Jane Groenewegen

Mr. Speaker, I came to session with a lot of things to talk about, but I have to keep asking questions about this bridge, because that’s what the people want. They want answers.

I think everyone understands that the money that has been spent to date on the bridge — the $9 million — has been by way of a loan which was guaranteed by this government. But I want to move on to the larger issue of the loan to build the bridge, which is being secured by the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation.

I want to ask the Premier if our government is in fact guaranteeing that loan. If things go wrong and the loan is...

Mr. Chair, my questions on the Justice expenditures are similar. I still don’t understand why we have to build a perimeter fence. The $540,000 is a lot of money. I know the Premier tried to explain that, but why do we need a perimeter fence around North Slave Correctional Centre?

Mr. Speaker, as I tried to enjoy myself at home this weekend in Hay River, I couldn’t mistake the feelings of disappointment and frustration and unrest over the course that our government has charted for us in relation to the Deh Cho Bridge project. I had many people come up to me and remind me about the Deh Cho Bridge project, because everyone who came up had concerns as well.

I’m disappointed in the leadership, who are prepared to sacrifice transparency and accountability and the right of the people to know. I’m frustrated because, in the absence of clear and full communication on this...

Mr. Chairman, we are dealing with an interim appropriation here; this is not the normal kind of appropriation process that we would undertake. When the items were identified for capital in the interim appropriation, we were very clear in wanting to understand, I guess, as Regular Members, why they needed to be introduced in an interim appropriation.

So I guess to the point of this particular allocation, I have a few questions. I’d like to know, for the public record, why this particular capital project needed to be advanced in interim appropriation. I’d like to know what the substantiation is...

Just to confirm: even in light of the fact that the Premier knew how many concerns there were about this process and this project, a significant deadline of December 31st came and went. And a decision was made on that side of the House to extend that deadline to January 31st without any consultation or awareness on this side of the House.

Again, after the fact, we got a phone call. After January 31st had passed, we get a phone call. We were told that shareholders have changed and that the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation has met their requirements.

Somebody made a decision in spite of…. There was an...

I’m interested to know what the Premier thinks I’m looking for. He was only elected as the Premier a short few months ago, and I was certainly on the record in telling him that I did support him. I still support him. I don’t see a lot of other options sitting over there for Premier. I’d like to work with him. I’m being honest here. I’d like to work with him.

But the fact of the matter is that we need transparency. And I believe the Premier…. You know, as I said, you can’t sweep these things under the carpet. I believe the Premier knew full well what we were looking for that day, and he didn’t...

Now we’re talking about the 16th Assembly. On October 19, the Premier stated:

“The contracts that are being signed are not from the Government of the Northwest Territories; they are through the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation group as well as potential constructors of the bridge…we know that there’s a commitment to start some of the early earthwork process. But ultimately no contracts or, from our government side, no liability is being held until we know, for example, they get the permits from the federal government….”

I mean, that’s pretty clear — no contracts, no liability. And that was on October...

Let’s talk about what’s happened in this Assembly. We got elected on October 1. We came back here and stood up in this House and asked question after question after question about the Deh Cho Bridge project. The Premier stood up and answered those questions, and not once did he mention the fact that the concession agreement had already been signed on September 28.

I don’t know exactly how stupid he thinks we are. However, I want to tell you that I wouldn’t even have asked him the questions if I had known a concession agreement had been signed on September 28.

Yeah, let’s talk about the 16th...

Mr. Chairman, I would like to move a motion that we report progress.

Motion carried.

Mr. Speaker, because the Premier so freely said that this information was known to the 15th Assembly, I’d like to ask him if he’s willing to produce any proof that Members of this House knew all these facts which are now just coming out. I mean, I’m finding out stuff every day on the Deh Cho Bridge project that I didn’t know before.

I’d like to now ask the Premier if he will lay some proof on the table that Regular Members of this House were aware of what was going on. We didn’t even know the concession agreement was going to be signed on September 28. That is out there.