Jane Groenewegen

Thank you.

“Public/Private Partnerships are a vehicle by which other jurisdictions have acquired major capital infrastructure; however, this has not been a practice of our government. Therefore no policy regulation or legislation previously existed that would have guided this process. It is very significant in that this proposed bridge will be the single most expensive piece of capital infrastructure which our government has ever undertaken.

“When information or accountability were called for, the government has retreated to a response of confidentiality because of a third-party proponent, which...

When we talk about significant dates, obviously September 28 is a significant date, because somebody signed a concession agreement on behalf of this government on September 28. October 1 was a significant date. That was Election Day.

January 31 was another significant date. What happened on January 31? That was only a week and a half ago. We passed another date of some sort. I'd like the Premier to explain: What was the significance of January 31?

I am really glad that I didn’t say the last sentence that was at the end of my questions about the Deh Cho Bridge project, because we have a few minutes, here.

The Premier raises the issue of liability. This issue did come up before. I wanted to get a sense of what kind of opinion had been sought on liability. I think we got to the point that no real legal opinion had been obtained. I reread Hansard, and it sounded like what the Premier was saying was that in his opinion, we would have extensive liability. And you know, although I really respect his opinion, I don’t respect it in regard to...

If any deficiencies are identified by the legal review and the dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s, as the Premier has said, and any decision comes back to our government, could the Premier share with us what his reaction would be, at that time, to a request for an extension or any other kind of concession regarding this project on behalf of our government?

Mr. Speaker, I’m getting really tired of talking about the Deh Cho Bridge. I think the Premier is probably getting tired of talking about it too. So I’m going to start asking my questions of the Auditor General, instead of him.

But just one more set of questions for him, first.

Laughter.

Mr. Speaker, does the Premier support and will his cabinet co-operate with a whole disclosure to the Auditor General of Canada of the correspondence and documents related to the Deh Cho Bridge project for an independent review?

My Member’s statement today is my letter to Sheila Fraser, the Auditor General of Canada.

“As a member of the 16th Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, I wish to bring to your attention concerns regarding the process relating to the proposed bridge over the Mackenzie River at Fort Providence.

“During the 14th Legislative Assembly a piece of legislation called the Deh Cho Bridge [Corporation] Act was passed. The information presented to Members at the time contemplated a self-financing bridge with a capital cost of around $60 million. The bridge would be paid for over 35 years...

It doesn't sound like January 31 was the go–no go date, simply because, in fact, there was another three-week extension after that to clarify the legal documents around that date.

It’s curious to me that that was such a go–no go, as the Premier described it. That was a go–no go date, January 31, but “take another three weeks.”

Who’s got the liability here? We have the liability here. If it’s a no go, our $9 million loan guarantee gets called, and the government steps up for $9 million. I don't see any liability on the other side.

I want the Premier to describe to us that February 22 date, prior...

The Premier refers to a contract that has been signed with a contractor to build the Deh Cho Bridge. That contract is not with the Government of the Northwest Territories, to my knowledge. That contract is with the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation. It seems like we use the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation and our government interchangeably when it is convenient. If we want information, it is the Deh Cho Bridge project that we hide behind. But when we talk about liability, it is the government. Who is the contract with? Is it with the Government of the Northwest Territories or the Deh Cho Bridge...

Back to my question about any significant dates or milestones. Is there a time frame around that final scrutiny of that legal document? Is there a date by which it won't go any further?

Mr. Speaker, since that information won’t be received and reviewed and dealt with overnight and there’s going to be some time lapse here, I’d like to ask the Premier: are there any other significant dates and milestones related to our government’s participation in the Deh Cho Bridge project that are still yet to come and that we should know about?