minister say, “I believe so.” Was that the answer? I couldn’t hear it; it was very quiet.

For the record, that will be a competitive process for this piece of infrastructure. We keep saying: well, this project’s too big to put out to a competitive bidding process. This is one that I would imagine would be of a size that there could potentially be construction companies that could manage the bonding, and they would have capacity to deal with this.

I guess what I’m getting at is I’m just worried about losing track of what the market rates actually are if we do not continue as a government to try and procure capital through a competitive bidding process. I just want to confirm that...

It doesn’t seem like that long ago, Mr. Chairman, that we just bought the clinics in the downtown area. I think we also spent quite a bit of money renovating them once we did buy them and took them in. So now they’re going to be rolled up and become part of this new consolidated primary care clinic?

Thank you. Have any negotiations or contracts been entered into for this project to date?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I don’t know why the H.H. Williams Memorial Hospital is on our schedule, because nothing shows up until a very, very small amount in 2011–2012. But for the record, could the Minister tell me again how the Fort Smith Health Centre got so far ahead of Hay River? At some point they were on par at the same time in the capital budget.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. For this project that’s being proposed, how long has this project been in the capital plan?

Mr. Chairman, this is a public forum for the public to hear the answers to the questions. I don’t need to be reminded by Mr. Miltenberger of what the committee received a report on. Unfortunately, the public wasn’t in our committee meeting. They would not have been privy to the answers that were provided. So if Mr. Miltenberger is trying to make me look stupid and my questions look stupid because “as I know” the committee received a briefing, yes, I know the committee received a briefing. I am trying to ask questions and get answers for the benefit of the people who might actually be listening...

Thank you. That would be helpful. I would be interested, because it seems like it’s a worsening situation, and it has already been deferred for quite a while. I’m just wondering if it’s a priority or if it’s in a two, three, five, ten, 20-year plan. What’s the plan?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that this committee defer further consideration of the activity Asset Management under the Department of Public Works and Services Capital Estimates ’09–10 on pages 4-4 and 4-5 at this time.